There are thousands of books to source and read when it come to software engineering.  These books cater for beginners, intermediate and professional software engineers and are needed in the ever changing and evolving industry of software development.  You can never have too much knowledge and having a wide range of resources on hand is always beneficial for a software engineer.

 

Introduction to software engineering books

You may have come to the realization that being a software engineer is the ideal path for you to follow.  Listed below are some resources that cater for individuals who are seriously interested in software design and would like to learn more to follow their dream of becoming a software engineer:

 

 

Object Oriented Analysis and Design	This is probably one of the most recommended books for a software engineer to read.  It provides information on how to architect as well as details a lot of background theory explaining why you would do Object Orientated programming.  This programming is a major programming paradigm and is currently in use worldwide.  If you are interested in Software development this is a good book for you to invest in.
The Phoenix Project	Focusing only on the writing of software is not always enough. It is also important to work out what other domains you need to build up to communicate with people who are not very technically inclined.  Working as a software engineer means that you are going to have to convince people to consider your ideas and make the best engineering decisions with your assistance by showing them why it is beneficial to have support outside of the engineering department. This book is not a how to guide and is more fictional in nature but does so in a tech, narrative way. It talks about a fictional company that is transitioning to the DevOps model from an older integrated model of working.  The book describes coordination challenges between operations and development and gives suggestions on to how to bridge that gap. The Phoenix Project is an easy read and will help a budding software engineer to become more cross functional.  It gives the reader an understanding of operations that will enable them to understand how code is deployed.  It is also useful to help the people in other departments understand what exactly IT does when they make transitions to newer working models and help different teams to have more understanding about the other team’s job description.
Learn UX and Sprint	Lean UX:    This book is about designing good products with Agile Teams. Sprint:  This book assist the reader with problem solving abilities, how to test new ideas as well as tips on building a product quickly and with little risk.  This is an important quality for a software engineer to have and this book details the process and philosophy in which to follow and achieve this.

Domain Modelling Made Functional	Domain Modelling Made Functional looks at domain-driven design within the framework of functional programming languages instead of the usual object-orientated language that most engineers use.  This book takes a good look at the benefits of using functional program language which can be used when a customer needs something to be developed quickly.
Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software	This book addresses how you can translate processes in software as well as what a process looks like for those individuals who do not write software. It shows you how to communicate the process of code to other teams such as marketing, sales and engineering departments.
Never Split the Difference	If you want to learn all about negotiation and effective communication between people with diverse opinions, then this is the book for you. If you are a newcomer to software engineering and you would like to negotiate a better salary this book will assist you in learning how to substantiate your argument on how good your knowledge is in a certain type of technology.  This book gives the readers ideas on how to negotiate when they need to.
Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade	If you are looking for a book that can change your perspective on the world then this is the one!   It tells the readers how to focus on setting up situations in order to be more persuasive in their discussions with others.  Once you have read this book you will be able to see the world through the frame of persuasion and be able to convince people to agree with your ideas.  The book equips you with marketing and negotiating skills and enables you to be more persuasive in real life day to day matters.

 

A good read for software engineers

The Effective Engineer

This book labels the skills used by the effective engineer as learnable:

 

• Teaches the unifying framework called leverage.
• The value produced per unit of time invested.
• Prioritisation of projects and tasks.
• How to earn more leeway from peers and managers during projects.
• Teaches how to spend less time maintaining and fixing software and more time on building it.
• Cheaper validation of ideas.
• How to navigate bottlenecks.
• Appropriate code reviews, testing, abstraction and technical debt balancing of speed and quality.
• Shorten debugging workflow
• Increase iteration speed
• Use metrics and continue making progress.

The perfect books for newly graduated software engineers

• The Pragmatic Bookshelf | The Passionate Programmer
• The Go-Getter: A Story that Tells You How to Be One

 

Practical Guidance book for software engineers

Code complete

This book is widely known to be one of the best practical guides to becoming a programmer and assists developers to write better software.  It has been updated and revised with leading-edge practices as well as hundreds of code samples that illustrate the art and science of software construction.  It provides knowledge that is available from research and everyday commercial practice synthesising the most effective techniques and principals. It offers clear guidance no matter what your experience level, project size or development environment.  The book teaches you to flush out errors and exploit opportunities evolving code as well as use construction practices that are best for your project. Learn to debug problems quickly as well as resolve critical construction issues early. It also teaches its reader to build quality from beginning to end.

 

Other must-read books to help become a Better Software Developer

Clean Code: A book about Agile Software Craftsmanship.

The Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct intended Professional Programmers.

The Pragmatic Programmer: From beginner to master readers.

Design Patterns: Reusable Object-Oriented Software.

 

Freelancing guidance books

 

The Software Engineer’s Guide to Freelance Consulting

This book talks about finding and maintaining clients as a Software Developer and includes Tax and Legal Tips for the reader wanting to start their own freelancing career.

Its contents are as follows:

Chapter 1: Finding Clients
Chapter 2: Choosing a Rate
Chapter 3: Keeping Yourself Educated
Chapter 4: Closing Deals
Chapter 5: Being Productive
Chapter 6: Building & Maintaining Relationships
Chapter 7: Legal Ideas
Chapter 8: Making Great First Impressions
Chapter 9: Getting Paid
Chapter 10: Must-know Tax Tips
Chapter 11: Communicating Effectively
Chapter 12: Freelancing Part-time
Chapter 13: Going Back to a “Regular” Coding Job
Chapter 14: Additional Resources

 

Other Computer software and Engineering Resources worth reading

In a world where technology is ever evolving there is always something new to learn.  In addition to books there is also conferences and talks that can be watched on YouTube. Hacker news is also a good place to get the latest information on programming, 3D printing and other tech topics.