Create a powerful collection of reference materials that help you understand and explore your craft. Keep building and iterating that collection over time.
I loved the library as a kid. Once a month or so my sister and I would talk our parents into a trip to the Topeka Public Library and we would spend hours browsing the stacks. Anything you were interested in – there was a book for it. I spent a lot of time in the nonfiction area checking out books on things like electronics, weather, and geology. I still remember the excitement of venturing out of the kids section for the first time and walking over to the regular collection. Thousands of new books and an entire new wing of the library to explore.
Fast forward to 2012. I was working as a firmware engineer at the time and happened to be visiting friends in Cambridge, MA. As we wandered around we stopped by the Harvard/MIT Coop bookstore. In the Coop I found one of the most amazing sights for a software engineer: an entire wall of O’Reilly technical books. These are the ones with bright covers and random print animals on the front. There were books for C++, Python, Data Engineering, Flask web services – you name it. In that moment I told my wife “this is the library I wish I had at home”. I bought a book, if only to remember the experience.
Now fast forward to today. Every September my wife and I go to the local book sale fundraiser for Planned Parenthood. Like kids in a candy store, we buy dozens of books every year. As I was shelving my new finds last fall I had to stop for a second. I realized that my collection of software and management books had finally iterated to the point where I very nearly had the perfect bookshelf – the bookshelf I wished the library had.
All my favorite authors. A ton of community favorites. A few stinkers, sure, but this bookshelf has served me well by opening my eyes to new perspectives and new challenges. With each book I have improved my engineering and my management. While most of the books I have finished reading, there are still a number that I haven’t opened up yet. I want the same reference library, and the same benefits, for everyone.
A quick thanks to Planned Parenthood of the California Central Coast for putting on their annual book sale in September. It has always been a treat. Thanks also to my current employer, who graciously gives every employee an enrichment stipend each year for professional growth. I spend it all on books…
Photo: two out of my eight shelves in the home office. Also seen: a dumpster fire plushie, a plastic airplane model, a Highway to the Danger Zone patch, an incomplete 3D print of a tricorder from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and a static light scattering flow cell from my days at Wyatt Technology.