HN Books @HNBooksMonth

because so much of our power to influence things comes from our ability to interact with people:

"how to read a person like a book" http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Person-Like-Book/dp/B000SABRO...

and the classic dale carnegie "how to win friends and influence people" http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/14...

"it seems like all the job descriptions I looked at, the companies are asking for the world. They want all the languages under the sun, guru this, code ninja that."

Nothing wrong with applying to positions you'd like to have and that you think you would excel at even though you don't have the requirements. Polish your resume as much as you can, and read up as much as you can.

However, there are loads of jobs that aren't like that. Ignore requirements for C.S. degree (BS or MS), because they usually don't care, if that is not what you have. Now if they are asking for a PhD, you'd better at least have a masters, but you probably don't want those anyway.

The best option though is to just know what you want to do in-and-out and emit that. Some say to learn how to be a people person. I think it is cheesy and fake, but I know people that do it, and it works: http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/14...

His recommendations felt like a nice summary[1] of Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People[2], mentioned by pg on Why Smart People Have Bad Ideas[3]

[1] http://www.amazon.com/review/R1IGJOWWDLP3RS/ref=cm_cr_dp_per...

[2] http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/14...

[3] http://www.paulgraham.com/bronze.html#f8n

If there's one book you read in getting over this, I recommend this:

How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/14...

It's definitely worked for me in helping tackle my problems problems with social interactions.

Self-obsessed douchebag != extrovert

Socially unskilled != introvert

This may help: http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/14...

The author of those templates should read this...

http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/14...

The Alchemist http://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Fable-About-Following-Dream/...

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry...

How to win friends an Influence people http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/14...

⬐ danielzarick

Definitely all three of these...

Plus recently "Made to Stick" has really changed how I think about ideas and sharing them with others. http://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-Others/dp/140...

I would be wary of self improvement programs that charge money. I'm not sure what exactly you've looked into, but there's a lot of information out there for free or cheap.

I've spent a decent amount of time reading self-improvement books/blogs, and for me the stuff that made the most impact were things that were tailored to the problems I was having at the time.

Here's an overview of what I've read over the years that have helped me to some extent:

I Can Do Anything if I Only Knew What it Was: http://www.amazon.com/Could-Anything-Only-Knew-What/dp/04405...

Paul Graham's Essays: http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html

How to Win Friends and Influence People: http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/14...

Four Hour Work Week: http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-Live-Anywhere/d...

Randy Pausch, Time Management: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTugjssqOT0

GTD: http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Produc...

Steve Pavlina: http://www.stevepavlina.com/

7 Habits of Highly Effective People (reading this now): http://www.amazon.com/Habits-Highly-Effective-People/dp/0671...

So I would say "it depends" on what you want out of life and where you are now. Self improvement is a life-long task and you will need advice that changes as you progress.