Making it Big in Software: Get the Job. Work the Org. Become Great

Product Description

The Software Insider’s Guide to Getting Hired and Getting to the Top!


Here’s all the information you need to jumpstart your software career: the best ways to get hired, move up, and blaze your way to the top! The software business has radically changed, and this book reveals today’s realities–everything your professors and corporate managers never told you. In his 20 years at IBM as a software architect, senior manager, and lead programmer, Sam Lightstone has briefed dozens of leading companies and universities on careers, new technology, and emerging areas of research. He currently works on one of the world’s largest software development teams and spends a good part of his time recruiting and mentoring software engineers. This book shares all the lessons for success Sam has learned…plus powerful insights from 17 of the industry’s biggest stars. Want to make it big in software? Start right here!

Discover how to

• Get your next job in software development
• Master the nontechnical skills crucial to your success
• “Work the org” to move up rapidly
• Successfully manage your time, projects, and life
• Avoid “killer” mistakes that could destroy your career
• Move up to “medium-shot,” “big-shot,” and finally, “visionary”
• Launch your own winning software company

Exclusive interviews with

Steve Wozniak, Inventor, Apple computer

John Schwarz, CEO, Business Objects

James Gosling, Inventor, Java programming language

Marissa Mayer, Google VP, Search Products and User Experience
Jon Bentley, Author, Programming Pearls
Marc Benioff, CEO and founder, Salesforce.com
Grady Booch, IBM Fellow and co-founder Rational Software
Bjarne Stroustrup, Inventor, C++ programming language
David Vaskevitch, Microsoft CTO
Linus Torvalds, Creator, Linux operating system kernel

Richard Stallman, Founder, Free software movement
Peter Norvig, Google’s Director of Research
Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Fellow and Windows Architect
Tom Malloy, Adobe Chief Software Architect
Diane Greene, Co-founder and past CEO of VMware
Robert Kahn, Co-inventor, the Internet
Ray Tomlinson, Inventor, email

About the Author

Sam Lightstone is the creator of MakingItBigCareers.com as well as Program Director and Senior Technical Staff Member with IBM’s Software Group, where he works for one of the world’s largest software engineering teams on product strategy and R&D. Sam is a sought-after public speaker, author, inventor, recruiter, and mentor. He has presented to dozens of Fortune 500 companies, industrial and scientific conferences, and major universities on topics related to careers, new technology, and emerging research needs. Sam has been quoted in eWeek, InformationWeek, InfoWorld, and the MIT Technology Review. His management career has spanned from small high-performance applied research teams up to large-scale projects with more than 200 staff across multiple geographies.


Sam is the founder of the IEEE Data Engineering Workgroup on Self Managing Database Systems and a member of the International Advisory Committee of the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Autonomous and Autonomic Computing Systems. Sam is inventor and co-inventor of more than 30 patents and patents pending and author of several books and scientific papers.

In 2003 he was awarded the title of IBM Master Inventor for his contributions to IBM’s patent portfolio and his sustained work mentoring software engineers about the process of invention. He has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from Queen’s University and a Master of Computer Science & Software Engineering from the University of Waterloo.