This is it. You’re reading it right now. Were you reading it in your favorite fast food chain, you’d win a free milkshake.

I really had no plans for my 100th post other than to announce that this is truly my 100th post since starting the blog in 2006. With the fanfare, I thought it’d be exciting to look back on a few of my favorite posts and add commentary about how the blog and I have changed since its inception.

In total I’ve found nine biggies. Link to the ones I’m forgetting in the comments.

1. Frist Post!!!!!!!!!11!!1!0!11!

You know how good first posts can be…

This one was actually my second, though I think it qualifies. Read at your own risk.

2. Third Post!

This one might honestly have something to it. Topics covered: “Agile as a marketing term.” “What does it mean to be Agile?” “Agile from a student’s perspective.” Actually made it onto a “Top 10 Agile Analogies” blog post from someone I don’t know personally. Sweet.

3. Ruby Subversion Bindings: You heard it here first.

These two posts — this one and this one — are the two posts that drive most of the traffic to my blog. Usually they drive more than half the unique visitors per month, and that’s simply because official documentation for the Ruby Subversion bindings doesn’t exist yet (to my knowledge). Now they’ve the top Google hit. Go figure.

4. The Beginning of “Tim Bits.”

This post is my reaction to the workshop where the first Tim-Bit was born. A bit dramatic, but still delicious.

5. AST Certification Debate

This was a hot button at CAST 2007. Five representatives of major software testing certification programs graciously agreed to a facilitated debate. I’m sure you can imagine the elephant tensions in the room once the AST members got a hold of their K-cards.

6. CAST 2008

Hands down great professional experience. Response to CAST 2009 to come soon.

7. My Move to New York.

Though the blog doesn’t properly show it, the move was not at all what I expected — and it included a fictional misdemeanor on my credit report preventing me from getting an apartment. I am not a crook, guys. Sheesh!

8. I start test managing!

Well… kindof. A good attempt in my context. I’m sure there’s a lot more to learn.

9. The Prestige

And last but not least: what I’d call my greatest post to date (i.e., well written, insightful… …modest. ). This represented a round of both career and soul searching that ended in an extremely pleasant result. More on that to come very soon.

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As always, a big thank you goes to all my readers.

On the heels of James Bach’s Buccaneer Scholar, a new idea, book and blog where he details his experience with exploratory thinking and learning, comes my own wrestling, not only with how I learn, but what I should learn. Due to recent events I’ll make clear in a few weeks, this question has begun to capture all of my spare CPU cycles — and it won’t quit.

The crux of the question, I think, is this: When I was thirteen, I set a goal to go to college, get a degree, and work for Microsoft (then the most popular software company in existence). While in college, I latched onto open-source software and the free software movement — happily ditching Windows for Gentoo, Mandrake, then finally Ubuntu — and gleefully traded Microsoft for a slightly newer and more exciting company called Google. Google had free food, funky office chairs, and they fit the goal I previously made when I was thirteen. My sense of self was intact, no harm done.

When it came time to interview, though, things were messier than I expected. I was still trying to finish school — to graduate, move out of the dorm and wrap up all the extracurriculars that consumed most of my spare time; and I was, on the more personal side, simply trying to grasp what was happening as I made the transition from college life to real life.

It was all too fast. Not only was I not accepted by Google (that’s a story for another time), but I didn’t know where else to go from there. In magicians terms, I made all but the prestige of my childhood goals, and I was left like a confused audience member contemplating whether I should stand up and applaud.

But, prestige aside, I realized my longstanding goals ended after college, and whether or not I was employed by Big Popular Company mattered little to anything but my ego. Even if I did achieve my goal, I’d still be left with the same question: What happens next?

When I learn, I need to know the big picture. I like to know where I’m going, why I’m going there, and in general, how to get there — but not always. I know the devil’s in the details, but I like figuring out the details as I go along.

Looking back, I had more or less achieved my goal — college, degree, employment — but I didn’t have the big picture telling me where to go next. I still don’t. I’d assume even James’ Buccaneer Scholar, with his exploratory state of mind, would have some type of charter, though I can’t believe he’d always know where he is going. James, I’d like to hear you expound upon that if you haven’t already.

This leads to the more practical dilemma: Of my interests, which path do I choose? The following is a list of career paths I could be interested in taking. Though I run the risk of taking the totally incorrect approach to, well, life, of these career paths, I can’t help but be interested in their prestige. Here goes:

• Independent test consultant.
• Product Manager/Test Manager for large software engineering projects.
• Ph.D in Software Engineering or Cognitive Science, researching and teaching software engineering and/or software testing.
• Software Developer for cutting-edge, Web 2.0 technologies (I am that now).
• Entrepreneur for my own software development company. (I’ll probably need an MBA).
• Entrepreneur for my own software testing firm. (Again, an MBA).
• Tech Journalist for popular blogs and magazines. (I’ll probably need to study journalism).
• Politician. (I’ll probably need to study political science, though this brings me to my next interest…)
• Something in the arts, say, acting.

And as an aside, this whole process feels like one big game of Twister.

James Bach just started a new blog called How I Learn Stuff where he depicts the life of a Buccaneer Scholar. I’ve yet to fully understand his use of the term, but the posts and comments there are quite moving. This is likely a blog to watch.

I sent a small note to the software-testing Yahoo! group asking, “What are some iconic books in software testing that paint a good picture of its history?” I got a huge response, and figured it’d be beneficial to others to duplicate it here.

(I’d link to the thread if there was a public archive, but you must be a member of the software-testing list to see it. Email me personally if you’re interested in joining.)

The list:

• Weinberg, “Fundamentals of Computer Programming (1961)” (Read chapter on testing. Whoohoo! I got the last one!)
• Hetzel, “Program Test Methods (1972)” (Looks like I got the last of this one too!)
• Myers, “The Art of Software Testing (1979)” (This one’s in the mail; it looks like they’re out now, though I remember a different URL…)
• Beizer, “Software System Testing and Quality Assurance (1984)”
• Kaner, “Testing Computer Software, 1st Edition (1988)”
• Beizer, “Software Testing Techniques, 2nd Edition (1990)” (Was recommended the first edition as well, though can’t find info on it.)
• Marick, “The Craft of Software Testing: … (1994)”
• Beizer, “Black Box Testing: … (1995)”
• Schulmeyer, Mcmanus, “Handbook of Software Quality Assurance, 3rd Edition (1998)”
• Kaner, Falk, Nguyen, “Testing Computer Software, 2nd Edition (1999)”
• Kaner, Bach, Pettichord, “Lessons Learned in Software Testing (2001)”
• Weinberg, “An Introduction to General Systems Thinking (2001)” (This book was written much earlier, though it was republished in 2001. I’ve linked to the 2001 version since I can’t find information on the original version.)
• Jorgensen, “Software Testing: A Craftsman’s Approach (2002)”
• Copeland, “A Practitioner’s Guide to Test Case Design (2004)”

This is a daunting list. Some of these — wink, wink — I was supposed to read fully in college. I can’t honestly say I did that, so I’m going to go back to them now.

Just a note: I get the impression some of these books contain ideas that are “obselete” or “out of date,” and may not be directly helpful today. This is a history lesson, and I’m specifically interested in how the thoughts in the industry have changed.

Thanks all for the responses, and I hope the reading list is beneficial to others.