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Books for Software Engineers in 2023

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Re: Books for Software Engineers in 2023

#121

Post by tra3 »

tarsinge wrote: post #80
tra3 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really great to see a mention of "Developer Hegemony" here. The author compares software engineers to doctors or lawyers. In a law firm, the partners call the shots and the rest of the staff is there to support them. In tech companies, the structure is inverted. The engineers are at the bottom of the power hierarchy, even though it's the engineers that generate the most value. The author suggests that developers shou…

I didn’t read that book but I kind of followed that path. A doctor doesn’t practice health, but heal people, so indeed writing code and making a working software is not the point for me. The obvious example is an independent game developer that wants to make a game for people to have fun. There is no grand conspiracy of management, it’s just that big companies are usually more akin to factories. There you can’t both…

I'm still not entirely clear on freelancing vs consulting to be honest. I've worked both in smaller and larger companies and the management track simply makes more money.

Re: Books for Software Engineers in 2023

#122

Post by sfpotter »

kamaal wrote: post #87
monksy wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been saying and feeling this way for quite a while. For example, someone wrote a book on Kafka streams for kids. It just dumb founded me that someone created it for that audience. The audacity to suggest that kids should learn about that/have something for them. It's a bit weird and doesn't teach lessons outside of the book material.

>>It's a bit weird and doesn't teach lessons outside of the book material. Actually introducing some of these concepts in an abstract sense can help the kid appreciate subject at hand, and initiate them into more serious study. Imagine telling a kid they could use a bunch of their friends and using map-reduce to count all the dogs in a park(send each to a section in the park, ask them to count the dogs[map], add all…

Why is it good to get kids excited about STEM?

Re: Books for Software Engineers in 2023

#123

Post by dang »

pksebben wrote: post #83
dang wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't do this here.

just for clarification, what is the "this"? as an aside, thanks for the work you do. we're better off for it.

Posting computer-generated comments. HN is for conversation between humans.

Re: Books for Software Engineers in 2023

#125

Post by kamaal »

sfpotter wrote: post #122
kamaal wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>It's a bit weird and doesn't teach lessons outside of the book material. Actually introducing some of these concepts in an abstract sense can help the kid appreciate subject at hand, and initiate them into more serious study. Imagine telling a kid they could use a bunch of their friends and using map-reduce to count all the dogs in a park(send each to a section in the park, ask them to count the dogs[map], add all…

Why is it good to get kids excited about STEM?

Well for a lot of reason. Firstly they pay better. Secondly, we want more and more kids especially women and marginalised communities to participate more in STEM. Giving them early exposure to things helps.

Also STEM education in general contains useful life skills to have. Having working knowledge of Math, and being able to reason rationally in general can help you in financial things later in life.

We aspire to have a populace with scientific temper.

Re: Books for Software Engineers in 2023

#126

Post by alltheworlds »

tra3 wrote: post #69
losteric wrote: post #18

I recommend "Developer Hegemony". Coming from a career in FAANG, it's helped put words to what bothers me about the power dynamics and management practices. The book also presents a picture of what a healthier and more empowered "software engineering" role/world could look like (one of my 2023 goals is making significant career moves in that direction)

Really great to see a mention of "Developer Hegemony" here. The author compares software engineers to doctors or lawyers. In a law firm, the partners call the shots and the rest of the staff is there to support them. In tech companies, the structure is inverted. The engineers are at the bottom of the power hierarchy, even though it's the engineers that generate the most value. The author suggests that developers shou…

> In a law firm, the partners call the shots and the rest of the staff is there to support them. In tech companies, the structure is inverted. The engineers are at the bottom of the power hierarchy, even though it's the engineers that generate the most value.

Hmm, as a software engineer, I'm not so sure this is true.

I'd have to sell my product to generate revenue, and I'm not a very good sales person. I can't just generate value by writing code. I need people to pay me money to use that code.

Re: Books for Software Engineers in 2023

#127

Post by tra3 »

alltheworlds wrote: post #126
tra3 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really great to see a mention of "Developer Hegemony" here. The author compares software engineers to doctors or lawyers. In a law firm, the partners call the shots and the rest of the staff is there to support them. In tech companies, the structure is inverted. The engineers are at the bottom of the power hierarchy, even though it's the engineers that generate the most value. The author suggests that developers shou…

> In a law firm, the partners call the shots and the rest of the staff is there to support them. In tech companies, the structure is inverted. The engineers are at the bottom of the power hierarchy, even though it's the engineers that generate the most value. Hmm, as a software engineer, I'm not so sure this is true. I'd have to sell my product to generate revenue, and I'm not a very good sales person. I can't just g…

I agree 100%. The last thing I want to do is sell ('cause I've done it before). I'm terrible at it.

But:

> “Consider a law firm. Do the founding partners go out and hire a Lawyer Manager to order them around, and then do they hire a VP of Lawyering to order the manager around? Do they then hire a CEO to rule over everyone and a CFO to handle the finances and a COO to schedule court dates and such? Of course not. There’s no historical precedent for all that fluff. Rather, they handle facets of the business themselves. What they can’t or don’t want to handle, they delegate to subordinates that they hire. The partners don’t specialize in finance, sales, marketing, or operations. That would be silly. But they understand enough about it to act as the boss.”

Can I be successful as a terrible salesman with a product? Sure I can.

Can an amazing salesman be successful without a product? Nope.

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