Success in todays IT environment requires you to view your career as a business endeavor. In this book youll learn how to become an entrepreneur driving your career in the direction of your choosing. Youll learn how to build your software development career step by step following the same path that you would follow if you were building marketing and selling a product. After all your skills themselves are a product. The choices you make about which technologies to focus on and which business domains to master have at least as much impact on your success as your technical knowledge itselfdont let those choices be accidental. Well walk through all aspects of the decisionmaking process so you can ensure that youre investing your time and energy in the right areas. Youll develop a structured plan for keeping your mind engaged and your skills fresh. Youll learn how to assess your skills in terms of where they fit on the value chain driving you away from commodity skills and toward those that are in high demand. Through a mix of highlevel thoughtprovoking essays and tactical Act on It sections you will come away with concrete plans you can put into action immediately. Youll also get a chance to read the perspectives of several highly successful members of our industry from a variety of career paths. As with any product or service if nobody knows what youre selling nobody will buy. Well walk through the oftenneglected world of marketing and youll create a plan to market yourself both inside your company and to the industry in general. Above all youll see how you can set the direction of your career leading to a more fulfilling and remarkable professional life.