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Discussion on: Senior software developer. What next?

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Davide Bellone

That's an interesting career, I'd like to jump into that world. Do you have some suggestions or some resources to read/watch?

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190245 profile image
Dave

Unfortunately, not really.

I think it basically comes down to having a solid tech background, being outspoken & opinionated, being "comfortable with being uncomfortable" and a tremendous amount of luck.

I think in my case, it really boils down to the fact I like to be busy. Just yesterday I posted a message internally of "if there wasn't time pressure, I'm not sure this work would feel right" - and the response from the PM was "you're a pressure / adrenaline junky aren't you?"

I can happily share my current reading list for the things I'm learning though if you like (a mix of philosophy, management techniques, software architecture, and statistical analyses of Agile implementation, probably a few other topics in there too).

I've told my junior developers "read Uncle Bob's Clean Code, when you understand it enough to love his wisdom but also know where he's wrong & can respectfully debate it, that's when you're ready for the next step in your career." - the same probably holds true for Seniors, in different areas of the book.

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bellonedavide profile image
Davide Bellone
  • Good point about understanding and disagreeing with Uncle Bob. It's hard to see someone who "actively" reads a book and understands it.

  • For the resources, yes please, it'd be great if you share your favourite topics!

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190245 profile image
Dave

Some of the books on my Kindle (I won't link to them, as I wouldn't want to run foul of Dev guidelines on advertising etc). Note that these aren't recommendations (I'm part way through most of them) and not all are strictly work related:

  • Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations - Forsgren PhD, Nicole, Humble, Jez, Kim, Gene
  • Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach - Richards, Mark, Ford, Neal
  • Technology Strategy Patterns: Architecture as Strategy - Hewitt, Eben
  • The Unicorn Project - Kim, Gene
  • Continuous Delivery for Java Apps: Build a CD Pipeline Step by Step Using Kubernetes, Docker, Vagrant, Jenkins, Spring, Maven and Artifactory - Acetozi, Jorge
  • Hands-On Microservices with Spring Boot and Spring Cloud: Build and deploy Java microservices using Spring Cloud, Istio, and Kubernetes - Larsson, Magnus
  • Clean Code - Uncle Bob
  • The Kubernetes Book: Updated Feb 2020 - Poulton, Nigel
  • The Art of War - Sun Tzu
  • Monolith to Microservices: Evolutionary Patterns to Transform Your Monolith - Newman, Sam
  • Motorcycle roadcraft: the police rider's handbook - Mares, Penny, Police Foundation, Coyne, Philip
  • The Courage to be Disliked - Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
  • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F... - Mark Manson

That's probably a half decent starting point.