You don't have to be a genius to be a great software developer
The key to creating quality software is being strategic in your approach. Being strategic takes you further than raw talent alone ever well, both with boosting your own productivity and amplifying your impact on a team.
It's time to stop working harder and start working smarter. This book provides actionable strategies for finding simplicity in complexity and avoiding big mistakes in software development.
Find yourself making mistakes?
We've all been there.
We've all been there.
I've made plenty of mistakes in my career:
- Overworking? Check.
- Bikeshedding over a pointless topic for hours on end? Check.
- Trying to become a "rock star" on my team who takes on the brunt of every task? Check.
Each chapter features a common software development pitfall like these and how to avoid them. Why? Because mistakes are where we learn best.
What's in the book?
Each chapter features:
- A deep dive into a specific pitfall in software development.
- Actionable strategies for avoiding pitfalls in your own approach.
- Prompts that provide an opportunity for self-reflection and conversation starters with your team.
Praise for Keep Calm and Code On
"Vulnerable, forgiving, and encouraging. Lau's experience and wisdom shine through in the clear tone of a technical leader dedicated to helping engineers of all levels level-up further, faster. I will be recommending this book to all of my mentees!"
Chris Bloom
Senior Software Engineer at GitHub
"In my first-hand experience seeing Alex apply these software development principles in their work, and how it set the cultural tone for the team, it's great to see them detailed and catalogued here, for current and future generations of engineers."
Allen Cheung
VP Engineering at Kiddom
"Alex has uncovered what makes great developers great and has kindly written down not only what these superpower are, but how we can all attain them. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to better understand software craft, their own behavior, and their teams."
Keith McHugh
Engineer at Figma
"Early in one's career, it's all-too-easy to focus on coding concepts, principles, and techniques. Later on, you come to realize that being a developer is just as much about working with people as it is about working with code. Keep Calm and Code On is an amazing field guide for those equally-important human aspects of the job that make the difference between a fulfilling career and total burnout. It's also a great refresher for those of us who have discovered these pitfalls the hard way."
John Ellis
Senior Software Developer at Shopify