I don't listen to a lot of podcast but I did listen to[Andy Lester's[1] recent appeared on the Pragmatic Programmers.][] Andy's book "[Land the Tech Job You Love][]" is in beta now and will be released Soon. If the book is as good as the podcast was, it will be a must-have for a lot of techies.

One thing that struck me from the podcast was Andy saying "If you can't put two new things on your resume every year, you aren't doing enough to keep up with this industry" (or something to that effect). Lately, my self-learning has taken a back seat to simply trying to keep my neck above water on my projects -- not learning anything new, just puttying out fires. And sometimes that okay, but I actually like learning something new -- which is what I enjoy about this industry in the first place.

Another thing Andy said is that the right job for you changes over time. For example, what you want to do when you are 25 will probably be different than when you are 35. Very true for me -- when I was 25, I was flying all over the country and world. Now, at 35, I'm married with three kids. My desires now are very different.

Andy also suggested being honest with questions like "Where do you see yourself in five years?" If you may want to stay technical but they may want someone to move into management. So, that's not a good fit for you and you will soon be frustrated. Be honest and know the answer to questions such as that.

These things aren't just for finding your next employer, but also for your next promotion. Want to go up to a team lead role? How can you prove that you are ready for that? What can you do now to take that step? Those are the questions that I am asking myself, and other techies should be, too.

[1] Andy is also the author of [ack][], which is one of my newest tools in my toolbox. And, yes, it is better than grep!