Are you doing all you can to further your career as a software developer? With today's rapidly changing and ever-expanding technologies, being successful requires more than technical expertise. To grow professionally, you also need soft skills and effective learning techniques. Honing those skills is what this book is all about. Authors Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye have cataloged dozens of behavior patterns to help you perfect essential aspects of your craft. Compiled from years of research, many interviews, and feedback from O'Reilly's online forum, these patterns address difficult situations that programmers, administrators, and DBAs face every day. And it's not just about financial success. Apprenticeship Patterns also approaches software development as a means to personal fulfillment. Discover how this book can help you make the best of both your life and your career. Solutions to some common obstacles that this book explores in-depth include:

• Burned out at work? "Nurture Your Passion" by finding a pet project to rediscover the joy of problem solving.

• Feeling overwhelmed by new information? Re-explore familiar territory by building something you've built before, then use "Retreat into Competence" to move forward again.

• Stuck in your learning? Seek a team of experienced and talented developers with whom you can "Be the Worst" for a while.

"Brilliant stuff! Reading this book was like being in a time machine that pulled me back to those key learning moments in my career as a professional software developer and, instead of having to learn best practices the hard way, I had a guru sitting on my shoulder guiding me every step towards master craftsmanship. I'll certainly be recommending this book to clients. I wish I had this book 14 years ago!" -Russ Miles, CEO, OpenCredo

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 5 Ratings

what a load of bull - 2009-10-20
Reviewer Rating:
Most of the 'patterns' in this book aren't even patterns, they're just basic things any half decent developer would do; like be well read - oops there's a pattern for that now, it's called 'Expand your bandwidth'. Basic etiquette like when joining a new team, do the dirty jobs to gain respect - oops, the pattern is called 'sweeping the floor' or something silly. The whole book could be condensed into 5 pages of advice, and called 'Advice for Developers', but then it wouldn't sound so catchy with the current 'word of the month' - 'patterns'

'apprentice', 'craftsman', 'journeyman'. Come on, this is programming we're talking about, not something like medicine. I've been in this game 20 years, and yes I've read lots of code, read lots of RFC's and technical specs, read the classics (code complete, the c programming language, the orange fish book, Knuth's 4 volumes), disassembled systems , lead teams, re-architectured large systems, being bought in to troubleshoot systems which just 'hang' and the onsite consultants are just running around like headless chickens; and I still don't have the arrogance to call myself a 'craftsman'. This feels like another book which is trying to form another 'movement' in IT. We've had the agile movement, the XP movement, and now what? the 'appenticeship' movement?

I think this book is guilty of the very common pattern, well it'll be an anti-pattern actually, and that's the all too common 'dress common sense up with buzzwords and write a book about it' anti-pattern.

A great read not only for software developers - 2009-10-23
Reviewer Rating:
As with every pattern book, SCAP captures the things that we all know are important and working in expanding one's skill and professionality. It draws a wide map of applicable patterns, showing the way to a successful technical career without being cast off to management.

The books authors have harvested the patterns in countless interviews, conversations and discussions with experienced and not so experienced software developers. So the patterns where found, refined and expanded.

What you've got in your hand is a pattern language for becoming a software professional not necessarily an "engineer" but a craftsman. Someone who not only puts technical skill but also people skills, reputation of successfully handled projects (not only development but the whole life of a software) in his pockets.

As I reviewed the book, I may add that it evolved from a loose collection of pattern to a well written intricate network (map) of profound experience.

If you are curious about the content of the book, you can always visit the O'Reilly Wiki for SCAP or Safari and have a first look at the patterns there. If you like the style then buy it.

If you have something to say or discuss, please do so in the Wiki or here.

Michael, aspiring software craftsman

Its a very good book - 2009-10-21
Reviewer Rating:
I found this book really great one and I immediately recommended it to my coworker even before I finished reading it.

Its very inspiring and brilliant ..!...

I highly recommend any software developer to read this book or even not only IT people but any career that you are pursuing. This book will benefit you in many ways and for the long run. There are A LOT of things that you can pick and learn from this book!

Thanks to the Author. Great Job!

A great book for software engineers - 2009-10-31
Reviewer Rating:
This book is definitely one of best books I have ever read this year. On my blog, I strongly recommended it to readers of my blog. In 2002, I read "Software Craftsmanship" which made me decide to continue working as a software engineer, and this year "Apprenticeship Patterns" and "Passionate Programmer" gave me new insights on being a software engineer.

Unfortunately it is written in English. I hope the Japanese edition (translated edition) will be available soon for software engineers in Japan.

Thank you, Dave and Adewale for writing a great book.

An Ok read, but not as good as some other books with the same theme - 2009-10-28
Reviewer Rating:
This book is similiar in vein to something like "My Job Went to India: 52 Ways to Save Your Job" but the India book is a lot better. The India book - ok the title is a bit tacky, but I'm sure the author didn't mean any offense, gives you more detail about how to progress in the IT field as a techie. Another comparable book is "The Productive Programmer", which is also a bit better. I'm not really sure where "Apprenticeship Patterns" really fits in, as it seems to be aimed a a book for newbies, but that's already covered by existing titles like "the Pragmatic Programmer" (this is a classic get this). But having said that there is still some good advice in it, but it's probably not the first book I'd buy to get advice for how to progress as a developer; the other 3 books mentioned in this review would be the ones I'd get.

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