(This is #1 of #27 in 27 weeks, referenced in my "How to become a better developer" post last week.)

Rajesh Setty (of the "Life Beyond Code" blog) didn't write "Beyond Code" so that he could seduce men and women alike.  Rajesh Setty didn't write "Beyond Code" so that a legion of ridiculously masculine men would develop ridiculous man-crushes!  Rajesh Setty wrote "Beyond Code" because he cared about software developers and wanted to help them reach their fullest potential - the rest just came as a natural outgrowth of his writing.  

I don't know what to tell you about this book.  I would almost say it was like the "How to Win Friends And Influence People" of the software development industry, but it's so much more than that it's almost insulting to use that comparison.    This book is now *tied* with "Code Complete" as a book that I think every software developer *must* read at least once - *particularly* if you are an independent consultant (and I'm a total Steve McConnell fanboy, so you know this is saying something).  Or alternatively, don't read it at all but at least put a copy of it on your coffee table the next time you're bringing a hot date home - GUARANTEED ACTION.

"Beyond Code", as you'd expect, does not have one iota of code in it.  However, what it does have is a wealth of advice on how to stand out - how to stand out to your client, how to stand out among our peers, how to stand out *period*.  While the book is focused towards independents the advice is applicable to *anyone* who is doing software development for a living and wants to transcend just being just another code monkey into something more significant.  The foreword by Tom Peters says "Read it as if your life depended on it.  It DOES!"  This isn't hyperbole.  It's not a long book at all, but it has a great idea pretty much every second page.  I've seriously not had a ROI per page this high in quite a long time of reading.  

This being said, there are some reasons you might not want to read Beyond Code:

1. you don't want to threaten your marriage or relationship by introducing Rajesh Setty and his prose into it  
2. you don't like getting aroused as you're reading software dev books, unless you're reading Code Complete
3. you feel stressed out when you are chased by hordes of the opposite sex wanting to offer themselves to you in the worst way
4. same as point #3, but substitute "clients" or "employers" for "the opposite sex"

Last week, we had a lively discussion on career security on this blog; if you read this book, take its advice to heart and truly implement it's advice, I am almost 100% certain career security is never going to be one of your problems.   Nor will getting some, for that matter!

If you are at all familiar with my scale for rating books (see the bottom of this post for an explanation), then you know that the rating for this book is academic.  No matter how depraved, no matter how undignified, there is *NOTHING* I wouldn't do with this book!  All the way for CERTAIN, even if the only thing I've have the next morning is a goodbye note on the pillow along with some scars and memories to haunt my sleepless nights!  And trust me, sleepless nights are all you're going to get after reading this! 


BUY IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  Then, once you've done that, *read it* as soon as possible!