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Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

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Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#91

Post by teddyh »

tester756 wrote: post #89
teddyh wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want your criticism to be taken seriously, please be specific. There is apparently a large group of people who hate everything he does and also, seemingly, him personally. Everywhere he (or any of his books) is mentioned, the haters come out, with their vague “it’s all bad” and the old standard “I don’t know where to begin”. Serious criticism can be found (if you look for it), and he himself welcomes it, but t…

Years wasted on having to convincing people that "comments are viable" because they misunderstood Clean Code

Sounds like people being stupid? I mean, he never says that comments are not viable: like you say, they misunderstand the book.

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#92

Post by jshen »

Become a better story teller and persuader, and learn how to make better decisions and manage risk. A few books that helped me in no particular order …

The Science of Storytelling - Will Storr

Influence - Robert Cialdini

Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman

Antifragile - Nassim Taleb

How Innovation Works - Natt Ridley

The One Thing You Need to Know - Marcus Buckingham

Team of Teams - General Stanley McChrystal

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#94

Post by dilyevsky »

mooreds wrote: post #81
hardwaregeek wrote: post #45

I’m currently reading Peopleware which is simultaneously very insightful and very obvious. It’s also a bit of a marker in time of how software development worked. I’d say a lot has improved with remote work, at least for some companies. I found The Mom Test pretty helpful for honing a product mindset. I’ve fallen into the trap of writing code simply because I find it less daunting than talking to users. The Mom Test…

Oh man, Peopleware was so good when I read it in the 2000s. You indicate that time has passed it by a bit? Any particulars you remember?

I think there was a whole section about dress code for engineers and things like that. Tbf it was more of “dont have dress codes” but that’s status quo today so largely irrelevant

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#96

Post by Solvitieg »

I noticed nobody had mentioned any Youtubers. Surprisingly there are a few Youtubers who bring a ton of industry experience to their videos.

I found these channels to be helpful:

- Rahul Pandey (e.g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADWkkJtZna4)

- A life engineered (e.g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i5iFlP01mQ)

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#98

Post by Multicomp »

> converting asks to deliverables, managing expectations from management, enabling team members by opening communication channels across teams, time management

These all sound like David Allen's Getting Things Done, the art of stress free productivity.

> converting asks to deliverables

GTD teaches you to ask what the correct outcome is and what the next action item to get there is (and what those questions even mean) so your projects are always moving forward

> managing expectations from management

GTD talks about setting up project lists so you are current and keeping you current when you meet with management

>enabling team members by opening communication channels across teams

GTD teaches you how to brainstorm with the group and how to ensure everyone in a meeting knows what the next step to move the project forward is

>time management

GTD teaches you someodels to help you best know what your time landscape is and give you reminders of what tasks need to be when and where if known otherwise it has a model of helping set priorities based on contexts available to you

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#99

Post by gandalfgreybeer »

Solvitieg wrote: post #96

I noticed nobody had mentioned any Youtubers. Surprisingly there are a few Youtubers who bring a ton of industry experience to their videos. I found these channels to be helpful: - Rahul Pandey (e.g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADWkkJtZna4 ) - A life engineered (e.g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i5iFlP01mQ )

I think the main reason no one mentioned YouTubers is that OP was looking for reading material (e.g. books, blogs). These could be helpful though.

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#100

Post by hardwaregeek »

mooreds wrote: post #81
hardwaregeek wrote: post #45

I’m currently reading Peopleware which is simultaneously very insightful and very obvious. It’s also a bit of a marker in time of how software development worked. I’d say a lot has improved with remote work, at least for some companies. I found The Mom Test pretty helpful for honing a product mindset. I’ve fallen into the trap of writing code simply because I find it less daunting than talking to users. The Mom Test…

Oh man, Peopleware was so good when I read it in the 2000s. You indicate that time has passed it by a bit? Any particulars you remember?

I can’t say I’ve ever worked at an office that had a public announcement system, or had phones on the desks. Sure we have slack now but in my experience most companies don’t expect slack to be responded to immediately.

Also remote work solves a lot of the problems around open offices, while introducing new problems of its own.

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