I read The Phoenix Project a while ago, and it was pretty good to understand what DevSecOps is supposed to mean. It also convinced me that simpler processes are better and you add layers to those simple processes only if they are necessary. Sometimes you should accept that a more complex process might help track metrics better or might be logically better, but the simpler process is easier for everyone to grok and in that way easier to communicate about. It's been a few years since I read it but it was also entertaining to read in more of a story form than in the usual technical or managerial language.
Books that changed my career as a software engineer
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Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer
#102The thing that changed my career as a software engineer, in terms of seniority & remuneration by time and effort, was by changing my efforts from learning arbitrary tech to learning the domain I worked in. Asking useful domain-related questions gets you noticed in stand ups and helps you write the right code. I work in fintech so the best bang for my buck I’ve had was reading an entry level cert in investment finance…
Would you mind sharing the investment finance cert you read?
Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer
#103Commodore 64 Programmers Reference Guide.
The book for the last PC that I could completely comprehend and bend to my will. And then came the #$_! Mac OS. Freedom into slavery. Rainbow into chrome.
Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer
#104If they didn't allow you to start your own website/service or become independent then they did not change your career.
Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer
#105Ruby Under a Microscope is the first and only technical book I will finish; if you like Ruby and are curious about how things work under the hood it's a joy to read.
You need to look for something that actually interests you. Reading some bible on design patterns with hundreds of useless Java or C++ examples often IS boring. And let's be honest it probably won't make you a better software developer.
A close second to me was Hacking: The Art of Exploitation by Jon Erikson. It's a great introduction to low level stuff and how basic hacks are formed. Really loved it though I admit I never finished it.
Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer
#106Is it just me or do other people struggle to read these kinds of very technical books? It's not that I don't comprehend, it's that my brain finds it boring and hard to focus. I think I have trained my brain so much on rapid skimming of websites for useful info, while throwing away most of the content, that I tend to do the same with books, which really doesn't work well. Has anyone found alternative ways to consume t…
You don’t need to read these books end to end.
The a builds on b builds on c style of learning is only one way of learning things, and in many cases, the foundations (a, b) serve you no real value.
Just jump to the sections that interest you (c) and go back to previous sections if you feel like you’ve lost track of what they’re talking about.
For example, the first 20 pages of ‘Remote’ cover why remote working is good. It is intended for people who are considering if remote working is suitable. If that’s not relevant to you, do not waste your time reading it.
Of course, you still have to actually sit and read the chapters that interest you… but, if you struggle with that for the chapters you’re actually interested in perhaps a more project based (do a thing, use references from book) approach, or notes based (treat book as study text, rewrite it as your own notes) might work for you.
…but, don’t feel bad. These are super boring ass books with a few interesting parts to them.
Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you considered trying books filled with structured exercises? I worked through The Little Lisper when I was at university and I got a lot out of it, for example.
I think this is the kind of content I need. One that presents a problem and allows me to figure out a solution. Can you recommend any other content like that?
Good question. I guess my answer is not really. I'm not sure why I haven't sought out more of this kind of thing.
Still, a couple of random things I can think of:
The Spatialite Cookbook is no longer maintained, but I think still useful. That's structured as a sequence of fun exercises: http://www.gaia-gis.it/gaia-sins/spatialite-cookbook/index.h...
I also enjoyed Peter Norvig's Design of Computer Programs online course: https://www.udacity.com/course/design-of-computer-programs--...
Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer
#108Mine will be none. Only practice, coding, building, testing, exercising again and again has helped me.
Yeah this is probably correct.
Still, on some rare occasions it's so hard to get into a topic that if there's a good book I would give it a try. For example: I'm interested in Ruby internals. The codebase is very very complicated and I have no background in interpreters; in that case Ruby Under a Microscope is a life safer. I would say the same if I was looking to get into Linux kernel development.
But in general - if you are just trying to become a better software developer (e.g write clean, well tested code) you are absolutely right no book will get you there, hard work will.
Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer
#109As a self taught dev, the books that helped me most are: Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software The Design of the UNIX Operating System Designing Data-Intensive Applications They taught me that there is no magic. Everything is logical and comprehensible.
Would you please elaborate how specifically each of these helped you?
CODE teaches you about how computation can be structured out of circuits and switches and ultimately transistors. I now understand the fundamental nature of electronic computation.
UNIX taught me about the how an OS deals with hardware resources and the software that run on them. I now understand the environment in which my processes live as well as the structure of a process.
DDIA taught me about the structure of data, how databases operate on data through transactions, the difficulties of synchronization across databases, and the way data streaming works.
Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer
#110Is it just me or do other people struggle to read these kinds of very technical books? It's not that I don't comprehend, it's that my brain finds it boring and hard to focus. I think I have trained my brain so much on rapid skimming of websites for useful info, while throwing away most of the content, that I tend to do the same with books, which really doesn't work well. Has anyone found alternative ways to consume t…
None of these books are very technical in nature. Some of them are, in fact, as far as you can get from technical, e.g., Explain the Cloud like I'm Ten.
If you can't read books, then you are missing out on a lot. It's important to be able to read books (and work through large portions of them). Start reading books by reading fiction, then transition into nonfiction books (that are closer to fiction at first, e.g., history), finally transitioning into long-form technical books. If your budget permits, buy a long-form book on a technical topic and commit to reading it instead of just jumping on a website. For example, if you want to learn Kubernetes, just buy the Kubernetes book written by Beda et. al. I doubt any website will be better than that, and you will spend perhaps a week or two on a shallow read of the book, but you'll have found that you have a much better appreciation of the subject matter than you would have had you just glanced at a few website articles.