The effective engineer
by Edmond Lau · first published 2015
76% recommend24% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Practical framework for prioritizing high-leverage work (impact over time invested), plus project planning, team and tech-debt advice; suits early-to-mid-level engineers wanting to grow at their job.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Introducing The Effective Engineer--the only book designed specifically for today's software engineers, based on extensive interviews with engineering leaders at top tech companies, and packed with hundreds of techniques to accelerate your career.
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Mentions per year
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I really like: - Code Complete by Steve McConnell - The Effective Engineer by Edmond Lau - The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas
on “Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?” ↗The Effective Engineer by Edmond Lau. Not CS, more SW dev, but it is fairly new and I thought it was very good: https://henrikwarne.com/2017/01/15/book-review-the-effective...
on “Ask HN: What's the best computer science book you've read recently?” ↗A relatively new book that isn't mentioned (but that I really like) is "The Effective Engineer" by Edmond Lau. https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Engineer-Engineering-Dispro... Edit: Here's why I like it: https://henrikwarne.com/2017/01/15/book-review-the-effective...
on “The most mentioned books on Stack Overflow” ↗I really liked "The Effective Engineer" by Edmond Lau. Its not intended for starting your own company. But it has some good insight for doing good in your job and how to grow as a software engineer. https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Engineer-Engineering-Dispro...
on “Ask HN: Which non-programming books are a beneficial read for programmers?” ↗…are the ones I read that were helpful. The second two are engineering-specific, but Principles is domain agnostic. * Principles: https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Life-Work-Ray-Dalio/dp/150... * The Effective Engineer: https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Engineer-Engineering-Dispro... * High Output Management: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/d...
on “Ask HN: What are the best books for professional effectiveness?” ↗…have read: Code Complete by Steve McConnell - Really covers how to be good at the craft of writing programs and constructing software. https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Microsoft-Programming-Steve-... The Effective Engineer by Edmond Lau - Covers how to focus on what you work on based on the leverage it provides you. http://www.effectiveengineer.com/
on “Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?” ↗Off tangent, but the biggest improvement in my software development productivity happened when I read Edmond Lau's book "The Effective Engineer" and started asking myself before I started every task: is this task the one which is highest leverage? Edmond's definition of leverage = Impact Produced/Time Invested You can read the book for more…
on “Ask HN: Is pomodoro technique effective for programmers?” ↗My favorites so far: - Pragmatic Thinking & Learning by Andy Hunt - The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman - The Effective Engineer* by Edmond Lau - The Pragmatic Programmer by Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas - SQL Performance Explained by Markus Winand And http://teachyourselfcs.com curriculum is pretty good as well. As a side note,…
on “Ask HN: Books you should have read when you start a career in SE / CS?” ↗The Effective Engineer[0] has a chapter on technical debt, where he goes into how a lot of crappy code decisions are there for a reason, and how rewrites can be chaotic. If you have the time, I'd recommend giving it a read.…
on “Ask HN: As a CTO, what is your most frustrating problem with technical debt?” ↗I think this book would be great addition to any software engineer . I think book captured the recent modern practices ( last 10 years?) in one place . The Effective Engineer: How to Leverage Your Efforts In Software Engineering to Make a Disproportionate and Meaningful Impact Effective Engineer - Notes : https://gist.github.com/rondy/af1dee1d28c02e9a225ae55da2674a... https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Engineer-Engineering-Dispro...
on “Books that changed my career as a software engineer” ↗…Tom Griffith) - An interesting take on how to apply algorithms to regular day-to-day living. Crucial Conversations (Kerry Patterson et. al) - A good primer on how to have difficult conversations The Effective Engineer (Edmond Lau) - This book provided me a good framework on how to be more effective at prioritizing my work. Programming Phoenix LiveView (Bruce A. Tate and Sophie DeBenedetto) - I found this very helpful…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2023 and recommend for 2024” ↗“The effective engineer” by Edmond Lau is a good book for the IC software engineer working in an engineering organization. The most influential content on engineering in my life is not in a book but a YouTube talk entitled…
on “Ask HN: Good books on philosophy of engineering?” ↗Effective Engineer by Edmond Lau and Game Programming Patterns by Robert were great reads
on “Ask HN: What took you from being a good programmer to a great one?” ↗…a lot of tribal knowledge about how software engineering works at the mid-level to (early) senior engineering levels, based on the author's experience working at SV companies. https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Engineer-Engineering-Dispro... If you're experienced (senior or higher), it's still a good read, but fewer things will surprise you.
on “Ask HN: What books should I read to improve as a software engineer?” ↗Effective Engineer by Edmond Lau Game Programming Patterns
on “Ask HN: Books you should have read when you start a career in SE / CS?” ↗