Steve McConnell is a preacher's son, and although he didn't follow his father into ministry, morality mattered in his career in software developing. He set a high standard on honesty and integrity. He even left one job out of dissatisfaction with company ethics. Later he infused the company he founded, Construx Software Builders, with an emphasis on values and a strong sense of mission.

Clearly, for McConnell, success goes farther than just getting rich. In an interview for "Information Technology Leaders," he explains, "I felt that... if you focused on value and on doing the right thing, you'll make money. But you really can't focus on making money, or you won't."

"Information Technology Leaders," produced by the University of Washington’s School of Business, presents multi-faceted portraits of the people filling the top IT positions at major corporations such as Microsoft, Boeing, and AT&T Wireless Services. The revealing interviews show that personal characteristics often play an important role in the unpredictable career trajectories of this industry.

Nothing about McConnell's upbringing in Washington state suggests that he would someday become a software-development guru. Business and technology didn't figure into his parents' relational occupations--his mother was a counselor--or his first jobs picking berries and working on a Christmas tree farm. He majored in philosophy at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash.

McConnell took computer classes as a Plan B. But in his senior year, while seeking graduate grants and fellowships, he kept encountering a question on all the applications: What did he want to do with his life? "In the process of answering all those questions," he says, "I found that what I really wanted to be was a software developer."

McConnell had already sampled the career during an internship at an insurance company where he did computer programming. He returned there after graduation as an analyst.

At his next job with a software company, he gained experience in writing end-user-oriented software. But soon poor management and ethics drove him away. On a positive note, around this time McConnell discovered the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He started what would be a career-long relationship with the computer society, including a stint as editor-in-chief of IEEE's magazine, "IEEE Software."

After leaving his job in 1989, McConnell reached a crossroads. In an interesting parallel to his college years, when he de-pledged a fraternity because he was too independent, McConnell now felt that he could go out on his own--after just four years of corporate experience. He had about six months' savings and a number of contacts in Seattle's technology industry. One job steadily led to another. "I kept thinking that that approach wasn't going to work and eventually I would have to work for someone else, but that approach ended up working for several years." Thirteen, to be exact.

McConnell's client list reads like a "who's who" of local companies--Boeing, Safeco, Microsoft, Frank Russell. He supplemented on-the-job learning with independent education, eventually deciding he should get formal credit for it. He earned a master of software engineering degree from Seattle University, where he later served as an adjunct professor.

McConnell's next endeavor, to write a book, proved the liberal-arts major inside him was alive and well. It also exhibited his compulsion to share what he knew for the benefit of others. He spent 11 months writing Code Complete (Microsoft Press, 1993) full-time, approaching the task as he would a software project. The 900-page book was the first thing he'd ever published--and it won "Software Development" magazine's Jolt award.

A few years later, after recharging with consulting work, he attacked his next book, Rapid Development (Microsoft Press, 1996), about developing software with time-to-market expediency but with an emphasis on quality. Again he won the Jolt award, but McConnell insists he wasn't writing for the recognition. His focus, he says, was, "How can I deliver the most value possible?"

In 1996, McConnell realized he wanted to continue influencing the industry, but he couldn't do it alone. He founded Construx Software Builders to advance the art and science of commercial software engineering. The company offers consulting, training, and software developing. McConnell serves as both CEO and chief software engineer.

To help his 25 employees focus on quality, McConnell formulated corporate values including openness--both internal communication and financial transparency to clients; accountability; personal/professional life balance; professional development; and superior service. He's proud that Construx has become a shared effort: "It's really fun to see [colleagues] carrying out the vision in ways I couldn't have imagined and bringing the company to life," he says.

Meanwhile, McConnell has written two more books, The Software Project Survival Guide (Microsoft Press, 1997) and After the Gold Rush (Microsoft Press, 1999), and remained active with IEEE. He plans to continue writing software books and growing Construx--the company he hopes to work with for the rest of his life.

Produced By: Christopher Redner

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