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Soma
Posted on 1 Feb

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13 Must Read Software

Development Books for
Experienced Developers
#books #development #softwareengineering

#programming

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links; I

may receive compensation if you purchase
products or services from the different links
provided in this article.

Hello devs, being a senior developer is not easy

in software development world. As your
experience grow, your responsibility also grows
and you need diverse set of skills to perform
well at that level.

As an experienced software developer, you

need to wear many hats, for example you not
only need to be a good coder, but also good at
the understanding requirement, designing the
system, communicating with peers and
stakeholders, ensuring that your project has
good test coverage, following good coding best
practices and writing maintainable code.

All these skills are quite valuable and just

doesn't come when your experience increases,
you need to work hard to acquire that.

I know many programmers who have been

programming for 7 or 8 years, but they still
struggle to master these skills.

Some of them never bother to try, and some of

them just don't know how to develop those
skills. It's where these books come into the
picture.

In programming, particularly in the software

development field, there is no better way to
learn and increase your experience than reading
books.

If you are fortunate, then you will get a peer or

leader who is not just a good programmer but
also willing to teach and correct your mistake.

In most of the cases, you learn the skill as

mentioned earlier hard way by following people
who do it right and then trying to decipher what
they are doing.

As a programmer, we are lucky to have all these

books which are written by great programmers
and developers. We should be thankful to them
for sharing their knowledge in the best possible
manner to make the programming world better.

I have been programming for more than 15

years, but still, I feel I could have done better
with structuring and coding a complex feature
that I just implemented. It takes continuous
effort and a lot of discipline to become a better
developer.

Nevertheless, these books help you in every

possible manner. Even if you manage to get 10%
of these books, you would be a much better
programmer.

In my last articles, I shared 10 Must Read

Software Engineering Books and 10 Must Read
Algorithms Books and in this article we will only
focus on software development and system
design books for experienced developers .

GIF

13 Must-Read Books for Senior

Developers and Software
Engineers in 2025
These are some of the best books for
experienced programmers and software
engineers. You can read these books to fill the
gaps in your understanding of the useful skills
and can also pick a few essential skills to grow
in your career.

1. The Pragmatic Programmer: From

Journeyman to Master (2nd Edition)
This is one of those evergreen, must read and
excellent book for the experienced
programmers and software developer which is
often recommended by seniors.

Created by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas, the

pragmatic programmer helps you to build a
highly maintainable code with best practices.

It covers all the essential software development

topics from requirement analysis and
architecture.

It also explains how to write better code, one of

the key skill needed for an experienced
programmer.

In short, definitely a must read book for

experienced developers, if you want you can
also combine this book with Software
Architecture & Design of Modern Large Scale
Systems course by Miachale Pogrebinsky for
active learning.

2. Designing Data-Intensive
Applications By Martin Kleppmann
In this fantastic book on system design, Martin
Kleppmann will help you understand the pros
and cons of all the different technologies that
are used for storing and processing data.

It is a book that is written in a lucid style and

presents a very broad overview of data storage
systems.

You will get a very good grasp of fundamental

concepts, algorithms, as well as practical
applications of various technologies.

This is also one of the most popular book when

it comes to learn Software design and System
Design and I highly recommend this book to all
kind of software developers .

The book is also good for beginners and

experienced, developers and software
architects and anyone who wants to be better at
software design in 2024.

If you want, you can also combine this book with

the Mastering the System Design
Interview by Frank Kane (Ex Amazon Hiring
Manager) on Udemy for better preparation.

3. System Design Interview -- An

insider's guide By Alex Xu (Part 1 and
2)
As the title suggests, this is the perfect book for
everyone who is preparing for a system
interview. Trust me, this book is the finest on the
internet right now.

This book is created by Alex Xu who has gone

through the same process.

You will get access to a number of drawings and

diagrams that will assist you in gaining an
understanding of the real system. You will be
able to understand what the recruiters are
looking for in your answers to questions.

Alex also have a companion System design

course on ByteByteGo, where you will not only
find all the content of this book and the second
part of System Design Interview Book by
Alex Xu but also new content, deep dive into
popular system questions like how to design
YouTube and WhatsApp as well as proven
System design framework to solve Software
design problem.

In short, if you read this book, you will be able to

breeze through your next system design
interview.

This is also one of the most recommend

System design books on Reddit, Quora,
Hacker News, Twitter, and other online
platforms and its obvious from the number of
reviews this book have on Amazon.

4. Zero Bugs and Program Faster

No matter how experienced you are, if you are a
programmer, then your coding skill is your
introduction. A guy good at coding is a precious
asset as I found they quickly whip up some SQL
to reconcile things, write some scripts to
automate stuff, and understand the complex
problem in a quick time.

This is the reason I ask every programmer to

focus on coding extensively in the first few
years of career. That's where the base is built,
but it's a long journey, and you need to keep on
working.

I like the book, which teaches about coding

strategies, and author Kate Thompson has done
a great job in explaining how to avoid mistakes
in programming.

The author has done some serious research on

the bug avoidance technique, and that reflects
in this book. So if you want to code better with
fewer books, this is a great book to start with.

5. Software Engineering at Google:

Lessons Learned from Programming
Over Time
This book is created by ex Google engineers
Titus Winters, Hyrum Wright, and Tom
Manshreck and it provides insights into
intricacies of developing and maintaining a
sustainable and healthy codebase, emphasizing
the distinction between programming and
software engineering.

Drawing on their experiences at Google, they

have provide a detailed look at the practices
employed by some of the world's leading
software engineers to navigate the challenges of
evolving codebases in response to changing
requirements and demands.

This software design book delves into Google's

unique engineering culture, processes, and
tools, shedding light on how these elements
contribute to the effectiveness of their
engineering organization.

Throughout the book, three fundamental

principles are highlighted: the impact of time on
software sustainability, the influence of scale on
software practices within an organization, and
the trade-offs engineers must consider when
making design and development decisions.

With a focus on practical insights and real-world

examples, this book serves as a valuable
resource for software engineers seeking to
enhance their understanding of software
engineering principles and practices.

This book has many valuable lessons on trade-

offs experienced developers must consider
when making design and development
decisions, which is quite important for senior
developers and software architects.

6. Clean Code By Uncle Bob

If a programmer with 1 year of experience asks
me to recommend 10 books to learn useful
programming techniques, I'll recommend the
Clean code 10 times to him, Yes, it is that good. I
wish I had discovered this book when I had
started my career.

Though you can read this book at any phase of

your job and it will benefit you, it will make a
huge impact when you learn it when you starting
with professional programming.

Reading this book is the first right step in

becoming a good coder in any programming
language. Still, its even more useful or Java
programmers, given all examples are written in
Java.

Btw knowledge of SOLID principles is crucial for

writing clean code and this book teaches you
but if you need more practice you can also join
SOLID Principles: Introducing Software
Architecture and Design course on Udemy. It
nicely complements this book.

7. Head First Design Pattern 2nd

Edition
This is one of the best headfirst books I have
read ever. It's best for programmers having 2 to
3 years of experience because it teaches you
about patterns, how to apply those patter to
write better code and in a fun way.

A must-read for junior programmers to

transition into experienced developers.

And, if you are serious about design patterns

then you can also combine this book with the
Design Pattern in Java course by Dmitri
Nestruk on Udemy. It's an excellent course to
learn modern implementation of classic design
pattern in Java and it effectively complements
this book

8. The Clean Coder

I have seen guys who are an excellent coder but
haven't be recognized or promoted with a guy
who is an average coder but an excellent
communicator. Some people are good at coding
but often doesn't able to articulate what they
are doing.

Hence, they either silent and spoke less when it

matters, like on meetings, conference calls, or
during production troubleshooting unless they
are asked.

This book aims to bridge that gap by teaching

you the essential soft skills for programmers.

I tell all my friends and readers to put as much

effort on soft skills as they do in coding or
learning new technology. Remember,
technology gets old in a couple of the year, but
soft skills will help you throughout your career.

9. Working Effectively with Legacy

Code
This is a truly great book by Michael C. Feathers
and another must-read for experienced
programmers. One of the challenges many
programmers face is maintaining the legacy
code, the code which is life in production, and
nobody knows how it works.

The last programmer who was part of the

original development team has left the
organization even before you join, and now you
have to maintain future enhancements and
releases.

This is actually the bread and butter for many

experienced programmers, but only if you know
how to deal with legacy code, which can break
with a smaller enhancement.

This book teaches you everything you should

know about dealing with legacy code
irrespective of any programming language, like
C++ or Java.

10. Agile Software Development By

Robert C. Martin
The great Robert C. Martin is also known as
Uncle Bob, has written many good books in
programming and software development, and
this is another gem of it.

You need to be agile if you want to survive in

today's software development industry, and this
book teaches you the fundamentals of agile
software development.

It's a great book to improve your programming

skills as an application programmer as well.

11. Refactoring: Improving the

Design of Existing Code
This is another technical book related to coding,
which I highly recommend to 3 to 4 years
experienced programmers.

There is no better way to improve the code

quality than TDD and refactoring, and this book
is the bible of refactoring.

This book explains both terminology and

techniques of refactoring, like extract class,
extract method, etc.

Examples are given in Java, but that doesn't

mean it's only for Java programmer; you can get
most of it if you are programming in C++ or
Python.

12. Object-oriented analysis and

design by Grady Booch
One more thing an experienced programmer
should be good at is object-oriented analysis
and design. A good plan is essential for robust
and maintainable software.

If you are not good at finding your class and

object and relationship between them, you will
introduce unnecessary dependency and make
the software complex.

There is a reason why experienced

programmers and architects are involved in the
design process.

13. The Effective Engineer

I have always said that an experienced
programmer should pose all-rounder skills. He
needs to be good not just at coding but also on
gathering requirements, communicating with
peers and stakeholders, creating and following
the process, and doing all non-technical things
which matter.

This is why I am suggesting you read this book.

This is an experienced, driven book, where the

author explains that why working 70 to 80 hours
a week doesn't make sense and how you can
achieve the same impact on how he develops
the mindset to become more productive and
taking control of your career.

Btw, if you aim to become a solution architect

then I also suggest you go through this
awesome course - How to become an
Outstanding Solution Architect on Udemy.

It's a great course to learn all the hard and soft

skills you need to take your software
architecture skills to the next level.

That's all about some 13 must-read books for

experienced programmers. As I said, these
books are for programmers and software
developers and applicable to all programmers
programming in Java, C++, Python, Ruby, or any
other language.

They are not language-specific but contains all-

time classic knowledge about coding,
programming, how to structure code, how to
design software, how to test, how to gather
requirement and all-important skills related to
software development an experienced
programmer should know.

Remember, each of these books represents a

treasure trove of knowledge that can transform
your approach to software engineering. So pick
one today and start your journey toward
mastery!

And, if you haven't read, you can also read 10

Must Read Software Engineering Books for
Developers and 10 Must Read Algorithms Books
I have shared earlier, it contains books on
software engineering, data structures, and
algorithms for software engineers and
developers.

GIF

All the best with your learning journey !!

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Top comments (6) Subscribe

Add to the discussion

Amazing Leader • 2 Feb

Thank you so much for sharing this list. I am

in the middle of reading Uncle Bob's Clean
Code. Now I know the next book to read is
Clean Coder. I'm also interested in The
Effective Engineer book as well.

2
Like
Author
Soma • 2 Feb

Yeah, all those books are amazing and

even if you read multiple times, you will
always learn new things. All the best !!

1
Like

Ryan • 2 Feb

I've read several of these and loved all of

them. I'll have to check some of the others
out.

2
Like
Author
Soma • 2 Feb

Glad you find something new to read

1
Like

መኖር መልካም • 2 Feb

Thank u!

2
Like
Author
Soma • 2 Feb

my pleasure

1
Like
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