Books I Recommend
Click on any book to find it on Amazon
A curated collection of technical books that have shaped my engineering philosophy and practices. From core programming skills to system design and leadership.
Core Craft & Coding
Fundamentals that every software engineer should master
The Pragmatic Programmer
Your Journey to Mastery
David Thomas, Andrew Hunt
Timeless habits for thinking & shipping better software. Essential principles that remain relevant decades later.
Clean Code
A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
Robert C. Martin
Naming, refactoring, and code hygiene that scales. The gold standard for writing maintainable code.
Clean Architecture
A Craftsman's Guide to Software Structure and Design
Robert C. Martin
Separation of concerns that survives product pivots. Essential for building systems that last.
Designing Data-Intensive Applications
The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems
Martin Kleppmann
Data models, streams, and storage trade-offs. The definitive guide to modern data systems.
Building Microservices
Designing Fine-Grained Systems (2nd Edition)
Sam Newman
Service boundaries, contracts, and operability. Updated with lessons from years of microservices adoption.
Architecture & Systems at Scale
Designing systems that handle real-world complexity
Fundamentals of Software Architecture
An Engineering Approach
Mark Richards, Neal Ford
Patterns, trade-off analysis, and fitness functions. Comprehensive guide to architectural decision-making.
Software Engineering at Google
Lessons Learned from Programming Over Time
Titus Winters, Tom Manshreck, Hyrum Wright
Org-level practices for large codebases covering reviews, dependencies, and stability.
Designing Event-Driven Systems
Concepts and Patterns for Streaming Services with Apache Kafka
Ben Stopford
Kafka, EDA patterns, and stream-first thinking. Essential for modern distributed systems.
Release It!
Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software (2nd Edition)
Michael T. Nygard
Real-world failure modes and resilience patterns. Battle-tested stability patterns.
Reliability, Delivery & Ops
Building and operating reliable systems at scale
Accelerate
The Science of Lean Software and DevOps
Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, Gene Kim
DORA metrics & the science behind high-performing teams. Data-driven approach to software delivery.
Site Reliability Engineering
How Google Runs Production Systems
Niall Richard Murphy, Betsy Beyer, Chris Jones, Jennifer Petoff
Principles from Google's SRE practice. The foundational SRE handbook.
The Site Reliability Workbook
Practical Ways to Implement SRE
Betsy Beyer, Niall Richard Murphy, David K. Rensin
Hands-on SRE playbooks and case studies. Practical implementation of SRE principles.
Leadership & Staff+ Track
Advancing your career beyond senior engineering
Staff Engineer
Leadership beyond the management track
Will Larson
Mapping the Staff/Principal path outside management. Essential guide for senior IC growth.
An Elegant Puzzle
Systems Thinking for Engineering Management
Will Larson
Systems thinking for eng managers/leads. Practical frameworks for engineering leadership.
Team Topologies
Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow
Matthew Skelton, Manuel Pais
Team types & interaction modes for fast flow. Revolutionary approach to team organization.
Open Source & Culture
Understanding the ecosystem that powers modern software
Working in Public
The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software
Nadia Eghbal
How modern OSS really works & why it matters. Deep dive into the economics and sociology of open source.
Reading Philosophy
These books represent different stages of an engineering career—from mastering the craft to leading teams and shaping organizations. I believe in reading widely across technical domains and returning to foundational texts as you gain experience.
Have book recommendations for me? I'd love to hear them!