The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development (Pragmatic Life), by Chad Fowler (affiliate link)
This book is aptly titled, and an awesome read. It consists of a series of tips — strategies Fowler has employed to build his own remarkable career. The most important tip is one that can’t really be crossed off a list, and that is to build a successful career in software development one must be passionate about software development.
Update:
Unbeknownst to me when I was finishing this book, but knownst to me now is that there has been a vibrant conversation occurring on the interweb about passion and programming. Check out Avdi Grimm’s latest, The Passion Gospel.