What does the next generation of IT-professionals look like? If I believe the rumors, the guides, the white noise on the Internet and what my clients are searching for, the new hire is an excellent, cheap, "T-Shaped" newbie with a lot of experience, the right agile mindset and she's ready to be a cultural fit for big and small companies alike.

Those unicorns do exist, but the majority of students leaving universities today have no clue what we need. Are they to blame? Have we clearly expressed what we need already? Have we defined how we intend to push them even further?

Software developers have a long journey ahead of them. Good programming skills are certainly necessary, but not enough to become great developers. A corresponding mentality, a set of soft-skills and a broad understanding of the system in which they evolve also play a huge role in their success. I personally think that we - as software professionals - did not express those expectations clearly enough. This has the effect of leaving the new generation of developers alone responsible for their journey toward continuous improvement, forcing them to learn many lessons the hard way at a lower tempo than what would be possible.

This book will go over the three most important relations of the software engineer: relation to code, to his/her peers and to him/herself. We will discuss topics like Kent Beck's "make it work, make it right, make it fast", Clean Code, questioning, exercising, getting your hands dirty, Scrum, mentoring, ethics and much more.

From the novice developer barely out of his studies to the senior software writer looking for mastery. From the young team lead coping with human interaction challenges to the manager faced with the task of leading with tact. Any curious mind interested in growing in the software writing industry and doing his or her job a little bit better with ever more joy day after day will recognize himself in this book.