...This book is really about me sharing my experience and the things that have made me successful so far in my life...
(Chapter #71, Soft Skills)
TLDR;
The book is written with great intention. It covers a lot of topics normally not normally talked about in the software industry.
Should you read it ? The answer depends on the kind of books you've read in the past. If you have read a lot of non-fiction & self-help in the past, you should probably skip it.
On the other hand if you are a software developer & new to reading books in general. This might just be the perfect one for you.
The long version
The book is cleverly structured into 7 parts. There are 71 chapters, this will take a while for you to parse through. Each chapter is bite sized 1500-ish words, and are mostly unrelated. You should be able to pick it up, even if you decide to drop it off in between.
- Career
- Marketing yourself
- Learning
- Productivity
- Financial
- Fitness
- Spirit
While the book starts with a very relatable content, but doesn't do a great job at keeping it relatable.
A lot of the content which isn't about self development, will not apply to most of us. What works for a certain person, in a certain country might not work in every geography. I personally didn't like most of section 5 & section 6.
It would have added a lot of value if this book was written by a diverse bunch of authors, instead of, just John broadcasting his (legit) experiences & opinion.
Let's pick a topic for example. John has made most of his income from real-estate. Let's assume that an average home costs like 2x - 3x the annual income of a software engineer with some years of experience, in a non major city. However, in a country like India cost of real-estate would be atleast 5x the annual income, if not more, than what a software engineer makes. And don't get me started on availability of homeloans (Interest rates have lower now, but the principal amount is not going down any time soon).
On the bright side of things, if this is your first book. You'll get some sort of a summary from a lot of other books.
- So Good They Can't Ignore You
- The Power of Habit
- The Dip: The extraordinary benefits of knowing when to quit
(John does a better job of summarising this in 1 chapter, dragging the topic into a book.)
(I've read only the aforementioned books, John does mention a bunch of books that I've added to my reading queue)
You shouldn't take what anyone says as gospel...
(Chapter #71, Soft Skills)
P.S.: I may be "Marketing Myself" by reviving my blog.