Ask HN: What to spend my company's learning allowance on

I get an annual $400 allowance from my company to spend on tech related books/courses/general education. I wanted some recommendations on what I could spend this money on.

Some background on me - I am an advanced python backend programmer (not web just general programs) but because don't come from a computer science background, recently completed (and loved) both nand 2 Tetris courses. What I learn doesn't have to be directly relevant to my career in any way and I'm open to anything that is just interesting in the computer science space.

I know interesting is subjective but I also welcome random suggestions that you enjoyed learning (has to be related to computer science/maths/physics) in some way so that I can at least see what is out there.

Some things I am thinking about learning more about

- Linux (thinking of getting How Linux works) - System security (maybe black hat python?) - Machine learning (maybe Andrew Ngs courses?) - Improving as a tech manager (Haven't really researched any books on this...) - General technology knowledge (byte go newsletter)

"The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win" by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford. This is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand modern tech management in a DevOps context.

"The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change" by Camille Fournier. This provides insights and advice on how to navigate the path from engineer to tech leader.

The Phoenix Project was a great book and I’m still trying to un-Brent myself.

+1 for the Phoenix Project, but to my demise, when I first read it I looked at Erik and was like: "wow, I want to be this guy" and that was not the best idea.

Have you read the Unicorn Project btw?

O'Reilly's library is $499/year, or $75/year (with some other resources) if you're a professional member of the ACM which is, apparently, $99 per year (I didn't know the base cost until just now, I've been a member for years but have other things added on that push it past $99). I'd recommend that versus buying specific books since pretty much every worthwhile, non-open-access, technical book on software I've needed has been in there (not all, though). That $75 also gives you access to Pluralsight (I have mixed opinions on their courses, I wouldn't pay for it on its own personally but it's not bad if it's included in something else like here) and Percipio (never used it, can't comment).

So $174, toss in ACM's digital library for another $99 to go to $273 and you have $127 left each year for specific books you find to be worthwhile and want a hardcopy of or for other things. (It's actually cheaper for the first year with the link I posted below, but you should plan on the full price for the future.)

https://www.oreilly.com/online-learning/pricing.html

https://services.acm.org/public/qj/keep_inventing/qjprofm_co...