What 5 books would you want your web development team members to have read when you hired them?
This doesn't necessarily mean web-specific books.
Answers (9)
Krishnamurthy K
Software Development Engineer with 2 years of experience in Microsoft technologies
This would be highly specific to the kind of technology your team would be working once you hire them. That being said, I believe most of web development skills are picked up from experience rather than from books. There is a certain amount books can teach you, but beyond that, you learn only by solving problems and searching for solutions when you encounter hurdles.
I work on ASP.NET, so for this technology I highly recommend Professional ASP.NET 2.0 from Wrox publications.
Denice M
President at MacDonald Consulting Services
Best Answers in: Business Development (1), Organizational Development (1), Blogging (1), E-Commerce (1)
Lee - I'm hoping that anyone I hire has read at least one of the following:
"Getting Real" -- Building Faster, Easier Web Applications by 37 Signals
"Groundswell" -- Harnassing Social Technology by Charlene Li
"Leading Change" -- by John Kotter
"Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace" -- by Pierre Levy
Links:
"The Design of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman
Links:
Clarification added May 13, 2008:
Oddly, the principles in a book largely NOT about computers, when applied, can have great impact on web site conversion rates.
"The Cluetrain Manifesto" is at the top of my list. If you're a web developer, you need to understand the underlying human dynamics that explain how the web works. Cluetrain captures this. You can read it free at the link below. Others...
"The Long Tail" is another good book, especially for insight into usability and Internet economics.
"Crossing the Chasm" is good for understanding technology adoption. A lot of web developers tend to be earlier adopters than the people they write code for. It's useful to understand how the "herd" moves.
"The Tipping Point" is not critical, but a useful supplement to Cluetrain and the Long Tail. It's a little different look at the way a product, service, or website might catch fire.
Links:
Well, I do not quite agree with Krishnamurthy KV. Web developers need to learn new stuff constantly e.g. by reading books. Experience in this "business" is simply not enough. Technologies change very quickly, there is more and more new frameworks, development strategies, etc. which improve the quality of web applications and the development process itself. A good developer needs to keep up with this stuff. What books would I expect a web developer to read? Well.. the most recent on:
- Web application development
- Testing
- Agile development
- Design patterns
Would you really want to hire someone who has only read what you want them to read? I would want a potential candidate for hire to tell me about a book I have not read, and explain why it is relevant to the industry. Better yet, just tell me you read for recreation on a weekly basis, what you read, and why you read it, and I will know you are doing more reading than most.
There is a pretty standard reading list otherwise, some containing books that have already been mentioned here. The Tipping Point, The Wisdom of Crowds, Don't Make Me Think, The Design of Everyday Things, The Long Tail, Ambient Findability, The Search, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, The Mythical Man Month, etc. These are all "important".
Interviewing people based on what they have read is never as interesting as interviewing people based on what they have written.
Also - Web Development is a varied spectrum - everyone from simple HTML authors to people like me are referred to as Web Developers.
Having said that - here are some books I like:
1. Code Patterns that don't suck (http://www.amazon.ca/Design-Patterns-Elements-Reusable-Object-Oriented/dp/0201633612/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210710392&sr=8-1)
2. Arch Patterns that don't suck (http://www.amazon.ca/Patterns-Enterprise-Application-Architecture-Martin/dp/0321127420/ref=pd_sim_b?ie=UTF8&qid=1210710392&sr=8-1)
3. Fixing Code and Arch Patterns that DO suck ( http://www.amazon.ca/o/ASIN/0201485672/702-7208573-6051260?SubscriptionId=1KDHEGDEXZNBKYAEECR2/702-7208573-6051260 )
4. The Safety Harness you MUST HAVE to do #3 ( http://www.amazon.ca/Continuous-Integration-Improving-Software-Reducing/dp/0321336380/ref=pd_sim_b_title_15 )
5. Something about the Business - since we do this for money as much as love ( http://www.amazon.ca/Business-Software-Manager-Programmer-Entrepreneur/dp/074321580X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210710778&sr=1-2 )
C
Practices of An Agile Developer
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master
Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
Working Effectively with Legacy Code
JUnit Recipes: Practical Methods for Programmer Testing
"Cascading Style Sheets The Defitive Guide" - Eric A. Meyer
"HTML & XHTML The Definitive Guide" - Muscioano & Kennedy
"The Design of Everyday Things" - Donald Norman
I am enjoying reading an oldie right now: "PHP5, MySQL, Apache Web Development" - Naramore, Gerner, Scouarnec, Stolz, and Glass
I would also suggest picking up a book of essays by Bertrand Russell. His writing is clear and helps develop ones communication, always important to a technologist.
