Two Books I Recommend
Before I get to the books, and why I have found them important and timely, I need to set the stage.
As I mature in my career I realize the many many mistakes I’ve made along the way. Putting the mistakes aside there are always some thoughts that stick with you. For me, those thoughts tend to be variations on “Well, if X happened then…” and “There has to be a better way than Y…”
These thoughts stick around for longer than six months. I form opinions around the possible answers. These thoughts bother me enough to begin the second session of wondering. And that goes like this: “Well, I can’t be the only person thinking this…”
In order to get these thoughts out of my head, so I can sleep peacefully, I am forced to write them down. I am so glad that I wrote them down, along with my personal opinions on the matter. Because now I can talk about the two books.
The first is Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann:
https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Data-Intensive-Applications-Reliable-Maintainable/dp/1449373321
This is quite simply the best overview of the last two decades of work in the field, and more importantly, places that work in a linear progression of why its being done in the first place.
The second is Developer Hegemony by Erik Dietrich:
https://www.amazon.com/Developer-Hegemony-Erik-Dietrich/dp/0692866809
Dietrich hits nearly every point of frustration I’ve had in my career, explaining why, while offering a way out — if you dare.
These two books reinforced that my questions were entirely valid — Yay, I’m not crazy — and that my line of thinking was very close to answers that others have provided.
I don’t know what questions you are fighting over. Maybe these aren’t the books for you. But I found these two works incredibly valuable in confirming where my true north lies.
