Here is a list of resources that I have read either fully, or at least to an extent with which I am comfortable with endorsing them.
I've used these resources in different ways:
- Direct application: Some bits and pieces of advice can be applied very directly.
- Reflection: For organizational things, sometimes I would try to write down how I felt my work environment mirrored, and how it differed from the situation described in some work. Writing things down is a useful forcing function to think clearly.
- 1:1 discussions with my manager: We'd take the first 15-20 minutes of the 1:1 for reading (my manager would read the post for the first time, I would re-read it), and we'd discuss some of the key points.
- Wishlisting: I noted down some points as “if I were ever to start my own company and have some employees, I should seriously consider this.”
Within each section, the resources aren't organized in any particular order.
- StaffEng - Guides for reaching and succeeding
at Staff+ roles and interviews of Staff+ engineers across different companies.
Created by Will Larson (CTO at Calm, previously at Stripe, Uber, etc.).
- Book: Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the management track by Will Larson.
- Podcast: Staff Engineer podcast by David Noël-Romas (Stripe) and Alex Kessinger (Stitch Fix).
- Being Glue - Talk/Article by Tanya Reilly (Principal Engineer at SquareSpace) on “glue work”, balancing “glue work” with other work, and navigating your career.
- Pushing Through Friction - Talk/Slides by Dan Na (Staff Engineer at SquareSpace).
- Julia Evans’s blog - Some highlights:
- Soft Skills Engineering - Podcast on developing communication skills and navigating tricky workplace situations, aimed at software developers. “It takes more than great code to be a great engineer”
- Resilient Management - Book by Lara Hogan (author, public speaker, and coach, previously VP of Engineering at Kickstarter and Engineering Director at Etsy).
- The Manager’s Path - Book by Camille Fournier (MD at Two Sigma, previously CTO at Rent the Runway, VP Tech at Goldman Sachs).
- Will Larson’s blog - The "management dual" of the StaffEng blog.
- Book: An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management.
- Mistakes I’ve made as an Engineering Manager - Blog post by Sarah Drasner (public speaker, Engineering Director at Google, previously VP of Developer Experience at Netlify).
- Jacob Kaplan-Moss’s blog - Some highlights:
- Radical Candor book: Book by Kim Scott (coach, previously faculty at Apple University, engineering manager at Google).
- Radical Candor podcast by Kim Scott and Russ Laraway (previously at Google, Twitter, US Marine Corps).
- “Caring Personally while Challenging Directly”.
- Chelsea Troy’s blog - Some highlights:
- Pragmatic Engineer blog - Writing by Gergely Orosz (previously at Uber, Skyscanner, Skype).
Some highlights:
- Advice to Myself When Starting Out as a Software Developer
- A Software Engineering Culture Test.
- Gergely is also working on The Software Engineer Guidebook.
- Greater Than Code - Podcast on the human side of software development and technology. Discussions on a wide variety of topics such as imposter syndrome, mental illness, sexuality, unconscious bias and social justice, as well as skills such as team-building, hiring, community organizing, mentorship and empathy. A large fraction of podcast guests are women, people of color, trans and/or queer folks.