Professional Development

What do you do to further your career? I read a good article on this in the Journal of object technology . For about two years now I have been acutely aware that I ought to work on my career more. The person that wrote this article said that for many years he had devoted Friday nights to learning new computer skills. Friday? That's MY evening out on the town night... Why not Tuesday? Anyhow. The author suggests that professional development is our own responsibility, and lays out a number of good approaches. Thanks.

I have done the following in terms of professional development in the last two years.

Attended the 'Embedded Systems Conference", where I had the good fortune to have lunch with Dan Saks, whom I asked "How do I get to be a guru too?" The centerpiece of his advice was to get involved by volunteering on a standards effort, or maybe an open source project. (Of which I have done neither. Sorry Dan. The best laid plans...

Read three books on Object oriented development in C++
Read a book on Project management by Scott Berkun
Read a book on leadership.
Read magazine articles on software testing, C++ development, agile programming,
Surfed the web and looked up various topics in object design, scripting etc.
Dabbled in Windows Script Host and Python.

On the Job:
Worked in C++
Developed an XP embedded configuration
Scripted Windows Security and installation tasks.
Wrote an operators manual and technical manual.
Wrote specifications and verification tests.

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