Recommendations

I’ve started this list so I can refer others to an evergreen list of recommended resources (books, articles, blogs, etc.) that I’ve found helpful, organized topically.

Software & Gear

See list of things I use.

Newsletters

• Hacker Newsletter - weekly articles on startups, technology, software, etc.
• Morning Brew - daily 5-minute read with top news
• Brain Food - weekly ideas and insights
• The Pragmatic Engineer - weekly advice and observations about software engineering
• Ruby Weekly - if you’re a Rubyist, this is for you
• Level Up - weekly newsletter for tech leaders

Tech & Startups: Favorite Long-Form Writers

• Paul Graham
• Dan Luu
• Patrick McKenzie
• Joel Spolsky
• Julia Evans

Career: Favorite Articles

I’m limiting myself to one per author. Also some of these aren’t specific to tech careers.

• There’s no speed limit by Derek Sivers
• Advice to Myself When Starting Out as a Software Developer by Gergely Orosz
• Don’t Call Yourself a Programmer by Patrick McKenzie
• Learn in Public by swyx
• How do you decide what to work on? by Julia Evans
• The Secret to Growing Your Engineering Career If You Don’t Want to Manage by Edmond Lau
• Big companies v. startups by Dan Luu
• Choose Boring Technology by Dan McKinley
• How To Be Successful by Sam Altman
• Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years by Peter Norvig
• An incomplete list of skills senior engineers need, beyond coding by Camille Fournier
• Work on what matters by Will Larson
• Know how your org works by Cindy Sridharan
• Career Decisions by Elad Gil
• Do things, tell people by Carl Lange
• You and Your Research by Richard Hamming

Tech: Favorite Talks

• Being Glue by Tanya Reilly
• Inventing on Principle by Brett Victor
• You Suck at Excel by Joel Spolsky

Tech: Other Resources

• Papers We Love - academic computer science papers

Work: Favorite Blogs

• Study Hacks by Cal Newport

Books

Engineering & Tech

• The Coding Career by swyx
• Clean Code by Robert Martin
• The DevOps Handbook

Productivity

• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Getting Things Done by David Allen
• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Literature

• The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
• Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

Faith

• The Reason for God by Timothy Keller
• Knowing God by J. I. Packer
• Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey

Pittsburgh Stuff

• Millie’s Ice Cream - simply the best
• Phipps Conservatory - great way to spend a few hours