Welcome to DaedTech: Status Quo Busting & Realpolitik Career Advice

Hi, I’m Erik.  You can read more about me on my about page, if you’re so inclined.  I’m a career-long programmer, sometimes manager/executive, erstwhile consultant, and current hermit.

One thing I don’t mention there, explicitly, is that I have a strong set of opinions about the world of software and the software developer’s place in that world.  I think that software developers can and should be the bosses of the software development industry.

And I write a lot about how to get there.

I think of this as “developer populism,” and if this appeals to you, then read on.

You are, of course, welcome to poke around my blog and site as you will.  But I’ve curated some content here that I think you might enjoy if you’re new here.  Think of this as a “start here” guide.

Important DaedTech Posts

First of all, here are some posts I think you might like.  You could always check out the popular posts widget over to the right of the blog’s text.

That’s essentially what the wide body of DaedTech readers think is most worth checking out.  And perhaps they’re right.  But think of this as editorial picks.  Here are the posts that I feel represent DaedTech and the Developer Hegemony philosophy.

• This post, “Defining the Corporate Hierarchy,” is one I refer to regularly in other posts.  In it, I lay the groundwork for the idea that the pyramid-shaped corporation is a terrible model for knowledge work, and I define corporate employees by what the corporation takes from them.
• In a post called, “Carnival Cash: The Cult of Seniority,” I talk about the idea of over-performing and about how being a low to mid level manager is a worse economic deal than being a software developer.
• I build on these ideas in a post about how “beggar CEOs” then expect us to work for no additional value.
• And in a similarly themed post, I point out that developer salary is a pretty bad deal, whether at $100K or $105K.  So, instead of arguing for a few more scraps, tell the company to keep the salary and ask for better things.
• Job interviews are stupid.  And tech interviews are especially stupid.  I encourage you to bypass them and specialize.  I have better ways of working in mind for software folks.
• I define a phenomenon called journeyman idealism, in which developers obsess over the illusion of an industry meritocracy instead of focusing on claiming more market worth.  We fetishize the vague concept of “programmer skill.“

My Books/Products/External Stuff To Check Out

That should be plenty to get you started on DaedTech posts.  But if you want some things of mine to check out even beyond this site, here’s some additional links.

• I write a lot.  I have a content marketing (writing) business for companies with developers as customers.  You can check out this page for a list of some of the other places I write as well as podcasts, interviews and speaking engagements.
• I wrote a booked called Developer Hegemony: The Future of Labor.  It topped out as a #2 best seller on Amazon, in the category “Social Aspects of Tech Culture.”  Maybe I’ll write another, rantier book later and get that elusive #1.  (You can also find it on Leanpub, since I self published it).
• I did write a post explaining Developer Hegemony, entitled “Developer Hegemony: The Crazy Idea that Software Developers Should Run Software Development.“
• I’ve also written another, older book about office politics called The Expert Beginner.
• If you like the ideas in Developer Hegemony, there’s a Facebook group where you can talk to me.

I Run a Side Hustle Email List, Focused on Ways to Get Work with Dignity

I recently wrote a blog post about this, so you can check it out for more detail.  But the short form is that my content business, Hit Subscribe, is happy to source work from my audience here.

If you’d like to write a paid blog post, just reach out.  Instead of tricking you with riddles or giving you weird interview questions, or whatever, we’ll just ask you if you’re up for writing it and believe you when you tell us.

Toward that end, we have a mailing list that anyone can sign up for.  We send out an email once a week with available side hustle opportunities through Hit Subscribe, and also through anyone else I know that wants to source work and do so in a dignified way.

You can sign up for that mailing list here if you’re curious — no obligation whatsoever, and emails each Thursday only.

So thanks for stopping by!

Hopefully you find some stuff here that you like.  And remember to subscribe to the RSS feed.  I generally publish new content once a week, sometimes in video and sometimes written.