Top Software Engineering books curated by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we have connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favouriteSoftware Engineering books – and here are the answers.

  • Curated by industry experts
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Top Software Engineering books recommended by experts
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Fundamentals of Software Engineering

Understanding the concepts of Software Engineering starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

Modern Software Engineering: Doing What Works to Build Better Software Faster

Modern Software Engineering: Doing What Works to Build Better Software Faster

In Modern Software Engineering, continuous delivery pioneer David Farley helps software professionals think about their work more effectively, manage it more successfully, and genuinely improve the quality of their applications, their lives, and the lives of their colleagues. Writing for program…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Pragmatic Programmer

Pragmatic Programmer

At least today, code is our door to building algorithms and complex Machine Learning systems. If you want to invest in becoming a more proficient Machine Learning professional faster, investing in code skills is the way to do so.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

In CODE, they show us the ingenious ways we manipulate language and invent new means of communicating with each other. And through CODE, we see how this ingenuity and our very human compulsion to communicate have driven the technological innovations of the past two centuries.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Head First Design Patterns

Head First Design Patterns

Using the latest research in cognitive science and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory learning experience, Head First Design Patterns uses a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Clean Architecture: A Craftsman's Guide to Software Structure and Design

Clean Architecture: A Craftsman's Guide to Software Structure and Design

By applying universal rules of software architecture, you can dramatically improve developer productivity throughout the life of any software system. Now, building upon the success of his best-selling books Clean Code and The Clean Coder, legendary software craftsman Robert C. Martin (“Uncle Bob…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems

Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems

The overwhelming majority of a software system’s lifespan is spent in use, not in design or implementation. So, why does conventional wisdom insist that software engineers focus primarily on the design and development of large scale computing systems? In this collection of essays and articles, k…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Additional Software Engineering Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Software Engineering, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

Programming Pearls

Programming Pearls

When programmers list their favourite books, Jon Bentley’s collection of programming pearls is commonly included among the classics. Just as natural pearls grow from grains of sand that irritate oysters, programming pearls have grown from real problems that have irritated real programmers. With …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases Through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation

Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases Through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation

Getting software released to users is often a painful, risky, and time-consuming process.This groundbreaking new book sets out the principles and technical practices that enable rapid, incremental delivery of high quality, valuable new functionality to users. Through automation of the build, dep…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Framework Design Guidelines: Conventions, Idioms, and Patterns for Reusable .NET Libraries

Framework Design Guidelines: Conventions, Idioms, and Patterns for Reusable .NET Libraries

This book, Framework Design Guidelines, presents best practices for designing frameworks, which are reusable object-oriented libraries. The guidelines are applicable to frameworks ranging in size and in their scale of reuse: Large system frameworks, such as the .

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager

Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager

Software startups make global headlines every day. As technology companies succeed and grow, so do their engineering departments. In your career, you'll may suddenly get the opportunity to lead teams: to become a manager. But this is often uncharted territory. How can you decide whether this car…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Test-Driven Development by Example

Test-Driven Development by Example

Quite simply, test-driven development is meant to eliminate fear in application development. While some fear is healthy (often viewed as a conscience that tells programmers to "be careful!"), the author believes that byproducts of fear include tentative, grumpy, and uncommunicative programmers w…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The Pragmatic Programmer

The Pragmatic Programmer

Ward Cunningham Straight from the programming trenches, The Pragmatic Programmer cuts through the increasing specialization and technicalities of modern software development to examine the core process--taking a requirement and producing working, maintainable code that delights its users. It cov…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Specializations and Deeper Software Engineering Knowledge

You've got your basics in order – time to move on to some advanced and specialized concepts. Software Engineering is evolving every day, these books can help you master it.

The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery, 20th Anniversary Edition

The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery, 20th Anniversary Edition

“One of the most significant books in my life.” —Obie Fernandez, Author, The Rails Way “Twenty years ago, the first edition of The Pragmatic Programmer completely changed the trajectory of my career. This new edition could do the same for yours.” —Mike Cohn, Author of Succeeding with Agile , Agi…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

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