My favorite media to broaden my horizon is blog posts. But some knowledge must be acquired by reading books. Why? Because it takes time to build the right context or that the topic is too broad to cover in blog posts.
For the last few years, I have read several professional books that I would like to recommend to you. I have three professional pillars that I focus on improving. Engineering, entrepreneurship, and DevRel. So it only makes sense that I will read and recommend books in these domains.
Without further ado, let the recommendation begin!
Zero to One - Peter Thiel
Category: Entrepreneurship
This is a must-read for every entrepreneur! It contains so many gems that will open your mind. The book will reveal to you the path of entrepreneurship and what it takes to be a successful one. It will help you shape your way of thinking. Whether you are just starting a new venture or an experienced founder, make sure to read this book.
Reactive Web Applications - Manuel Bernhardt
Category: Engineering
Even though JavaScript today is the unquestionable ruler and is the immediate solution for every problem, it doesn't mean that it is the right solution. Reactive programming is a programming paradigm, just like object-oriented programming and functional programming. It shines especially in large scale and distributed applications. This book will teach you how to build reactive applications using Scala and the Akka ecosystem. If you are not familiar with Scala, make sure to learn it before reading this book. Even if you are a JavaScript fan, like me, learning reactive programming is highly recommended.
Building Microservices - Sam Newman
Category: Engineering
Microservices is one of the most popular systems architecture patterns these days. This book teaches the A to Z fundamentals of developing a microservices architecture. It covers design, integration, testing, deployment, monitoring, security, scalability, splitting an existing system, and many more concepts. There's a second edition coming out soon, and I consider buying it even though I already read the first edition.
Domain-Driven Design Distilled - Vaughn Vernon
Category: Engineering
DDD (Domain-Driven Design) is a method to model systems. It's a great complementary book for "Building Microservices". Using DDD, you will create the right separation between different services and model your architecture correctly. There are many books about DDD, but I recommend Domain-Driven Design Distilled because it is focused on getting you results fast. It doesn't overwhelm you with theory. In case you want to go deeper, you are more than welcome, of course :)
Writing For Software Developers - Philip Kiely
Category: DevRel
Learn the best practices of writing technical articles. This book covers the writing itself and the ideation process, publishing, and pitching publishers. The author shares the best tips of well-known writers Chris on Code, Jeff Atwood, and Cassidy Williams. My key takeaway from this book is the ideation methodology. It helps me come up with awesome blog ideas every time.
Designing Data-Intensive Applications - Martin Kleppmann
Category: Engineering
This is the book I'm currently reading. It's focused on one of the crucial challenges in modern systems: data. Data scalability, consistency, reliability, efficiency, and maintainability are all addressed in the book, along with the different ways to store and transmit data between different services and platforms in our systems. It covers fundamentals that might seem basic but are important to build context for more advanced topics.
Conclusion
That's it! My most recommended books are laid out here together with my personal notes. I hope you find here at least one book you would like to read. If you read these books, let me know what you think. Thanks for reading 🙏