For a total beginner, the concepts will be difficult to internalize. For a seasoned programmer (on a good team...), it will be little more than a general reinforcement. While it's hard to imagine the right time in one's career to read the The Pragmatic Programmer (probably, often), it's a classic. It's written at a high enough level that very little material is outdated. In fact, some of the arguments ring much truer now than they would have in 1999.

See this review and others on my blog