G’day guys!
Today I wanted to talk a bit about Audible, and why I think it’s actually a great tool for your Career Development, and even life in general.
Those are some big claims, there!
That’s right! I’ve been using Audible now for about 6 months, and I’ve made it a part of my routine such that I’m listening to something almost every day. I say almost, since I tend to not use it at all on weekends, and there is the odd weekday where I don’t use it as well. Regardless though, I think that puts me in a pretty good position to give it a bit of a review here, and make a recommendation.
Okay then! I’m a programmer! Why do I need audiobooks?
I’ll start with the obvious - there are audiobooks on Audible that are geared towards programmers, and some of them are must-reads (or in this case, must listens). Seriously, some of the titles that are on Audible are world-renowned texts in the software industry, like The Pragmatic Programmer. But there are others that, while the text itself may not be world famous, the author is still pretty renowned among the developer community - like John Sonmez. There are technical coding titles, and others that are more about soft skills and how to lead a healthy lifestyle as a programmer.
So what? There are even more texts available in hard-copy of ebook format!
This is true, but that convenience doesn’t come without a catch. Can you read an walk at the same time? Or read and lift weights? Or read and…well, you get the idea. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about Finding Time, and the main suggestion that I gave was to try to do more things at the same time. Lately, my morning routine has included a 1 hour walk around the park next to my apartment, and while I walk, I listen to Audible. This lets me both absorb some wisdom, either about programming or about life in general, and get some exercise and Vitamin D at the same time. I’ve even listened to Audible on the treadmill at the gym, or even while lifting weights.
…you mentioned that Audible wasn’t just for programming stuff?
That’s right! You’re more than able to just listen to programming audiobook after programming audiobook, but you may want to actually open your filters a little bit and explore some general career development, soft skills, health and nutrition or any other audiobooks that you might be interested in.
So uhhh, how does it work?
I’m glad you asked! The basic process is outlined on the website, but it basically works like this.
- You sign up to the service with a credit card or debit card (duh!)
- Each month, Audible deducts around $15 AUD from your account, and you get 1 credit in return.
- At your discretion, you can exchange your 1 credit for any audiobook on Audible. The book is downloaded to your device, and you can listen to it whenever you want. You don’t have to read 1 book at a time, but that’s how I’ve done it so far.
- If you don’t use your credit, it’ll roll over to the next month and you’ll have 2 credits. I think there is a limit for how many credits you can accumulate, though.
- If you finished your book this month super quickly, you can buy additional credits (3 for $15). But there’s also freebies that come with the membership as well, like free podcasts and the occasional free title (predecided by Amazon).
- If you’re actually not finishing 1 audiobook per month, you have a couple of options. You can pause your membership temporarily, or you can install Audible on another device and share your library with a family member. I’m not sure if Amazon officially permits this, but the option is there (at least for now).
Anyway, I think that’s about it! As you can tell, I’m pretty happy with Audible and I think it’s just as valuable as pluralsight (which my company provides me with a subscription to) for career development and general learning. They are kind of like apples and oranges, but they’re both fruit and delicious!
Well, I think this is where I’ll wrap up for today. Thanks for reading! Catch ya!