The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

The Pragmatic Programmer is not going to blow your mind the way inching through a book on machine learning or functional programming or . But it will give you insight into how to be a better developer at the job you're in. Some of the information/advice is a bit dated - almost everyone uses version control, which the book argues passionately in favor of. At present, should you find a company which doesn't use version control, DO NOT WORK THERE.

That said, it is interesting to see what wasn't considered matter-of-fact for development jobs when the book was written. However, most of the material is timeless in the way a book on design patterns is timeless. DRY (Do not Repeat Yourself) and orthogonal code will likely never go out of style, for instance, nor will the power of code generation. And though I say the book is for 'your first development job,' it's probably worth reading even if you're a bit further along in your career (especially given the propensity for switching jobs in this industry).

The principles elaborated in this book will help you do your job. And unlike some developer books, Pragmatic Programmer is easy to read and not prone to fluff or rambling. The exercises in the book (with answers in the back) provide ways to illustrate the principles espoused by the text, which is also helpful.

Get a copy of the book here