Reading Recommendations 2020
They say “Think before you speak. Read before you think”, here is food for thought in the form of reading recommendations from Showpad`s engineering team.
- Expert Python Programming (Third Edition) — Michał Jaworski and Tarek Ziadé. Recommended by Tomasz Zieba, Software engineer
Michał Jaworski, one of our own developers, is the co-author of a Python guide covering a wide range of best practices, from SDLC to syntax, metaprogramming, concurrency, and extensions.
2. The Passion Paradox — Brad Stulberg and Steve Magnessmik. Recommended by Klaas Cuvelier, Senior Software engineer
Common advice is to find and follow your passion. A life of passion is a good life, or so we are told. But it’s not that simple. Rarely is passion something that you just stumble upon, and the same drive that fuels breakthroughs — whether they’re athletic, scientific, entrepreneurial, or artistic — can be every bit as destructive as it is productive. Yes, passion can be a wonderful gift, but only if you know how to channel it. If you’re not careful, passion can become an awful curse, leading to endless seeking, suffering, and burnout.
3) Head first Design Patterns — Bert Bates, Kathy Sierra, Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Robson. Recommended by Wesley Vanbrabant, Senior Software engineer
A book that explains design patterns (mostly by gang of four) very nicely and in a funny way.
4) Ghost in the Wires — Kevin Mitnick and William L. Simon.Recommended by Niki Van Cleemput, Senior Software engineer
A thrilling story about Kevin Mitnick’s journey as the most wanted hacker
5) The Design of Everday Things — Don Norman. Recommended by Graeme Rycyk, QA Lead
Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door.
The fault, argues this ingenious — even liberating — book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary relationships between controls and functions, coupled with a lack of feedback or other assistance and unreasonable demands on memorization.
6) Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension — Matt Parker. Recommended by Frederik Demets, Director Platform Strategy & Labs
Math is boring, says the mathematician and comedian Matt Parker. Part of the problem may be the way the subject is taught, but it’s also true that we all, to a greater or lesser extent, find math difficult and counterintuitive.
7) The Fountainhead — Ayn Rand. Recommended by Tripti Shri, Release Manager
This Philosophical fiction novel first published in the year 1943. It will interest those, who subscribe to the concept of pride in the work you do, ownership of ideas, a belief in the self.
8) UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook — Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Trent R. Hein , Ben Whaley, Dan Mackin. Recommended by Rudy Gevaert, DevOps Engineer
The underlying principles of managing unix-based systems: A great guide for DevOps engineers and SRE’s
9) Accelerate — Nicole Forsgren ,Jez Humble , Gene Kim. Recommended by Chris De Mol, Program Director
This book inspired me to build the onboarding session: ‘Elite Software Development team’. How can we apply technology to drive business value?
10) Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams — Tom DeMarco, Timothy R. Lister.Recommended by Wouter Smet, CRM Software Engineer
Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams is a 1987 book on the social side of software development, specifically managing project teams. It was written by software consultants Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister, from their experience in the world of software development.
Happy Reading!
