Brian H. Prince

A little while back I wrote about a site called Thrive for IT Pros . We have launched a similar site for developers called Thrive for Developers . Microsoft has always been good about giving the information and tools developers need to build great software. Thrive is a way for  us to go beyond that. To help you learn the tools you need for your career, how to be a better developer, and do more with what you have already. I was really excited to be asked to be a part of this launch. Many of you have seen the Soft Skillz talk that I have done over the past year. They have also brought together a lot of content from the community, as well as tools to help you find that next job. That Soft Skillz talk originated out of a farewell talk I did as I left my team at Quick Solutions. It focused on retelling the lessons we had learned over my time there, so I could pass on some of our culture and tribal knowledge to the next generation of the team. The talk evolved, and became very popu...

While I am here at the great West Michigan .NET University event, I wanted to tell you about another Michigan event coming up. This one has a bit of a different flavor though. Instead of being all about hard skills, all of the talks will be about soft skills. I think this is a great change. While we have a very strong community in the area, our user groups spend too much of their time talking about hard skills, and not enough time about skills that make them better developers as a whole. The Kalamaxoo event team set out to change this. I will be speaking, as well as some other great people, so check it out.   From their site http://blindbackup.com/ ,   The Kalamazoo X Conference is a one-day software development conference hosted in beautiful Southwest Michigan. While there are many great technical conferences in the region, their focus tends toward new technologies and programming languages. The Kalamazoo X Conference intends to uniquely complement those conferen...

While I was on campus in Redmond during the MVP summit in March, Adam Carter asked me to swing by the TechNet Edge studio for a quick visit. We sat down, and talked about three things you can do to help you career. Check it out . There are some funny April Fool’s joke videos as well.

No matter how you slice it, the economy is definitely in a state of concern. Some call it a recession, some a depression, others it is a crash. Since all of those words are overloaded, I will choose to use the word Grapefruit to represent the current situation. How concerned you are with grapefruit depends on who you are, and your personal situation. It is these times of grapefruit when there is the most opportunity. Crazy, I know. But now is the time to start that crazy idea, to outmaneuver an opponent, or get desperate enough to take risks you normally wouldn’t take (personally, or as a company) during up times. All boats float in the high tide. Only great captains can navigate the low tide. There is no such thing as job security. Surprise. There just isn’t, it is a complete myth. ‘Job Security’ might have made sense two generations ago, but it just doesn’t work now. You make your own security, during good times, and during grapefruits. Through keeping your skills sharp, thro...

I often give a talk called “Soft Skillz: They aren’t just for humans anymore”. It focuses on many of the lessons I have learned over my career. Such topics as how to speak to humans, how to read body language, and how to manage your own career. If you aren’t happy with where you are in your career, then you only have yourself to blame. Your career is something you need to actively manage. When you are taking a new job, it should only be because it fits into your plan for your career, never for money. To avoid any money related problems in the search for a new job, you should already know if you want a positions BEFORE they offer it to you. At that point, if you KNOW it supports your career plan, and is a company you can feel at home for a while, then you know it is a job you should possibly take. Of course, the actual job offer and it’s details must work out logically for it all to make sense (which is a whole other blog post). There is a very simple process that you can use to mak...

I like to solve problems. It’s in my blood. I have a feeling if you are in this industry, it’s in your blood too. I think this is why I was drawn to Math and Physics growing up, and ended up studying them in college (along with CompSci of course). I think this is also why I like the type of games that I like to play. RPG’s, and RTS’s tend to be problem solving type games. Think of the missions you are assigned, or Civilization and SimCity. Those are problem simulators. Anyway… When a problem gets in my head, I can’t shake it. There are times when I will hit a roadblock for days. One of my strategies is to take a break from the problem, get my mind off it. When I come back to the problem I usually have some fresh ideas on how to approach it. The time off gives me the ability to come back with a different perspective on the problem. That's why, when meeting with customers, I like to give some initial feedback, and then spend a day or two digesting what we talked about. This time gi...

I will be speaking to a whole bunch of students at ITT in Nashville, TN this Friday (June 13th) at 6:00pm. Contact me if you want to attend. I will be covering my Soft Skillz talk, focusing on the career management aspects of it.

The tour continues. I will be at the Northwest Ohio .NET Users Group presenting my 'Soft Skillz : They aren't just for Humans anymore' talk. I haven't been up there in about year (maybe longer?) so it will be good to get up into Jason's and Greg's area. I will be bringing a copy of VS2008 Pro to give away. If you miss me in Toledo, I will be at the West Michigan Day of .NET as well this May 10th.

I gave my Soft Skillz talk at the Central Ohio Day of .NET this past Saturday. The event went really well. The organizers (led by Jim Holmes , Mike Wood , and Carey Payette) did a great job putting a team together, and running the event. The new space worked out well, and there were a lot of great speakers. It's amazing how far our community has come in five years. My session was pretty full, and VERY interactive. That is why I went over! If people had not interacted, I would have been on time. ;) Yeah, that's the story! I would always rather have an interactive group and go over, than a quiet group and finish early.

Spring is here, and there are DODN's popping up all over! The team in West Michigan has been busting their humps all winter to get this great event off of the ground. The event is FREE, and is on May 10th, 2008. Check out their web site, West Michigan Day of .NET 2008, for all of the details. I will be presenting my 'Soft Skillz - They aren't just for humans anymore' talk. I will be also showing off some great news that will be released April 21st.

Continuing my thoughts on my last post, Manage a Job Change , I want to talk about a special set of people that have 'Career ADD'. These are people that quickly tire of a job, and not for the reasons I outlined in the last post. They simply find no challenge left in the current project or position. These people thrive on that challenge. Once the challenge is gone, they get bored and go find a new mountain to climb. This can quickly lead to breaking the 'stay at least two years' rule. What can such a horribly afflicted individual do to avoid being branded a job hopper? I see a few options: 0. Get a job at large company that values and expects their people to excel and seek new roles with new challenges. Microsoft does this VERY well. Be careful you don't get stuck in a large company that prefers to drain the soul out of you. 1. Become a serial entrepreneur. Get an idea. Start a company. Launch it. Sell out. Start over. 3. Do so well at your current company ...

There has been a lot of conversation around careers and jobs lately (perhaps due to the recent Soft Skillz presentations, and because a friend is changing jobs right now). You should manage your job change in a proactive and healthy way. Always negotiate a start date that works for you, and supports a fair and clean exit from your current employer. ALWAYS give at least two weeks notice. But, take into account any project milestones or events that are close to your exit date, and adjust for those. It is up to your current employer to decide if they don't need you for those two weeks. I have experience where some will ask politely for you to leave that day, others choose to work out a transition plan for those two weeks. When you do resign, bring a transition plan with you. The plan should cover what tasks, responsibilities and projects you are working on, who those should transition to (in your opinion), and how you plan on doing the transition. The higher level or more import...