This is a short review of Being Geek by Michael Lopp. I’m writing it up now because I finally had my wife read the chapter she was supposed to and we were able to have a good discussion of who I am.
I’ll give my recommendation first: if you are any kind of software developer or “geek”, just save yourself the trouble and get this book right now. You’ll enjoy it and Lopp is a great author. Now, we get to the little itty bitty amount of meat in this post.
Being Geek is a book that closely mirrors what Lopp has been writing at Rands in Repose for the past few years. If you have been reading him there, you will feel right at home reading this book.
It gives excellent advice for people who are looking to break into managing geeks (or nerds as he more often calls us). However, it also is beneficial for those who are being managed in one way or the other so that you can understand what is going on and how to handle those strange situations where you have no idea what is going on.
I took away many good things, but I won’t recount them here. The real gem, however, lies in the single chapter that is written for the other, non-geeks in your life. It is a primer on how we think, how we view the world and gives a taste for why you and I are the way we are. It is written with the usual wit and humor that Lopp writes with, but it brings up many fine points as to why we seem to be so strange to so many.
I’m purposefully not saying much here because I would like you to go and read the book for yourself or at least read some of Lopp’s other writings out there. Just go.