The Effective Engineer is a must-read for engineer and engineering student. It is a high quality curated list of ideas in software engineering career development.
Overall impression
This book introduces essential ideas around how to be effective throughout software engineering career. At the end of each chapter, a short take-away section is included. As a top-down thinker, I quite enjoy this format. I feel like most ideas are not novel but they are classic. Although I was familiar with ideas like growth mindset and GTD system, this book put them into the context of software engineering. Feels like a practical refresher.
More detailed review
This book splits chapters into 3 parts.
- Part 1: Adopt the Right Mindsets: Must-read part for every individual. Some ideas like leverage and prioritization goes beyond the field of software engineering.
- Part 2: Execute, Execute, Execute: Must-read part for engineer in early career like me.
- Part 3: Build Long-term Value: This part is written for more senior or leadership role. I still find it resonates with me as I constantly observe how my company scales team and business.