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12 Books Developers Must Read

Careers Software Craftsmanship

Books are a massive source of knowledge. Before we list all the books here, we want to discuss why we think it’s essential for programmers to read them.

It increases knowledge (duh!):

First off, reading has one BIG advantage; it broadens your subject proficiency! This alone should be reason enough to nurture a reading habit, no matter what the subject is. And, talking specifically about the rapidly evolving tech industry, keeping up with technological advancements and the range of algorithms is a golden rule.

Facilitates a common vocabulary:

Reading new facts, ideas, and concepts will help you improve your conversations. Diving deep into a topic or subject can provide specific expertise. Focused reading on specialized subjects enables a common vocabulary that helps communicate perspectives effectively and succinctly.

Someone else’s years of experience can become your starting point:

As an industry, software engineering seems to reinvent the wheel a lot because of the field’s infancy. Reading is a key to success in life. By learning from someone else’s experiences and code examples, one can prevent mistakes like bad smells and bad code that others have made!

The last page of someone’s book can become the first of ours, thus paving a path towards becoming a professional programmer.

Gives you a global perspective:

Reading makes you global in two senses, global geographically and global in function. Regular reading can keep you updated on what’s happening in the rest of the world, be it true software craftsmanship or evolving tech concepts.

Traditionally, in the software development process— Developers focus on software construction, Testers concentrate on quality code, IT focuses on software architecture. Those days are long gone. In today’s software development environment, we need a broad range of knowledge about solid design principles along with in-depth specialization. Reading and acquiring a wide range of knowledge can upskill people for today’s object-oriented technology and agile environments.

Improves communication skills:

A continuous learning process, especially when English is not the first language, enhances overall communication. Given the vital role of communication in remote companies implementing agile practice, reading helps on all fronts, be it email, verbal communication, or meetings.

Coming to the point, we’ve listed below some recommended and popular programming books.

We believe that these software development books will prove as a piece of advice to developers. Mancuso, Sandro. The Software Craftsman: Professionalism, Pragmatism, Pride.

Martin, Robert C., et al. Clean Code: a Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship.

Martin, Robert C.. The Clean Coder: a code of conduct for professional programmers.

Beck, Kent. Implementation Patterns.

Kim, Gene, et al. The Phoenix Project: a Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win

Beck, Kent. Extreme Programming Explained.

Thomas, David, and Andrew, Hunt. The Pragmatic Programmer Your Journey to Mastery: 20th Anniversary Edition.

Newman, Sam. Monolith to Microservices: Evolutionary Patterns to Transform Your Monolith.

Forsgren, Nicole, et al. Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations.

Martin, Robert C. Clean Architecture: a Craftsman’s Guide to Software Structure and Design.

Fowler, Martin, and Kent Beck. Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code.

Feathers, Michael C. Working Effectively with Legacy Code.

We hope you read them!

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