3 books that made me a 10x engineer

what these books taught me that tutorials never could

There’s a quiet turning point in every developer’s journey, when code stops being only code. It’s not about syntax anymore. It’s about thinking differently. That shift doesn’t usually come from a flashy framework or the latest library. For me, it came from three books. Books that didn’t teach me better code but they helped me become a better thinker.

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1. The Pragmatic Programmer — Timeless coding wisdom

Authors: Andy Hunt, Dave Thomas

I picked this up because every senior engineer I knew said, “You have to read it.” I expected it to be dry but it felt like two mentors sharing hard-won lessons over coffee. No buzzwords, no fluff. Clear, practical advice: write code that’s easy to change, fix root causes, master your tools.

One idea that stuck: “Don’t live with broken windows.” Messy code only gets messier. So make sure to clean it up early. This isn't limited to software engineering, is it?

Another favorite: “Find bugs once.” If a human finds a bug, a human shouldn’t find this same bug again.

This isn’t just a book. It’s a mindset.

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2. Thinking, Fast and Slow — Sharpen your decision-making

Author: Daniel Kahneman

This isn’t a tech book, but every engineer should read it. Daniel Kahneman explains how we think, how often we’re wrong without knowing it.

We use two systems: one fast and emotional, the other slow and logical. Knowing which is active? That’s powerful.

Before reading it, I often trusted my gut too much when debugging or designing. Afterward, I slowed down, asked better questions, and spotted my blind spots. It made me a better engineer and teammate. I listen more and admit when I might be wrong.

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3. Designing Data-Intensive Applications — Master scalable systems

Author: Martin Kleppmann

I was reading this while working on backend-heavy projects. It felt dense at first, but Martin Kleppmann makes complex topics like distributed systems and databases easy to grasp. It’s not only about what works, but why and how things fail. Biggest takeaway? We often take infrastructure for granted. “Just scale it” isn’t so simple.

This book taught me to see the tradeoffs: consistency vs. availability, batch vs. stream, monolith vs. microservices. After reading it, I stopped thinking in features and started thinking in systems.

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To sum it up briefly

If you’re a developer and you’re feeling stuck or just want to sharpen the way you think, these three books might be what you need.

They don’t teach code. They change your perspective. And here’s the best part: you don’t need to read them all at once. Pick one. Take your time. Let it sit with you. Let it reprogram how you see the craft.

If you found this helpful, please let me know and click the like button below. It’s the best feedback I could ask for.

Until next time,
Adlet

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