36 Books Every Young and Wildly Ambitious Man Should Read - The Art of Manliness
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26/03/2016
Podcast #118: A Wrestling Life With Dan Gable | The Art of Manliness
June 24, 2015 Books, Money & Career, Travel & Leisure
36 Books Every Young and Wildly Ambitious Man Should Read
If there is one thing the great men of history have in common it’s this: books. They read, a lot. Theodore Roosevelt carried a dozen books with him on his perilous exploration of the River of Doubt (including the Stoics). Lincoln read everything he could get his hands on (often recording passages he liked on spare boards because he didn’t have paper). Napoleon had a library of some 3,500 books with him at St. Helena, and before that had a traveling library he took on campaigns. The writer Ambrose Bierce, the Civil War veteran and an underrated contemporary of Mark Twain once remarked, “I owe more to my father’s books than to any other educational and directive influence.” The point is: Successful people read. A lot. And what about us young, wildly ambitious people who want to follow in their footsteps? We have that hunger, that drive, and desire. The question is: What should we1/25 http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/06/12/podcast118awrestlinglifewithdangable/
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to follow in their footsteps? We have that hunger, that drive, and desire. The question is: What should we read? What will help us on the path laid out for us — and all that it entails? Now a lot of the right recommendations are domain specific. If you want to be a writer, there are certain books you should read. If you want to be an economist, well, there are genres you need to deep dive into. If you want to be a soldier, there are others too. Still, there are many books that every person who aspires to leadership, mastery, influence, power, and success should read. These are the books that prepare you for the top, and also warn against its dangers. Some are historical. Some are fiction. Some are epics and classics. These are the books that every man must have in his library. Good luck and good reading.
Biographies
The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro. It took me 15 days to read all 1,165 pages of this monstrosity that chronicles the rise of Robert Moses. I was 20 years old. It was one of the most magnificent books I’ve ever read. Moses built just about every other major modern construction project in New York City. The public couldn’t stop him, the mayor couldn’t stop him, the governor couldn’t stop him, and only once could the President of the United States stop him. But ultimately, you know where the cliché must take us. Robert Moses was an asshole. He may have had more brain, more drive, more strategy than other men, but he did not have more compassion. And ultimately power turned him into something monstrous.
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Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller Sr. by Ron Chernow. I found Rockefeller to be strangely stoic, incredibly resilient, and, despite his reputation as a robber baron, humble and compassionate. Most people get worse as they get successful, many more get worse as they age. In fact, Rockefeller began tithing his money with his first job and gave more of it away as he became successful. He grew more openminded the older he became, more generous, more pious, more dedicated to making a difference. And what made Rockefeller stand apart as a young man was his ability to remain coolheaded in adversity and grounded in success, always on an even keel, never letting excessive passion and emotion hold sway over him.
The Kid Stays in the Picture: A Notorious Life by Robert Evans. If you’re specifically looking to make your way in showbiz, this is the book you have to read. It’s the ragstoriches, rise and fall and rise of Robert Evans, one of the most notorious figures in Hollywood. From pants salesman to running Paramount Pictures (and producing The Godfather), his story is the one that everyone who heads to L.A. hopes to have. It was one of the first books I read when I started working in the business. I think it shows you how far hustle and hype and heat contribute to success. And how they can also lead to your downfall and exile.
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Empire State of Mind: How JayZ Went from Street Corner to Corner Office by Zack O’Malley Greenburg. This is a biography that also functions as a business book. It shows how as a young man in Brooklyn, Jay applied hustling techniques to the music business and eventually built his empire. A true hustler, he never did only one thing — from music to fashion to sports, Jay dominated each field, always operating on the same principles. As he puts it, “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man!” And related to that, I also recommend The 50th Law, which tells the stories of many such individuals and will stick with you just as long.
The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King by Rich Cohen. This book tells the incredible story of Sam Zemurray, the penniless Russian immigrant who, through pure hustle and drive, became the CEO of United Fruit, the biggest fruit company in the world. The greatness of Zemurray, as author Rich Cohen puts it, “lies in the fact that he never lost faith in his ability to salvage a situation.” For Zemurray, there was always a countermove, always a way through an obstacle, no matter how dire the situation.
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley by Malcolm X. I forget who said it but I heard someone say that Catcher in the Rye was to young white boys what The Autobiography of Malcolm X was to young black boys. Personally, I prefer that latter over the former. I would much rather read about and emulate a man who is born into adversity and pain, struggles with criminality, does prison time, teaches himself to read through the dictionary, finds religion, and then becomes an activist for Civil Rights before being gunned down by his former supporters when he tempers the hate and anger that had long defined parts of his message. Booker T. Washington’s memoir Up from Slavery and Frederick Douglass’s epic narrative are both incredibly moving and inspiring as well.
Personal History by Katharine Graham. If one thing is certain about your path to success, it is that it will be fraught with adversity. Fate will intervene in ways you would never expect. Which is why you absolutely must read Graham’s memoir. After the tragic suicide of her husband, who ran the The Washington Post and which they both owned, Katharine Graham, at age 46 and a mother of three, with no work experience to speak of, found herself overseeing the Post through its most tumultuous and difficult years (think Watergate and the Pentagon papers). Eventually, she became one of the best CEOs of the 20th century, period. She pulled through and endured with a strong sense of purpose, fortitude, and strength that we can all learn from. In similar regard, read Eleanor Roosevelt’s twovolume biography to see how she managed to turn what was at the time a meaningless position in the White House into a powerful platform for change and influence.
Howto & Advice
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The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. It is impossible to describe this book and do it justice. But if you plan on living life on your terms, climbing as high as you’d like to go, and avoid being controlled by others, then you need to read this book. Robert is an amazing researcher and storyteller — he has a profound ability to explain timeless truths through story and example. You can read the classics and not always understand the lessons. But if you read the The 48 Laws, I promise you will leave not just with actionable lessons but an indelible sense of what to do in many trying and confusing situations. As a young person, one of the most important laws to master is to “always say less than necessary.” Always ask yourself: “Am I saying this because I want to prove how smart I am or am I saying this because it needs to be said?” Don’t forget The Prince, The Art of War, and all the other required readings in strategy. And of course, it doesn’t matter how good you are at the game of power, without Mastery it’s worthless.
Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. Part of ambition is modeling yourself after those you’d like to be like. Austin’s philosophy of ruthlessly stealing and remixing the greats might sound appalling at first but it is actually the essence of art. You learn by stealing, you become creative by stealing, you push yourself to be better by working with these materials. Austin is a fantastic artist, but most importantly he communicates the essence of writing and creating art better than anyone else I can think of. It is a manifesto for any young, creative person looking to make his mark. Pair up with Show Your Work which is also excellent.
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Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton. Ah yes, the drive that we all have to be better, bigger, have more, be more. Ambition is a good thing, but it’s also a source of great anxiety and frustration. In this book, philosopher Alain de Botton studies the downsides of the desire to “be somebody” in this world. How do you manage ambition? How do you manage envy? How do you avoid the traps that so many other people fall into? This book is a good introduction into the philosophy and psychology of just that.
What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars by Jim Paul and Brendan Moynihan. There are lots of books on aspiring to something. Very little are from actual people who aspired, achieved, and lost it. With each and every successful move that he made, Jim Paul, who made it to Governor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, was convinced that he was special, different, and exempt from the rules. Once the markets turned against his trades, he lost it all — his fortune, job, and reputation. That’s what makes this book a critical part in understanding how letting arrogance and pride get to your head is the beginning of your unraveling. Learn from stories like this instead of by your own trial and error. Think about that next time you believe you have it all figured out. (Tim Ferriss recently produced the audiobook version of this, which I recommend.)
Philosophy & Classical Wisdom
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Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I would call this the greatest book ever written. It is the definitive text on selfdiscipline, personal ethics, humility, selfactualization, and strength. Bill Clinton reads it every year, and so have countless other leaders, statesmen, and soldiers. It is a book written by one of the most powerful men who ever lived on the lessons that power, responsibility, and philosophy teach us. This book will make you a better person and better able to manage the success you desire.
Cyropaedia by Xenophon (a more accessible translation can be found in Xenophon’s Cyrus The Great: The Arts of Leadership and War). Xenophon, like Plato, was a student of Socrates. For whatever reason, his work is not nearly as famous, even though it is far more applicable. This book is the best biography written of Cyrus the Great, one of history’s greatest leaders and conquerors who is considered the “father of human rights.” There are so many great lessons in here and I wish more people would read it. Machiavelli learned them, as this book inspired The Prince.
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Lord Chesterfield’s Letters by Lord Chesterfield. Just like Meditations, which was never intended for publication, this is a private correspondence between Lord Chesterfield and his son Philip. We should probably be happy that this guy was not our father — but we can be glad that his wisdom has been passed down. I have not marked as many pages in a book as I have in this one in quite some time. Of course, the classic in this genre of letters is Letters From A Self Made Merchant To His Son. Dating back to 1890, these are preserved letters from John “Old Gorgon” Graham, a selfmade millionaire in Chicago, and his son who is coming of age and entering the family business. His letters are an incisive and edifying tutorial in entrepreneurship, responsibility, and leadership. Rilke’s Letters To A Young Poet is also moving and profound. Addressed to a 19yearold former student of his who sought Rilke’s critique, these short letters are less concerned with poetry and more about what it means to live a meaningful and fulfilling life as an artist and as a person.
Plutarch’s Lives (I & II) by Plutarch. There are few books more influential and ubiquitous in Western culture than Plutarch’s histories. Aside from being the basis of much of Shakespeare, he was one of Montaigne’s favorite writers. His biographies and sketches of Pericles, Demosthenes, Themistocles, Cicero, Alexander the Great, Caesar, and Fabius are all excellent — and full of powerful anecdotes. These are moral biographies, intended to teach lessons about power, greed, honor, virtue, fate, duty, and all the important things they forget to mention in school. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/06/12/podcast118awrestlinglifewithdangable/
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The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects by Giorgio Vasari. Basically a friend and peer of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, and all the other great minds of the Renaissance, Giorgio Vasari sat down in 1550 and wrote biographical sketches of the people he knew or had influenced him. Unless you have a degree in Art History it’s unlikely that anyone pushed this book at you and that’s a shame. These great men were not just artists, they were masters of the political and social worlds they lived in. There are so many great lessons about craft and psychology within this book. The best part? It was written by someone who actually knew what he was talking about, not some art snob or critic; he was an actual artist and architect of equal stature to the people he was documenting.
The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi. Widely held as a classic, this book is much more than a manifesto and manual on swordsmanship and martial arts. It’s about the mindset, the discipline, and the perception necessary to win in life or death situations. As a swordsman, Musashi fought mostly by himself, for himself. His wisdom, therefore, is mostly internal. He tells you how to outthink and out move your enemies. He tells you how to fend for yourself and live by a code. And isn’t that precisely 10/25 http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/06/12/podcast118awrestlinglifewithdangable/
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move your enemies. He tells you how to fend for yourself and live by a code. And isn’t that precisely what so many of us need help with every day?
Fiction
This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff and TottoChan: The Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. If you wanted to read a book to become a successful, welladjusted person, you probably could not do worse than Catcher in the Rye. Tobias Wolff’s memoir is a far better choice for the young man struggling with who he is and who he wants to be. I also suggest pairing it with the female counterpart: TottoChan. The latter is the memoir and biography of one of the most famous and successful women in Japan (akin to Oprah). It’s an inspiring little story of someone who didn’t fit in, who always saw the world differently (sound familiar?). But instead of making her hard, it made her empathetic and caring and kind — to say nothing of creative and unique. (The former is actually fiction but based on a true story. The latter is a true story but reads essentially like fiction).
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The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler. Duddy is the ultimate Jewish hustler, always working, always scheming, always looking for a deal, and looked down upon by everyone for his limitless ambition. Duddy never stops in his pursuit to acquire real estate in order to “be somebody” — never forgetting his grandfather’s maxim that “a man without land is nobody.” Except it doesn’t work out like he planned. From this book, you learn that the hustler — the striver — if he cannot prioritize and if he does not have principles, loses everything in the end.
What Makes Sammy Run by Budd Schulberg. A composite figure based on some of Hollywood’s first moguls, the book chronicles the rise and fall of Sammy Glick, the ragstoriches boy from New York who makes his way through deception and betrayal. Essentially, Sammy is your Ari Gold without the slightest bit of human decency. He’s running from selfreflection, from meaning. It’s fear knocking on the door that he’s frantically trying to block with accomplishments. Sammy is an accomplished man, but not a great man — that takes ethics, purpose, and principles. All The King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren is another similar story — a sort of fictional version of The Power Broker — that tells of the effect that power and drive can have.
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The Disenchanted by Budd Schulberg and The Crack Up & The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Disenchanted and The Crack Up are both about the fall of F. Scott Fitzgerald, one from the first person perspective and the other from the fictional eyes of a friend watching his hero fall to pieces — just like the story of Gatsby itself. The Crack Up is a collection of essays, many of which are offtopic, but they had to be — a person cannot look so directly and honestly on their own broken soul without turning away at times. Fitzgerald’s Crack Up has always been illustrative to me and it’s something I’ve thought a lot about. I call it the Second Act Fallacy, and you pity and feel for a man with so much talent and wisdom who was helpless to apply it to himself. Liber medicina animi — a book is the soul’s medicine. Of course, the books listed here are by no means all you need to be healthy or fulfilled. It’s just the beginning. But they do make a solid start to your library. Enjoy and be careful out there. It’s a perilous road to the top. ________________________ Ryan Holiday is the bestselling author of The Obstacle Is The Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumphs and two other books. He keeps a popular monthly book recommendation email that currently has more than 40,000 subscribers. A Manly Guest Contributor 31 Comments Previous Post Next Post June 12, 2015 Podcast
Podcast #118: A Wrestling Life With Dan Gable
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The Art of Manliness
#118: Olympic and Collegiate Wrestling Legend ...
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If you’re familiar with the world of collegiate or Olympic wrestling, then you probably know who Dan Gable is. As a wrestler, he only lost one match during his college career at Iowa State University and he won the gold medal at the 1972 Olympics while not giving up a single point. He went on to coach at the University of Iowa where he led the team to 15 NCAA titles between 1976 and 1997. In today’s podcast I talk to Coach Gable about wrestling, leadership, and life as well as his new book, A Wrestling Life.
Show Highlights How not to be a “Molly Putz” How Dan helped his family cope with the tragic murder of his teenage sister How Dan developed his tenacious drive to succeed What Dan learned from his only defeat in college (and how it made him a better wrestler) How Dan transitioned from wrestler to coach, and from fulltime coaching to semiretirement The coaching and leadership principles that guided Dan throughout his career Why success requires learning “The Patience of Change” And much more!
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Even if you never wrestled, I think you’ll really enjoy A Wrestling Life. Wrestling is a sport that lends itself well as an analogy for life. Success in wrestling, as in life, requires struggle, patience, and learning how to bounce back from defeat. Whether you’re a young man just starting out in life or an older man on the precipice of retirement, you’re going to find some insight from Coach Gable in this great book.
Listen to the Podcast! Listen to the episode on a separate page. Download this episode. Follow us on SoundCloud. Subscribe via iTunes. (Please give us a review if you enjoy the podcast. It helps others discover us.) Follow us on Stitcher. Subscribe to the podcast in the media player of your choice. Special thanks to Keelan O’Hara for editing the podcast!
Read the Transcript Coming soon! Previous Post Next Post June 12, 2015 Blog
Shop the AoM Store for Father’s Day: Check Out
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Shop the AoM Store for Father’s Day: Check Out These Special Deals, Discounts, and New Items! PSA: Father’s Day is June 21. If you’re still looking for something to show your appreciation for dear old dad, make sure to check out the Art of Manliness Store. You’ll find all sorts of classic, manly gear like safety razor sets, a pocket knife, tie bars, and a manly and hefty coffee mug fit for Teddy Roosevelt. We’ve also got a oneofakind journal inspired by the virtue journal Ben Franklin created to keep himself living a life of excellence and good deeds. In addition to our normal items, with also have some special Father’s Days deals and discounts going on:
AoM Book + Mug Bundle
The AoM Book + Mug Bundle gets you either a copy of Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man or Manvotionals coupled with our worldfamous AoM Coffee Mug at a discount. Dad can increase in manly wisdom while sipping his morning coffee from the manliest coffee mug ever made. You’ll need to act quick on this one. Supplies are limited and the sets are going fast.
Signed AoM Book Boxed Set Collection
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Can’t decide whether to get dad The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man or Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues? Get him both! This box set comes with our two classic books, plus coasters bearing manly iconography, all packed in a handsome cigar box. It’s a virile collection for the ages. Signed editions are now available in the AoM Store!
Father’s Day Discount To make gifting dad a little lighter on the pocket book, make sure to use the discount code FATHER15 at checkout for 15% off. Code is good until June 30, 2015, so use it or lose it. Brett & Kate McKay Previous Post Next Post July 30, 2015 Money & Career, So You Want My Job
So You Want My Job: App Developer
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Brett & Kate McKay
Once again we return to our So You Want My Job series, in which we interview men who are employed in desirable jobs and ask them about the reality of their work and for advice on how men can live their dream. A lot of computer and softwarerelated gigs get lumped into the same bundle of careers, with no real differentiation. The reality, though, is that there are a number of vocations that include programming, development, computer security, etc. Last year, we covered the ins and outs of being an IT professional. Today, we’re looking at the world of app developers. We talked with Jason Butz, who gives us a peek into what he does, and how it’s different from other programming careers. 1. Tell us a little about yourself (Where are you from? How old are you? Describe your job and how long you’ve been at it, etc.). I was born and grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. I’m 26, but approaching 27 quickly. I’m an Application Developer, which is a fancy way of saying I build web applications. I’ve been with my current employer for almost 2 years, but I have been professionally working on web applications for about 5 years. I’ve been playing with websites and web technology in my free time for more than 15 years. 2. Why did you want to get into application programming/development? Was it something you always knew you wanted to do? Growing up I wanted to be a vet or a zoo keeper, so this wasn’t exactly what I originally wanted. In middle school I took a summer enrichment class where I learned to build websites. It was still the 90s, and the websites weren’t good looking, but I was hooked. In high school I took every computer class I could and was learning more about web development at home on my own time. I was taking classes on everything from programming to building and fixing computers. I was actually able to get a couple certifications. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew it would deal with computers. Once I started my college search I zeroed in on a Computer Science degree and figured out in college that I was good at web applications and loved building them. 3. Can you define for us what an application developer does? It tends to get lumped in with a variety of other tech careers. What is it that defines your specific role? With the titles companies use things do get very murky. For example, at the company where I work, an Application Developer can get a promotion to a Software Engineer, where the only real difference is the pay scale available. I had a previous job where I did the same thing, but my title was Developer/Analyst. I am sure there are even more titles used than those, but I don’t know them all. It gets even more complicated when you take into account that the title of Software Engineer is used for jobs that don’t necessarily work with web applications, but just do some sort of programming. In my case, an Application Developer builds and maintains web applications. In the department I am in we have 34 primary internal web applications that we have built and maintain. In another department the Application Developers build custom web applications to extend the product and services that customers have purchased. For example, one of our internal applications is a project management suite built around our processes and needs. A few of the developers on my team just finished deploying a massive overhaul to our Gantt chart feature. I’m working my way through understanding and building out a complex financial report that needs to be built entirely with information we have in our system. We all work on the same tools, but http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/06/12/podcast118awrestlinglifewithdangable/ 18/25
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that needs to be built entirely with information we have in our system. We all work on the same tools, but what we are actually doing can have a great deal of variety. 4. How do you become an application developer? Do you need a college degree? Are there certifications required? If you do go to college, what should you study? A college degree isn’t necessarily required, but there are a lot of companies that won’t even consider you for a position unless you have one. Without a degree you will need to have a good portfolio of work and projects you have built. If you have made good contributions to popular open source projects, that would be especially helpful (of course, a good portfolio is going to be helpful even with a college degree). There aren’t too many certifications that I am aware of if you want to do any sort of web development, though I am sure some exist. Certifications can be helpful with any technology job, but employers seem to be getting more leery of potential employees who have a slew of certifications but no real experience to back them up. It isn’t unheard of for people to cram for certification tests and pass but still have no real understanding of the information. There are several paths you can take for a college degree. I went the Computer Science (CS) route. There are some people on my team who have Information Science (IS) or Computer and Information Science (CIS) degrees. I’ve even worked with one person who had a Computer Graphics degree. CS degrees tend to have more computer theory than IS or CIS. I think I have also seen some colleges offer Web Development degrees, which could even work. It really comes down to what the individual degree program teaches and what exactly you want to do. 5. How do you find work as an application developer? Are there different types of jobs within the field? What’s the job market like? The best way, which I actually had some trouble with, in finding work as an application developer is to start with an internship. My college didn’t put much emphasis on them, which really worked against me. We had a few interns on my team last summer; one of them did such a good job that he has been all but told he will be hired when he graduates if he applies. There are also a lot of recruiters for all technical jobs. In Indianapolis there is actually a shortage of technical people, so the recruiters are working really hard. They can be a great way to get interviews and find work, but you have to remember this is their job. They have an interest in getting you hired somewhere, even if it isn’t the best fit for you. I have had the most luck with referrals from family and friends. I got my first job out of college thanks to a guy I knew who had graduated the year before me. We hadn’t really been friends at the time, but he knew the classes I had been taking and he knew he could vouch for my skills by the simple fact I was getting a degree from the same program he did. While in school I can’t emphasize enough that you need to network with your professors, the alumni, and even people a year or two ahead of you. They could be the key to you finding that dream job. I actually got my foot in the door at my current employer thanks to my halfsibling’s cousin. Sounds kind of crazy and always gets a laugh, but I will take whatever I can get. There is also the good old method of sending out resumes. I would suggest not using the job finding sites, like CareerBuilder, if you can help it; just send your resume to the company through their own careers section. Look up companies in your area and take a look at what they do and what jobs they have available. If you have a question about whether or not they even have certain types of jobs, don’t hesitate to call them and ask to speak with an HR recruiter. You never know, you may get lucky and get an interview from that. The big thing with sending out resumes is that you are less likely to get a call than someone who has been referred by another employee, so get out there and network. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/06/12/podcast118awrestlinglifewithdangable/ 19/25
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someone who has been referred by another employee, so get out there and network. 6. Tell us a little bit about an average work day. I start my days at 7:30am by choice. The rest of the team doesn’t come in until 9:00. I’m a morning person and more productive in the mornings, so my boss doesn’t mind and I enjoy the quiet. I generally start the day by skimming my email and the helpdesk looking for any issues that I can take care of or need to provide an update on. After that I pick up whatever I was doing the previous day and do my best to focus on that until our SCRUM meeting at 9:30. Our SCRUM meetings are a short meeting where we say what we have been working on and what we plan to do for that day. It’s also the time when our boss might switch up priorities and tell us to do something different if need be. After that I keep going on my work for the day, taking periodic short breaks to walk around and look at something that isn’t code or my current problem. One thing that is a little unique and different about the team I am currently on is that during lunch we almost always play a game. We tend to play games that we can finish in under an hour, though we are starting to try games that we can easily take a picture of and resume the next day. After lunch I just keep going on my work until it is time to go home. One thing a little different about my situation is that there is one system that I am the only one who knows how to fully administer or develop on. This isn’t exactly ideal, but training others on it isn’t exactly a priority. So I get a lot of helpdesk tickets for the system and get pulled into meetings whenever people want new features or have questions. All in all the average day isn’t too bad. I work at a technology company and we have an internal instant messaging tool. The whole day the team may not be talking a lot, but we have conversations and jokes constantly flying around in those messages. It makes it easy to socialize while still being productive. Every month or two we have a release, which makes for a far more stressful and varied couple weeks. Those weeks usually involve testing the entire system and fixing any bugs we find as quickly as possible. Then we release over the weekend and have to release a lot of small fixes the next week as people find more bugs. 7. What is the work/life balance like as a programmer? It is generally very balanced. Usually you get to show up and leave at regular times, though there are exceptions. If something is critically broken you will generally have to stick around until that is fixed. If you have a feature that needs to be in a release and you are running out of time you’ll have to put in some extra work. If more time is needed to get a release put together and it can’t be pushed back to another day, then you will probably have to put in some more time there. The extent to how much any of these things interrupt your life really depends upon where you work and who your boss is. A lot of times it is possible to know ahead of time that you will have to put in some extra hours and you can plan accordingly. 8. What’s the best part of your career? The puzzles. Programming things is really like a giant logic puzzle. I have to put different things together to build an application that does something. I may get told that when someone approves an item in the application a certain group of people needs to get an email, but I can’t just put that in as is. I have to take that and break it down to a very basic level. Once I have it broken down I arrange my pieces — the code — so it will accomplish what I want. I also love when you get to create something new. New features that aren’t reports are usually a lot of fun to make. Sometimes complex reports can be interesting too. Having users come to you and say “We need a Gantt chart” and then creating that and handing it to them is a wonderful experience. They tend to look at you like you are some sort of wizard or magician. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/06/12/podcast118awrestlinglifewithdangable/
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Podcast #118: A Wrestling Life With Dan Gable | The Art of Manliness
Aside from the puzzles and creation the people can be really great. I am a geeky person, but everyone on my team is geeky too. The conversations we’ll have can get insane. Sometimes you hear someone going on about what Marvel is doing with their comic books. Another time you will hear incredibly detailed game reviews. Other times you’ll hear random but fascinating facts about movies. Occasionally things get philosophical. There is never a boring conversation and we all make each other laugh all the time. 9. What’s the worst part? Boring projects or projects that were once exciting but have turned monotonous. Creating a really basic report that just lists information is not a lot of fun. The only saving grace for them is how quickly you can finish them. You don’t get to do much creation and the biggest puzzle is how you are going to pull all of the right information. The rest of it you have done before. Sometimes big projects can go from really interesting to monotonous and then continue to drag on for weeks. Figuring out how to do everything at the start and having all of these grand ideas is great — it combines some of the best parts of the job. But then you have to do all of those grand things you thought up and it can start to get boring really quick, and then gets frustrating as you forget how you did some things and planned to do others. You have to balance making notes and trying to remember things. The grander your ideas the harder it is to make all of the pieces fit together correctly. 10. What’s the biggest misconception people have about your job? People think that since I work with computers I know everything about computers, including how to fix them. In my case I do know how to fix computers, but that isn’t as common as people think. Another common one is that since I can write programs, people think I can write a program for anything. I can learn to write programs for other systems, but every platform is a little different. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people tell me, “Hey, I need your help. I have this great idea for a phone app and I need you to make it.” They always look a little dumbfounded when I tell them I’m not familiar with how to make phone apps. 11. Any other advice, tips, commentary, or anecdotes you’d like to add? If you want to get into any kind of computer programming you will need to know programming languages, but a lot of times it is the ability to learn languages quickly and the right mindset that are more important. You have to take complex problems and break them down to something simpler. Poking holes in ideas and finding logical edge cases is also very useful. An important lesson I’ve learned, that I feel is pretty useful for everyone, is always own up to your mistakes. At the last company I worked for I was working on the financial system and had pushed out an update that I had written. The next day a manager came over to where the other developer and I sat and told us it looked like $2 million had disappeared from the system. I quickly said that it was probably my fault because I had pushed out some code affecting that the previous day. Admitting that I had messed up went a long way. I was also able to fix the problem and make the money reappear in the financials, which probably didn’t hurt. The other developer there had made $200 million disappear and he hadn’t lost his job either. Always own up to your mistakes and do what it takes to fix them, if they are fixable. Jeremy Anderberg Previous Post Next Post July 15, 2015
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/06/12/podcast118awrestlinglifewithdangable/
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Podcast #118: A Wrestling Life With Dan Gable | The Art of Manliness
July 15, 2015 DIY Home Maintenance, Manly Skills
4 Reasons You Should Learn How to Repair Your Own Furniture
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Joshua Klein. Every man should learn how to repair his furniture. Loose and wobbly chairs, broken stretchers, and dangling veneer fragments are all common sights in the average home. While many leave these items neglected until the problem compounds into something greater, some are bold enough to try to remedy the issue…even if they’re unsure of the best way to do it. While their fortitude is admirable, the resulting quick fix almost always causes bigger longterm problems for the piece. Fortunately, ensuring execution of a sound repair rather than a shortsighted one is often an issue of knowledge, not technical skill. No more than the most basic woodworking skills are required. And so I present this twopart series on repairing your own furniture. But I’m not completely naïve here. I know not everyone sees the value of learning this skill, so before we dive into the how, let me take a minute to start with the why question. You may be asking, “Frankly, who cares if my chair sways a bit when I sit in it?” or, “In this day and age, who really has time to reglue their furniture when it’s loose? Can’t we just buy the new model coming out next year?” “I’ll just stick this one out in the garage until later. We’ve got other chairs that are fine,” you think to yourself. If that’s you, hear me out. There are several good reasons you should learn to care for the furniture of your domestic domain. Both practical and philosophical concerns are at issue here and we would do well to consider them. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/06/12/podcast118awrestlinglifewithdangable/
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Podcast #118: A Wrestling Life With Dan Gable | The Art of Manliness
Reasons You Should Repair Your Own Furniture Reason #1: Eliminate a Safety Hazard You don’t want to be the guy who offers a friend or loved one the chair that finally gives way underneath them, sending them crashing to the floor atop pointed wooden shards. At the very least, it’s embarrassing when someone special sits nervously for fear of being the straw that finally breaks the chair/camel’s back. When something is wobbling, that something is dangerous. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Reason #2: Impress Your Loved Ones One of the coolest things about repairing your own furniture is that your lady will swoon. When your skills, knowledge, and dependability set you apart from other dudes it shows your wife and kids how a real man takes care of the stuff he’s responsible for. Be that guy. Seriously, competence in this area will do more for your relationship than all the sappy poetry you place in all your flower bouquets combined.
Reason #3: Plan for Permanence, Not Obsolescence The planned obsolescence of today’s consumerism is a tragedy. Not only is it wasteful for our furniture to become disposable after only a few years, but even worse, it strips men of the opportunity to develop manual dexterity. When nothing is repairable anymore, there is no reason to learn to work with our hands. Let’s rebel against insatiable consumerism. Investing in wellmade pieces enables you to keep furniture of integrity your entire life. Besides, when your time is up, your kids will have something special to inherit.
Reason #4: Leave a Legacy for Future Generations Speaking of inheriting special things…if you have any antique furniture, think about this: you are only one of the many caretakers of the piece throughout its “lifetime.” Perhaps someone 150 years ago ordered your dining table from a cabinetmaker to commemorate their wedding date. They then ate home cooked meals with their children at it their whole lives. Then their children inherited it and did the same. Then the next generation acquired it and so on. Learning to appreciate your role in the big picture of your heritage is a dying duty today in our culture. Be a man and honor your past.
Furniture Mindfulness While it’s certainly manly to repair furniture, it’s even better to prevent the need for such repairs in the first place by taking good care of your possessions. So before we get to how to mend broken things, let’s talk about how to minimize the need for such fixes by practicing furniture mindfulness. No, I’m not talking about a neoBuddhist meditation on your table’s joinery. I’m talking about using your furniture in such a way that you’re aware of the weaknesses, and you make sure to avoid stressing them. In short: use furniture as it was designed to be used. Chairs were not designed to lean back in. Chests were never meant to be pushed or pulled across your carpet. Furniture joinery is very thoughtfully designed, but every created thing has its limitations. This is especially true for an object 200 years old. The thing may be a dogged survivor, but we have to be realistic that is has been through the ringer having lived with kids, pets, and life’s regular abuse for two centuries. We ought to handle these objects carefully. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/06/12/podcast118awrestlinglifewithdangable/ 23/25
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Podcast #118: A Wrestling Life With Dan Gable | The Art of Manliness
centuries. We ought to handle these objects carefully. A big part of doing that is moving these pieces of furniture correctly, which is what we’ll explore next.
How to Get a Grip
One of the most common scenarios in which damage occurs is when an object is being moved. Whether it’s to the other side of the room or the other side of the country, transit is risky. Grabbing the wrong part to lift could spell disaster.
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/06/12/podcast118awrestlinglifewithdangable/
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Podcast #118: A Wrestling Life With Dan Gable | The Art of Manliness
Part of becoming more mindful of your furniture pieces is learning the names of the parts that compose them. The principles are basic and pretty easy to remember: Always lift by the largest horizontal structural members. Think chair seat rails (not the crest rail), table aprons (not the top), and the bottom of the chest (not handles or lids). Follow this one principle and your outcome will be much better. So now you know why you should learn how to repair your furniture, and how to minimize the need for such repairs in the first place. But wear and tear and accidents do happen. So on Friday, I’ll offer the nitty gritty on to make the most common furniture repairs. ___________________ Joshua Klein is a furniture conservator/maker in Midcoast Maine. He is currently writing a book about the furniture making of Jonathan Fisher (17681847) of Blue Hill, Maine. He regularly blogs at The Workbench Diary (http://workbenchdiary.com) and is the founder of Mortise & Tenon Magazine (http://mortiseandtenonmag.com). A Manly Guest Contributor Previous Post Next Post
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/06/12/podcast118awrestlinglifewithdangable/
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