Just finished reading this great book about how to become a great software craftsman. While the comparison may be strange, this book is fairly similar to The Monk Who Sold His Ferrary – it shows you how to better yourself (one at software, the other in life), explains some paths (none of them scientific or proven) to achieve this goal and shows examples of how this worked out (this is where this book surpasses the monk, because it uses real-life quotes from real people).
All in all, Apprenticeship Patterns is a very enjoyable read that gets your mind thinking how to apply what it teaches. In the book’s conclusions I found a quote that explains once again in different wording why software development is so different from other engineering/scientific endeavours (page 114): “Software development is a craft precisely because we don’t understand it well enough to make it a codified discipline like science or engineering. Despite the best efforts… our field is still one where individual skill is often the most significant determining factor in a project’s success”. The book also provides loads of references that will make your reading list grow suddenly (it if doesn’t you’re either already a master or should find a job in another industry :-)).
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