Suggested Books

As I work with more and more junior developers I often find myself suggesting different books that have helped mold me into the developer I am today. For better or worse these books have changed my perspective on the industry and keep me coming back for more. I love reading technology books and so it can often feel overwhelming when I try to compile a list. Nor do I like the “Best 10 Technology Books Everyone Should Read” posts because I find them cliche and not that helpful because it lumps books together in one pile rather than by category or interest. I’m hoping this post is a living one in which I will be adding and updating content as time goes on since I’m revisiting and reading new books each day.

Being a Better Programmer

These are books on how to hone your craft and adopt practices that make you better at what you do. Revisiting these books often will help you grow in your career.

• The Pragmatic Programmer
• The Art of Doing Science and Engineering
• A Philosophy of Software Design
• Refactoring
• The Phoenix Project
• The Unicorn Project
• Clean Code
• Designing Data Intensive Applications
• Test Driven Development

History for Inspiration

I like reading about the history of the computer industry and where things come from and these books do a great job educating you on the history of the industry.

• Dealers of Lightning
• The Soul of a New Machine
• Turing’s Cathedral

Development Process and Startups

Understanding how to be a good developer is important but working as a team is more important to get work done. These books help you build a team, work on a team, or build processes to help move you and your company forward.

• The Goal
• The Mythical Man-Month
• Software Engineering at Google
• DevOps Handbook
• Hello, Startup
• The Lean Startup

Making You Think

Sometimes it’s helpful to read books that bend your mind in different ways to help you grow.

• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
• The Little Schemer