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No Escupas al Cielo 2

I have a friend who is a very good business analyst, and we naturally tease each other about whether or not the other one actually does any work (note that the explanation for the post title is also in the linked blog post). It's a running joke between us, and neither one of us really means anything by it. The more time passes, though, the more I'm starting to think that the universe really is trying to mess with me as a result of some of this banter.

You see, I fancy myself a software developer. That means that all of the skills I value are about solving technical problems. Sure, I understand full well that you need to actually solve problems for users otherwise no one will use your software; I've had conversations at work with people that included me saying, "sometimes you need less code, not more." Still, there are plenty of situations that require code. That's where I come in, and that's where I earn my paycheck.

However, judging by my LinkedIn profile, it seems that everyone around me thinks I'm really good at being a business analyst. LinkedIn has this feature where other people can endorse you for certain skill sets. It's basically a way of saying, "oh yeah, this person is good at this, take my word for it." I think you can go asking for that kind of endorsement, but that's not really my style. It feels way too close to bragging for my tastes to ask someone, "hey, I'm good at X, aren't I?" All in all, this means that whatever endorsements I have are well and truly the opinions of other people.

As it turns out, I've been endorsed multiple times for things like "requirement gathering" and "business analysis." Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining that other people are praising me for these things. But like I said above, I fancy myself a software developer, so I'd be far more proud of something that said, "Sam writes really bitchin' code." Sadly, that has yet to happen. Instead, my profile reads like a business analyst training plan. Sigh.

All of this leaves me with two possible paths. The first option is to get better at this code writing thing so that endorsements eventually even out a bit more. The second one is to stop teasing my friend so the karmic retribution eases up on me. Yeah, we all know which path I'm going with. Anyone know of any good coding books or blogs?

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