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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

#41

Post by Tcepsa »

avl999 wrote: post #33
xwdv wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Very reassuring to hear that I am not the only one in a position like that; thank you for sharing! (I am planning on stepping pretty firmly off the path to Principal Staff to substantially alleviate work-related stress and anxiety)

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#43

Post by gameswithgo »

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…

You do in fact seem to negative, and have a take on life that is a bit more cynical than reality. Completely dismissing any value in actually being a good engineer for career advancement for instance is a bit over the top. Suggesting companies always don’t care about employee opinions as well. Real life is pretty bad sometimes but not universally dystopian.

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#44

Post by nomdep »

JavaBatman wrote: post #16

Is there a good book on object oriented programming for beginners? By beginners I mean people who code regularly but aren't software engineers.

If your language is Ruby or Python I would recommend Practical Object Oriented Design by Sandi Metz

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#45

Post by chiefalchemist »

quincunx wrote: post #10
MadeThisToReply wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anything you recommend instead? Personally, I got a lot of value from Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann.

* Mythical Man Month (Experience) * Rapid Development (Profession) * Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (You're not alone, we all share this.) * The War of Art (At 9am, you are alone.) * Competitive Advantage (Porter, a personal choice, it's not about the bytes.)

The War of Art * is a must read for anyone and everyone.

* For those who don't already know, it's a very quick read. And the type of book you'll gladly reread every one to three years.

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#46

Post by dvt »

gameswithgo wrote: post #43
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…

You do in fact seem to negative, and have a take on life that is a bit more cynical than reality. Completely dismissing any value in actually being a good engineer for career advancement for instance is a bit over the top. Suggesting companies always don’t care about employee opinions as well. Real life is pretty bad sometimes but not universally dystopian.

> Suggesting companies always don’t care about employee opinions as well.

Ah yes, the same companies that laid off mass numbers of engineers in 2000 and did it all over again in 2008. The same companies that vehemently fight any kind of unionization efforts and the same companies that insist to haze potential hires with live-coding & whiteboarding tests even though folks have 10+ years of experience. The same companies that were wage-fixing employees' salaries and had to pay out almost half a billion dollars in restitution[1]. Those companies? If you think you have any kind of influence on corporate culture as random engineer #3419, I've got a bridge to sell you.

[1] https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/01/16/37...

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#47

Post by sswaner »

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 disagree. Reading the books mentioned by the OP are more geared towards being a better software engineer. Your list seems to be better aligned to improving the success of a software manager. As for Remote, I found the book useful for making the case for remote work, and how to succeed with remote workers in a corporate culture that was highly resistant to the ideas.

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#48

Post by sswaner »

avl999 wrote: post #33
xwdv wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

This is a great mindset to have. I would especially recommend that you avoid management for as long as possible. The joy of building software is hard to replace once you hang it up and start attending meetings for a living.

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#49

Post by exdsq »

The 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.

I think the generic bit of this advice is to excel as an engineer is to focus on the business, not the tech.

Re: Books that changed my career as a software engineer

#50

Post by fargo »

hintymad wrote: post #34
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 g…

yeah that's a huge problem with all of Gladwell's work. Compelling but unsupported.
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