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Books that changed my career as a software engineer

julianogtz.github.io

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Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#31

Post by systemvoltage »

georgeburdell wrote: post #23
systemvoltage wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Designing Data-Intensive Applications Exceptional in every way.

I don't think you meant this to be as absolute as it sounds, but as someone currently reading it, I find the asides, especially ones that focus on the nuances of a word's definition, such as "atomic", "consistent", etc. to be tedious while simultaneously lacking in clarity. I hope if Kleppmann ever does a 2nd edition that strips out some of this stuff and adds more examples, because most of his sales are probably fro…

I did. And it is. There is no such book out there that covers breadth and sufficient depth at the expense of minor pedantry (that you're alluding to) without losing much meaning. For most engineers, being familiar with pros and cons of technology is far more important than nuances of terminology. They can and should investigate each topic more deeply when time comes.

I repeat with emphasis: It is exceptional in every way possible. Improvements that you suggest should be addressed if it doesn't take away from the breadth + detail and only make it more clear.

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#32

Post by dvt »

mgfist wrote: post #26
dvt wrote: post #19

I'm not sure how any of these books have anything to do with actual career advancement. Career trajectory improvements are generally catalyzed by high-risk business decisions (e.g. doing a startup, joining as an early employee, job hopping, etc.), or political posturing (e.g. getting promoted, gaming the stack ranking, aggressive negotiations, etc.). Being a good engineer doesn't really have anything to do with eithe…

Being an engineer is just that - an engineer. It's different from being a leader. Being a "10x" engineer just makes you a better engineer, it doesn't mean you're any more capable of making a decision that would generate a company $100 million in yearly revenue. Just different skill set. Steve Jobs wasn't a great engineer, but he was a great product visionary and marketer.

> Being an engineer is just that - an engineer. It's different from being a leader.

I disagree. In fact, the third or fourth stage of your promotion will often be a leadership position (junior, senior, principal/tech lead). If you're okay with being a "senior engineer" until you're 45, you're going to be in for a rough time when you get inevitably laid off.

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#33

Post by avl999 »

xwdv wrote: post #28
strulovich wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal experience shows to the contrary, the super talented engineers do well, and get promoted much more easily. And I’ve seen many cases of “run-of-the-mill engineers” change cultural aspects of the office and the company. This is all based on mostly one employer, but a very big one. I suspect smaller companies make fast promotions for talented engineers and cultural changes even easier. (I do agree that somet…

Promoted to what though? A job with more responsibility but not really a good enough increase in pay to go along with it? No thanks.

Exactly, why are you chasing promotions? Isn't it ok to be happy with where you are and have satisfaction? My title is Sr Software Engineer. My boss keeps bringing up in our 1 on 1s about what we should do to carve out a path for a promotion to "Principal Engineer" but I don't care. The small amount of pay bump is just not worth the added responsibility (not to mention the hoops they make you jump for the promotion).

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#34

Post by hintymad »

dvt wrote: post #19

I'm not sure how any of these books have anything to do with actual career advancement. Career trajectory improvements are generally catalyzed by high-risk business decisions (e.g. doing a startup, joining as an early employee, job hopping, etc.), or political posturing (e.g. getting promoted, gaming the stack ranking, aggressive negotiations, etc.). Being a good engineer doesn't really have anything to do with eithe…

I find Outliers' chapter on Chinese people and rice field preposterous. It was like reading astrology: The entire Chinese people have grit, and their grit came from growing rice because it was such a laborious job. Really? Really? Really? Did the author even know that for thousands of years, it was the Northern China that dominated the history, and Northern Chinese largely grew wheat? And the book said Chinese were good at math because Chinese digits are short to pronounce. I'm sure Apollonius of Perga, Newton, Euler, Gauss, Hibert, Poincare, and countless others are rolling in their graves. Besides that fact that arithmetic is tiny part of maths, China produced good students in the past decades because Chinese invested in modern education, believed that a nation needed to have many great scientists and engineers, and relentlessly pushed students to learn more maths and science. The Qing Dynasty was a laugh stock in front of the rest of the modern world. The entire nation of China felt the pain and humiliation for not catching up with modern civilization.

They will fuck anyone over for telling them they must lower their standards for the crap like being inclusive or no kids left behind, as if everyone can learn advanced maths. They's how they got better at maths. That's how they produce good students: they believe everyone's potential, and push students as hard as necessary. They still have catch-up to do, but they are getting closer everyday.

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#35

Post by BobbyJo »

dvt wrote: post #19

I'm not sure how any of these books have anything to do with actual career advancement. Career trajectory improvements are generally catalyzed by high-risk business decisions (e.g. doing a startup, joining as an early employee, job hopping, etc.), or political posturing (e.g. getting promoted, gaming the stack ranking, aggressive negotiations, etc.). Being a good engineer doesn't really have anything to do with eithe…

> as a run-of-the-mill engineer, you quite literally have no say in what the work/office culture of your employer is.

Who hurt you?

My experience has been quite the opposite. Creating a great work culture is well within the ability of even new engineers. I would probably suggest the opposite of you, in fact, and suggest that, between engineers and the VP/C-Suite level, mid or senior level engineers probably have the most sway over company culture. As an engineer, you have time, inclination, and ability. VPs don't have the time, CEOs don't have the inclination, and, frankly, no one but the boots on the ground have the ability.

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#36

Post by GlennS »

orsenthil wrote: post #18

Mine will be none. Only practice, coding, building, testing, exercising again and again has helped me.

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.

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#38

Post by evan_ »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #25
dvt wrote: post #19

I'm not sure how any of these books have anything to do with actual career advancement. Career trajectory improvements are generally catalyzed by high-risk business decisions (e.g. doing a startup, joining as an early employee, job hopping, etc.), or political posturing (e.g. getting promoted, gaming the stack ranking, aggressive negotiations, etc.). Being a good engineer doesn't really have anything to do with eithe…

> Being a good engineer doesn't really have anything to do with either. Being a good engineer is necessary, but not necessarily sufficient, for being promoted. There are some toxic workplaces where politics is the only way to get ahead, but they tend to fizzle out quickly as the upper ranks become filled with people who aren't good at anything but politicking and the good engineers and managers leave for greener past…

> eventually the people around the person realize they're all talk and no show.

That’s when they pull up stakes and move to the next company.

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#39

Post by Jtsummers »

lovecg wrote: post #22

I’ve read The Pragmatic Programmer. It’s not a bad book - I was nodding along the whole way. And that’s sort of the problem with the books of this genre. The thing is, I recognize that these are good techniques because I already spent lots of time applying them. I just don’t know if the idea of compressing years of hands on experience into a textbook works well in practice. This goes for most self-help books as well.

It's a good book at a certain stage in your career. Before that it's too easy to misconstrue it as absolutist (it isn't) or misunderstand the guidance (like DRY, which got a major rewrite in the 2nd edition to help with that). Too late in your career and it is all "obvious" (if you're a competent programmer).

On the other hand, as a mentor I found it useful to re-read it (or, read it through properly, I'd read large portions when I was younger but never all the way through). There's a problem of becoming too expert where you can't communicate with novices in the field anymore, at least not like they actually need you to communicate with them. There was benefit, for me, in re-reading it and nodding along and being reminded of the things I'd learned along the way, getting a name for them, and a discussion I could use as a basis for my mentoring.

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#40

Post by hellbannedguy »

dvt wrote: post #32
mgfist wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being an engineer is just that - an engineer. It's different from being a leader. Being a "10x" engineer just makes you a better engineer, it doesn't mean you're any more capable of making a decision that would generate a company $100 million in yearly revenue. Just different skill set. Steve Jobs wasn't a great engineer, but he was a great product visionary and marketer.

> Being an engineer is just that - an engineer. It's different from being a leader. I disagree. In fact, the third or fourth stage of your promotion will often be a leadership position (junior, senior, principal/tech lead). If you're okay with being a "senior engineer" until you're 45, you're going to be in for a rough time when you get inevitably laid off.

Most guys in tech are laid off around 50-55.

I know way to many Anchor-out, homeless, or stay at home dads (Kids moved out decades a ago, or sleeping in the basement. Wife begrudging hating your unemployed, but is still civil when you are around.) who were in Computer Managment.

Save the money while you're young. Computer skills seem to mean nothing after 50. An those ass kissing people skills (Managment) are finished the moment you are laid off.

You will not be the 65 year old working Doctor, or Lawyer.

The barrier to entry is just too low, and since you guys are above unions; I hope you have a sympathetic family.

It will make you liberal though.

If you have the right attitude you will get through it though. A divorce might be necessary, but you probally knew that one was comming for years.

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