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Yeah, a reputable publisher could add a lot of value. I've never read a bad O'Reilly book, for example. I think my conclusion is -- don't write a book unless
by jrockway 5y ago
Yeah, a reputable publisher could add a lot of value. I've never read a bad O'Reilly book, for example.
I think my conclusion is -- don't write a book unless you really want to write a book. Nobody but your parents are going to care that your book is in a bookstore. No software engineering interviewer is going to let you skip the interview because you wrote a book. The only reason you should do it is because you want to share your knowledge with the world. That is a valuable pursuit, but you will be undercompensated for it.
(Fun story... many years ago, a Google recruiter reached out to me with a little survey; rate yourself from 1-10 in these categories. They said 10 was "literally wrote a book on this subject". I answered 10 for web frameworks, which I had in fact written a book on! They ghosted me. But I did end talking with another recruiter, and ended up working at Google for 6 years, so... I guess it worked out.)