When I decided to go back into software development in March 2017, I knew very little about the current state of the industry, so I was quite uncertain what to specialize in and what approach to choose. Since I had never worked for a company, or applied for any jobs for that matter, I had no idea about the employment process, which meant I had to do some research online. The resource that helped me the most was John Sonmez’s Youtube Channel, which I mentioned in my first blog post. John is also the author of two really good books on non-technical skills for programmers: Soft Skills: The Software Developer’s Life Manual and The Complete Software Developer’s Career Guide. To be clear, I don’t know John, and I am not advertising him for any financial reasons. He has his flaws like everyone else, and I certainly disagree with his political views. I just think his advice, a large part of which is free, is really valuable. At least I know that I have gained a lot of knowledge and understanding of how things work from listening to his videos and reading his books.

Continue reading

As I mentioned in my last post, right now I am at a point when I need to decide what to choose as my next profession. Of course, my situation is much better than that of most poker players wanting to change careers. Many people who became poker professionals during the boom of online poker did so at the expense of their education. In my case, on the other hand, I have a number of skills not related to poker that I can use to earn money. For example, being one of the top 30 rated chess players in Canada, I could probably make a decent living giving chess lessons. This would enable me to maintain my current relaxed lifestyle (no alarm clock, no boss) while not suffering too much financially. However, I believe I can achieve a lot more if I find a good use for my mathematical and programming skills. I have lived enough of my life just going with the flow and taking it easy. With my abilities and background, if I apply sustained effort, I should be able to be much more successful in my career and hopefully make a positive difference in the world.

Continue reading