Fog Creek Software Management Training Program

Joel Spolsky, who has written some of the smartest and most useful articles on software development done right in his Joel on Software blog, is also the CEO of Fog Creek Software. As CEO he recently posted an open invitation for would be software managers to apply for paid on the job training at Fog Creek. Joel describes the Fog Creek Software Management Training Program:

The key component of this program is rotating through just about every job at Fog Creek Software. We’ll rotate trainees through about ten different jobs over the course of three years:

• Project Management
• Tech Support
• Inside Sales
• Software Testing
• Usability Testing
• Software Design
• Program Management
• Beta Management
• Marketing
• Build Management

To supplement that, we’ll add a component of formal training. There will be some coursework at nearby colleges, long lists of reading material, intensive offsite training programs, and we’ll send you to industry conferences that we think are particularly valuable.

Joel adds:

Either way we think it’s a fantastic opportunity for ambitious, smart geeks who don’t see themselves as programmers.

That is such a sweet deal. Honestly, someone out there should jump at this. If I weren’t very much settled in Southern California, I’d have already sent in my resume. Everyone should have a digital medievalist in their payroll ;)

In all seriousness, this really is a great opportunity. You’ll note that it’s targeted towards non-programmers with a college degree, and that you get to learn all the facets and stages of developing software, except the coding. That’s brilliant, and a rare opportunity. Since Joel’s already posted the preliminary reading list I’ll at least get some useful reading suggestions.