3 books every software developer should read
These 3 books will definitely improve your productivity and enhance your career as a developer. №3 on the list is my favorite.
- The Complete Software Developer’s Career Guide : In this book, you will learn
- How to systematically find and fill the gaps in your technical knowledge so you can face any new challenge with confidence
- Should you take contract work — or hold out for a salaried position? Which will earn you more, what the tradeoffs are, and how your personality should sway your choice
- Should you learn JavaScript, C#, Python, C++? How to decide which programming language you should master first
- Ever notice how every job ever posted requires “3–5 years of experience,” which you don’t have? A simple solution for this frustrating chicken-and-egg problem that allows you to build legitimate job experience while you learn to code
- Is earning a computer science degree a necessity — or a total waste of time? How to get a college degree with maximum credibility and minimum debt
- The interviewer tells you, “Dress code is casual around here — the development team wears flip-flops.” What should you wear?
- The technical skills that every professional developer must have — but no one teaches you (most developers are missing some critical pieces, they don’t teach this stuff in college, you’re expected to just “know” this)
“If you’re a developer, green or a veteran, you owe it to yourself to read The Complete Software Developers Career Guide.” — Jason Down, Platform Developer, Ontario, Canada.
2. Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship : This book is a must for any developer, software engineer, project manager, team lead, or systems analyst with an interest in producing better code. Readers will come away from this book understanding :
- How to tell the difference between good and bad code
- How to write good code and how to transform bad code into good code
- How to create good names, good functions, good objects, and good classes
- How to format code for maximum readability
- How to implement complete error handling without obscuring code logic
- How to unit test and practice test-driven development
3. Soft Skills: The software developer’s life manual: Soft Skills is a unique guide, offering techniques and practices for a more satisfying life as a professional software developer. In it, developer and life coach John Sonmez addresses a wide range of important “soft” topics, from career and productivity to personal finance and investing, and even fitness and relationships, all from a developer-centric viewpoint.
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