Fwd: I Wrote a Book on Growing as a Software Engineer
Alan Blount
Alan
From: The Pragmatic Engineer <pragmati...@substack.com>
Date: Tue, Nov 7, 2023, 3:36 AM
Subject: I Wrote a Book on Growing as a Software Engineer
To: <al...@zeroasterisk.com>
👋 Hi, this is Gergely with a bonus, free issue of the Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter. In every issue, I cover challenges at Big Tech and startups through the lens of engineering managers and senior engineers. I Wrote a Book on Growing as a Software EngineerThe Software Engineer’s Guidebook has taken more than four years to write – and it’s finally ready! I hope you find it a useful resource which serves your career well
Almost exactly four years ago, I decided to write a book. On 15 October 2019, I sent the pitch to a well-known publisher, answering their questions like these below: In 1-2 paragraphs, summarize what the book is about, like you would pitch it to a potential reader on the back cover. What makes your book unique in the marketplace?
What will the reader learn, and how will they apply it?
This was the pitch of the book to publishers. While awaiting their response, I got to writing it. The publisher ended up passing on the book – and so did a second one. A third publisher did offer a contract, but we parted ways a few months later when it became clear their rigid style guidelines would turn my book into something no longer in my voice. I knew exactly what I wanted to write, and how I wanted to write it. Going at it alone – by self-publishing – is the approach I’ve taken. I also promised myself to not publish the book until I was certain it was at the high quality bar I set for it. Now, the book is finally ready! It’s been four years of writing, re-writing, and polishing the manuscript. Turns out, good things do take time. The book is called “The Software Engineer’s Guidebook.” It’s been my longest-running project to date – excluding raising children, that is! It’s also a project of which I’m very proud, and that I hope you would find valuable.
One reason this book took so long to write was that I started this newsletter two years ago. Writing two articles per week for subscribers helped me know when some parts of the book had to be rewritten in order to be totally up to date on release. As a result, the book contains actionable information on topics such as:
Today’s issue is about the book, and some bonus resources which you get access to, as a subscriber. We cover:
What the book coversThe Software Engineer’s Guidebook follows the structure of a typical software engineering career path, from starting as a fresh-faced software developer, through to being a role model senior/lead, all the way up to the staff/principle/distinguished level. It summarizes what I’ve learned as a developer and how I’ve approached coaching engineers at different points of their careers. The book is unique in how it covers both the “hard” (technical) skills and the “soft” ones. To thrive as an engineer, you need both of these. You need to become increasingly an expert in coding and the related things – debugging, testing, refactoring, productionizing systems, planning for failures at increasingly large systems – as well as with things like communicating well with others, influencing your peers and managers, and owning your career. I haven’t really come across a book that attempts to cover both of these essential topics. Here’s a glimpse at an extended table of contents, for a sense of what’s in this book:
To provide even more information about the topics in this book, I’ve created a more detailed table of contents. For example, here are the subsections covered in Part V: Role-model Staff and Principal Engineers: As you can see, there’s a rich mix of “softer” areas like collaboration and being an influential voice, and more technical topics such as engineering practices, secure development, logging, architecture debt, and more. Parts II (Software Developer), III (Senior Engineer) and IV (Tech Lead) all have a similar split between these two distinct areas that are still connected. Getting the right balance of soft and hard topics is one reason this book took years to write. A 100-page PDF of bonus materialsThe book is longer than many similar books. My goal has been to cover all important technical and non-technical parts of a software engineering career. Most non-fiction books are around 50,000-80,000 words in length; this one is around 135,000 words long – almost double the word count! The book is made up of 413 pages, on a larger-than-usual print of 7x10 inches, to keep its thickness at bay. The India version of the book is 453 pages, with identical content. The reason the India edition is longer is due to a smaller print size of 7x9 inches. The quantity of information equates to around 30 issues of The Pragmatic Engineer newsletter issues in word count terms. Believe it or not, the book could have been even longer, and I have removed quite a lot. Some of this material is available online for buyers of the book, and newsletter subscribers. As a newsletter subscriber, you have instant access to 100 pages of bonus chapters: get the PDF here. These bonus chapters are a mix of new writing, and reworked and updated newsletter issues which complement the book. Enjoy! Praise from readersSeveral people read the book prior to publication. Here’s what they have to say about it: Tanya Reilly is a senior principal engineer at Squarespace, and author of “The Staff Engineer’s Path” – of which we shared an excerpt last December. She says:
James Stanier is a director of engineering at Shopify, and contributed the guest post, Efficient Remote Work for Teams. He is also author of the books “Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager” and “Effective Remote Work.” In his words:
Chris Seaton is a Tech Lead at Skiddle, and sums the book up like this:
There are several more quotes from professionals like Alex Xu – author of the “Systems Design Interview” series or from Roberto Vitillo, Principal Engineer at Amazon. Read these here. A sample from the bookSo what is the book like? It’s best to see for yourself: peek inside the book. The sample covers excerpts from three different parts of the book, so you can get a good sense of what you can expect. If you’ve been enjoying the newsletter: I am pretty certain you’ll find the book a useful resource. Where to buyPurchase the book via its website. It’s available in paperback, and ships to dozens of countries from 12 Amazon marketplaces, covering:
In India, the book can also be ordered through Shroff Publishers, which offers an additional 10% discount and free shipping for direct orders. If the book is not available to ship to your country, please share details here. I’ll aim to make the print book available to order in more countries, and knowing where the book is not yet available helps with this. What about an e-book or audiobook? For the launch, the book is print only, as my goal is to create a reference book that’s worthy to be held as a physical object. I’m planning an e-book and audiobook as follow-ups, but both will take more work. TakeawaysFour years ago, I resolved to write this book. Three years ago, I left Uber and my primary goal was to finish this book. Two years ago, I was debating whether to launch a newsletter, or to hunker down and finish this book. It’s a fact I could not be happier with the decision to go with the newsletter, but the unfinished book has weighed heavily on me, ever since. Ironically, writing the newsletter illuminated the parts of the book which urgently needed updating and rewriting: pushing the book release date even more. I hope you agree the book was well worth the wait, and that its ideas serve you well for years to come. Hire Faster With The Pragmatic Engineer Talent CollectiveIf you’re hiring software engineers or engineering leaders, join The Pragmatic Engineer Talent Collective. It’s the #1 talent collective for software engineers and engineering managers. Get weekly drops of outstanding software engineers and engineering leaders open to new opportunities. I vet every software engineer and manager - and add a note on why they are a standout profile. Companies like Linear use this collective to hire better, and faster. Read what companies hiring say. And if you’re hiring, apply here:
Featured Pragmatic Engineer Jobs
See more senior engineer and leadership roles with great engineering cultures on The Pragmatic Engineer Job board - or post your own. You’re on the free list for The Pragmatic Engineer. For the full experience, become a paying subscriber. Many readers expense this newsletter within their company’s training/learning/development budget. This post is public, so feel free to share and forward it.
© 2023 Gergely Orosz
|
