17 great reads for software engineers and managers
Sep 6, 2018 · 2 min read

Over the years I’ve read tons of great books, technical and non-technical, that have helped me learn an grow in my software and technology career. Some were recommended to be by colleagues and mentors while others I found from curious searching. Below is a list, grouped by topics, of the ones I have found most useful.
Technical
- Clean Code — This should be an entire course in CS undergrad! All about how to write clean, readable, human understandable code
- Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems — How Google builds scalable, reliable, and efficient software by considering the entire software development life cycle
- Head First Design Patterns — How to write well structured and reliable software from a high-level design point of view
- Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Questions and Solutions — A classic, see how to pass interviews at the big tech companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft
- Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach — The foundations of AI, focusing more on the classical motivations, insights, and algorithms rather than the deep learning techniques used today
- Design It! — Learning about how to architect good software by considering all the key stakeholders and meeting their needs without neglecting your own.
Engineering Processes
- The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations — Efficient software development by taking care of DevOps
- The Lean Startup — Learn how iterating can be your most powerful tool in building a technology product or company
- Agile Practical Guide — The clearest and most practical book on Agile methodologies you’ll ever read
Teamwork
- Measure What Matters — How Google does goal setting
- The Score Takes Care of Itself — Following the story of legendary football coach Bill Walsh and how he turned his team around from last in the league to Superbowl champions
- What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team: Learn how good team psychology crucial to for high performance
- How to Win Friends and Influence People — The ultimate classic of how to communicate with people. An essential life manual for communicating
