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The Missing README: A Guide for the New Software Engineer
Key concepts and best practices for new software engineers — stuff critical to your workplace success that you weren’t taught in school.
For new software engineers, knowing how to program is only half the battle. You’ll quickly find that many of the skills and processes key to your success are not taught in any school or bootcamp. The Missing README fills in that gap—a distillation of workplace lessons, best practices, and engineering fundamentals that the authors have taught rookie developers at top companies for more than a decade.
Early chapters explain what to expect when you begin your career at a company. The book’s middle section expands your technical education, teaching you how to work with existing codebases, address and prevent technical debt, write production-grade software, manage dependencies, test effectively, do code reviews, safely deploy software, design evolvable architectures, and handle incidents when you’re on-call. Additional chapters cover planning and interpersonal skills such as Agile planning, working effectively with your manager, and growing to senior levels and beyond.
You’ll
This is the book your tech lead wishes every new engineer would read before they start. By the end, you’ll know what it takes to transition into the workplace–from CS classes or bootcamps to professional software engineering.
For new software engineers, knowing how to program is only half the battle. You’ll quickly find that many of the skills and processes key to your success are not taught in any school or bootcamp. The Missing README fills in that gap—a distillation of workplace lessons, best practices, and engineering fundamentals that the authors have taught rookie developers at top companies for more than a decade.
Early chapters explain what to expect when you begin your career at a company. The book’s middle section expands your technical education, teaching you how to work with existing codebases, address and prevent technical debt, write production-grade software, manage dependencies, test effectively, do code reviews, safely deploy software, design evolvable architectures, and handle incidents when you’re on-call. Additional chapters cover planning and interpersonal skills such as Agile planning, working effectively with your manager, and growing to senior levels and beyond.
You’ll
This is the book your tech lead wishes every new engineer would read before they start. By the end, you’ll know what it takes to transition into the workplace–from CS classes or bootcamps to professional software engineering.
288 pages, Paperback
Published August 4, 2021
186 people are currently reading
1073 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
November 4, 2021
This is a very nice and useful book for the majority of professional software engineers that are working in a modern and complex software-intensive project/product, as well as for the soon-to-graduate newbies that are curious about the big picture of developing and operating software systems and building a career based on/related to software, data, systems, reliability and operations engineering.
The authors saved me a lot of trouble, because every now and then, people just getting started in this field come to me for advice, recommendations, mentoring, etc. and I try to do my best based on what I've observed and deduced in the last 20 years in different environments such as multi-national organizations, small and medium technology enterprises, and start-ups. This book is almost a one-stop shop: I can tell people "please start with The Missing README, and then we can go into more details."
The authors created a very well-rounded reference and they don't try to go into details of each topic, opting for providing the reader with one or two very good references for leveling up and further reading. This, in turn, allows the book to cover a lot of ground in about 200 pages, in a very balanced manner.
Even if the book's recommendations don't apply 100% in your particular case/project/product/environment, it will be safe to say that the sections that apply will force you to to either become more aware of what and why you're doing / should be doing, and/or will give hints for what kind of scenarios you should be ready.
Just to repeat, this is not a technical how-to book for a particular set of technologies or programming languages, but rather an experience-based book that binds the major themes that occur again and again in most of the software projects/products/companies/teams. Therefore I don't think this book will be outdated soon.
Kudos to the authors for distilling their experience in such a readable manner, creating such a well-balanced book for so many software engineers.
The authors saved me a lot of trouble, because every now and then, people just getting started in this field come to me for advice, recommendations, mentoring, etc. and I try to do my best based on what I've observed and deduced in the last 20 years in different environments such as multi-national organizations, small and medium technology enterprises, and start-ups. This book is almost a one-stop shop: I can tell people "please start with The Missing README, and then we can go into more details."
The authors created a very well-rounded reference and they don't try to go into details of each topic, opting for providing the reader with one or two very good references for leveling up and further reading. This, in turn, allows the book to cover a lot of ground in about 200 pages, in a very balanced manner.
Even if the book's recommendations don't apply 100% in your particular case/project/product/environment, it will be safe to say that the sections that apply will force you to to either become more aware of what and why you're doing / should be doing, and/or will give hints for what kind of scenarios you should be ready.
Just to repeat, this is not a technical how-to book for a particular set of technologies or programming languages, but rather an experience-based book that binds the major themes that occur again and again in most of the software projects/products/companies/teams. Therefore I don't think this book will be outdated soon.
Kudos to the authors for distilling their experience in such a readable manner, creating such a well-balanced book for so many software engineers.
June 28, 2021
Programming computers is actually not that difficult. Programming computers in an organization is really fucking hard.
I know from personal experience, having gone from self-taught academic to data science bootcamp to software developer for a bank. Academic code, whether you're analyzing a dataset or doing homework assignments, has to work just once. Commercial code has to work every day, and when it doesn't you're up at 5:00 AM doing hotfixes and trying to explain to important clients why they should stay with you even though you look absolutely clownshoes.
The Missing Readme has a lot of good practical advice for writing maintainable code, which is different from clever code in that someone else, possibly future you, will have to work on it again. But this book is really about the culture of computer programming, and about being the kind of useful friendly novice who's a good addition to teams, and can take over increased responsibilities as they grow in skill. I found the sections on Operable Code, Code Reviews, and Technical Design particularly useful.
And as a caveat, this review is based on the May 10 Early Access edition, but I suspect it's pretty close to done.
I know from personal experience, having gone from self-taught academic to data science bootcamp to software developer for a bank. Academic code, whether you're analyzing a dataset or doing homework assignments, has to work just once. Commercial code has to work every day, and when it doesn't you're up at 5:00 AM doing hotfixes and trying to explain to important clients why they should stay with you even though you look absolutely clownshoes.
The Missing Readme has a lot of good practical advice for writing maintainable code, which is different from clever code in that someone else, possibly future you, will have to work on it again. But this book is really about the culture of computer programming, and about being the kind of useful friendly novice who's a good addition to teams, and can take over increased responsibilities as they grow in skill. I found the sections on Operable Code, Code Reviews, and Technical Design particularly useful.
And as a caveat, this review is based on the May 10 Early Access edition, but I suspect it's pretty close to done.
July 21, 2024
Hace poco conseguí mi primer trabajo como ingeniero de software, y llegué a este libro por recomendación de un compañero, quien decía que era imprescindible para cualquier nuevo ingeniero que se uniera al equipo de la empresa.
Comencé a leerlo con cautela y sin demasiadas expectativas, pero a medida que avanzaba por cada uno de los capítulos, me di cuenta de que mi compañero tenía razón. Realmente, "The Missing README" es la guía que uno necesita para su primer trabajo en software.
Uno sale de la universidad "verde" y hay muchas cosas que, por desgracia, no se enseñan ni siquiera se mencionan. Este libro cubre esos temas, desde cómo tratar con tu manager o enfrentar los procesos de evaluación de desempeño, hasta cómo escribir código de calidad que sea capaz de salir a producción.
Sin lugar a dudas, me sumo a la opinión de mi compañero que me lo recomendó inicialmente, y coincido plenamente en que este libro es una gran herramienta para aprender más sobre cómo se trabaja de manera eficiente y correcta en el mundo de la ingeniería de software.
Comencé a leerlo con cautela y sin demasiadas expectativas, pero a medida que avanzaba por cada uno de los capítulos, me di cuenta de que mi compañero tenía razón. Realmente, "The Missing README" es la guía que uno necesita para su primer trabajo en software.
Uno sale de la universidad "verde" y hay muchas cosas que, por desgracia, no se enseñan ni siquiera se mencionan. Este libro cubre esos temas, desde cómo tratar con tu manager o enfrentar los procesos de evaluación de desempeño, hasta cómo escribir código de calidad que sea capaz de salir a producción.
Sin lugar a dudas, me sumo a la opinión de mi compañero que me lo recomendó inicialmente, y coincido plenamente en que este libro es una gran herramienta para aprender más sobre cómo se trabaja de manera eficiente y correcta en el mundo de la ingeniería de software.
July 11, 2024
I absolutely loved The Missing README! This book is a goldmine of practical advice and insights that every software engineer should have at their fingertips. It's clear, concise, and packed with real-world wisdom that bridges the gap between academic knowledge and industry practice.
What I appreciate most is how comprehensive and accessible the book is. From building and testing production software to navigating team dynamics and career growth, it covers everything a junior engineer needs to know to level up. I discovered a few excellent books and resources through this book that I’m excited to dive into.
One of the standout aspects of The Missing README is its potential as a training tool. I’m definitely going to use it to build better upskill programs for engineers thanks to it.
This book deserves a spot on the shelf in every tech company. It’s not just for newcomers; even experienced engineers will find it useful for refining their practices and mentoring others. Highly recommended!
What I appreciate most is how comprehensive and accessible the book is. From building and testing production software to navigating team dynamics and career growth, it covers everything a junior engineer needs to know to level up. I discovered a few excellent books and resources through this book that I’m excited to dive into.
One of the standout aspects of The Missing README is its potential as a training tool. I’m definitely going to use it to build better upskill programs for engineers thanks to it.
This book deserves a spot on the shelf in every tech company. It’s not just for newcomers; even experienced engineers will find it useful for refining their practices and mentoring others. Highly recommended!
October 5, 2021
This book was a pretty accurate roadmap of what's required to actually be a software developer when coming out of university.
As a read cover to cover it's a lot of info to digest, it'd be really helpful to use as a reference. At the end of each section there is a helpful table of dos and don'ts as well as a lost of books to read more about the subject.
As an experienced developer there isn't much new information but it's taken vague concepts and summarize them nicely.
As a read cover to cover it's a lot of info to digest, it'd be really helpful to use as a reference. At the end of each section there is a helpful table of dos and don'ts as well as a lost of books to read more about the subject.
As an experienced developer there isn't much new information but it's taken vague concepts and summarize them nicely.
January 28, 2023
Good book for any new developer, wish I have read it when I was in university.
I disliked that writers were very oriented to big corporation practices if you were to join small company many things could be skipped or simplified, nevertheless many good practices are discribed in the book.
I disliked that writers were very oriented to big corporation practices if you were to join small company many things could be skipped or simplified, nevertheless many good practices are discribed in the book.
April 5, 2022
This is a pretty informative book.
The beginning feels a bit dull to me. It just feels like the author was pulling ideas from different books and referencing them at the end of each chapter. I was like, I'm reading your book, why do you keep telling me to read other people's books.
Later I kinda just realized that he's probably just trying to throw some quick and basic ideas. If you're interested in the topic, he provided these books for you to dive deeper into.
My work does not require me to be on call, but it touches on a lot of things (e.g. how to conduct code reviews, write design docs, etc) that you will encounter as a software developer. I honestly think this book would be a great read for anyone who is interested in what you'll need to do to be a better developer.
I borrowed this book from the library and will consider getting a copy of this for future reference.
The beginning feels a bit dull to me. It just feels like the author was pulling ideas from different books and referencing them at the end of each chapter. I was like, I'm reading your book, why do you keep telling me to read other people's books.
Later I kinda just realized that he's probably just trying to throw some quick and basic ideas. If you're interested in the topic, he provided these books for you to dive deeper into.
My work does not require me to be on call, but it touches on a lot of things (e.g. how to conduct code reviews, write design docs, etc) that you will encounter as a software developer. I honestly think this book would be a great read for anyone who is interested in what you'll need to do to be a better developer.
I borrowed this book from the library and will consider getting a copy of this for future reference.
May 25, 2021
Great read for early career software engineers. The book pretty much covers all the bases of working at a mid to large sized technology company in 2021.
November 27, 2021
Excellent book for those who work in the software engineering profession. The authors have covered the key areas in software coding, testing, reviewing, delivering and supporting ... each with further detailing of the specifics that most software developers will appreciate. This content provides useful knowledge and information for those who are progressing their career, especially when one did not have the chance to work with projects in certain roles and responsibilities. For new joins in the profession, the book reveals the practical side of what a software engineer should know and attain in order to fulfill the various roles in the profession. Being in this profession for over 30 years and served in the various IT roles in the software engineering arena, I can attest the book will save one a lot of troubles and hit the road running in better shape when the time comes.
May 8, 2025
This is a good text for anyone in the software world. It’s similar to the pragmatic programmer. The book provides lots of useful tips and discusses issues that are rarely mentioned outside of blog posts. One negative is that the book frames many of the discussions in the context of large companies. This makes parts of the book less applicable.
August 16, 2021
love it.
Wish I read it before the swe carrer.
Wish I read it before the swe carrer.
May 5, 2022
A great book for any software engineer, newbie or seasoned veteran!
March 6, 2022
Een van de betere boeken die ik heb gelezen mbt software engineering - een overzicht van een breed scala aan disciplines binnen het vakgebied en waar een beginner op moet letten. Ook voor de meer ervaren engineer erg interessant - ik ga het gebruiken als naslagwerk voor onze onboarding van juniors.
June 19, 2022
Author accumulated a bunch of books/videos/articles with good Dont's And Do's for each chapter. I found very useful recommendations and explanations for the management practices/code practices/design review process. Totally recommend to any developer and manager.
January 1, 2022
I wish this book had been written 10 years ago! The information in this book summarizes the wisdom and knowledge that one accrues while in a job for about that time. It’s a quick and easy read, but don’t let that fool you. This book is an essential read for anyone in the software engineering or IT profession.
February 20, 2022
Short and easy to read book, and although it is intended for junior profiles, it can also contribute to more experienced ones. It does not go into too much detail, but it does provide actionable advice and ways to go into more detail. As it says in the introduction, it is the book I would have liked to have when I started.
April 6, 2024
This is a book that I believe most individuals involved in writing software at the industry level should read. It covers everything from dependency management to building backward and forward-compatible APIs. I preferred the first half of the book significantly more than the second, as it comprised sections with which I already had some experience. The discussions on logging and monitoring prompted me to revisit and revise the code I was currently working on. There are several technical points made in the book, such as the importance of building idempotent systems, how build tools can be utilized to detect circular dependencies, how tests serve as documentation for the actual code, and how design documentation should be prepared. I found these insights incredibly useful and relevant to my work. However, one minor criticism I have is that it's really hard to determine the ideal timing for reading this book. I believe software engineering books are only effective when the reader has the necessary context. The book addresses several responsibilities that a software engineer must face throughout their career, making it challenging to determine the optimal point at which to read it.
P.S.: At one point, the book suggests that to avoid dependency compatibility issues due to version upgrades, one should use the source code directly instead of the entire package. Unless I am misinterpreting the problem statement or the solution, directly copying the code instead of seeking a newer, compatible package could make the code highly vulnerable. One of the reasons for regular dependency version upgrades is to address security vulnerabilities.
P.S.: At one point, the book suggests that to avoid dependency compatibility issues due to version upgrades, one should use the source code directly instead of the entire package. Unless I am misinterpreting the problem statement or the solution, directly copying the code instead of seeking a newer, compatible package could make the code highly vulnerable. One of the reasons for regular dependency version upgrades is to address security vulnerabilities.
February 24, 2023
We learn a little by reading and a lot by doing.
As a manager, I'm not the target audience for this book. I've read this book to remind myself of modern engineering practices and learn what is considered the foundation for new engineers these days.
I imagine that new engineers would find The Missing Readme quite helpful. It has a lot of practical advice and is written clearly. Each chapter focuses on a single area, gives just enough information to be helpful, and provides additional recommendations for those willing to learn more.
This book could not have existed when I started as a software engineer. A lot of the practices and ideas described here were not yet established. As I read the book, I had many moments of remembering how I encountered something described in the book. When the author mentioned "Simple Made Easy" as a must-watch, I remembered how I felt when I watched it the first time right after the talk came out (I ended up watching it multiple times - it is a must-watch). When the author mentioned "Choose Boring Technology," I remembered how I spent my time extolling the virtue of boring technologies to everyone who would listen. The Missing Readme made me go on a journey of memories. I did not expect this journey when I picked up the book, and greatly appreciated it.
As a manager, I'm not the target audience for this book. I've read this book to remind myself of modern engineering practices and learn what is considered the foundation for new engineers these days.
I imagine that new engineers would find The Missing Readme quite helpful. It has a lot of practical advice and is written clearly. Each chapter focuses on a single area, gives just enough information to be helpful, and provides additional recommendations for those willing to learn more.
This book could not have existed when I started as a software engineer. A lot of the practices and ideas described here were not yet established. As I read the book, I had many moments of remembering how I encountered something described in the book. When the author mentioned "Simple Made Easy" as a must-watch, I remembered how I felt when I watched it the first time right after the talk came out (I ended up watching it multiple times - it is a must-watch). When the author mentioned "Choose Boring Technology," I remembered how I spent my time extolling the virtue of boring technologies to everyone who would listen. The Missing Readme made me go on a journey of memories. I did not expect this journey when I picked up the book, and greatly appreciated it.
February 10, 2023
I admire the efficient simplicity and rigorous organization of this book. For a 2021 publication, some of the information will be out of date in a few years, but the clear and deeply developed information is distilled for a quick read and reference guide.
It doesn't address some of the socialization and discrimination still in the field. As not everyone is a white (or majority race in a given nation) male with an expert command of the default spoken language (as it is uniquely spoken following the dominant national culture/religion/etc), some of the advice is going to drive new software engineers right off a cliff.
I hope that is included in a future edition, a few paragraphs of advice and comprehension info:
* for those with privilege and those with less, and simple definitions there,
* notes about permutations in who's managing who, and common important effects,
* a quick rundown of the advantages each demographic brings to a software team,
would all go a long way to balance out the career and teamwork parts of this book.
Overall, a short, direct and broadly topical book that is written in a straightfoward manner, accessible for ESL engineers.
It doesn't address some of the socialization and discrimination still in the field. As not everyone is a white (or majority race in a given nation) male with an expert command of the default spoken language (as it is uniquely spoken following the dominant national culture/religion/etc), some of the advice is going to drive new software engineers right off a cliff.
I hope that is included in a future edition, a few paragraphs of advice and comprehension info:
* for those with privilege and those with less, and simple definitions there,
* notes about permutations in who's managing who, and common important effects,
* a quick rundown of the advantages each demographic brings to a software team,
would all go a long way to balance out the career and teamwork parts of this book.
Overall, a short, direct and broadly topical book that is written in a straightfoward manner, accessible for ESL engineers.
November 13, 2023
As a (nearly) ten-year industry veteran and a fist-year people manager, I was looking for a book that would give me a starting point for identifying training/onboarding/professional development material by shortlisting the most important things that a new engineer should know and "The Missing README" hit the nail on the head.
While the book is targeted at software engineers, there are large swathes of it that are relevant to anyone beginning a career in software development, particularly in an Agile environment, regardless of role. I think this book also serves as a great way for someone who is vaguely interested in the idea of working in software engineering to get a bit of an introduction to what the day-to-day is like before they make any major career decisions.
While the book is targeted at software engineers, there are large swathes of it that are relevant to anyone beginning a career in software development, particularly in an Agile environment, regardless of role. I think this book also serves as a great way for someone who is vaguely interested in the idea of working in software engineering to get a bit of an introduction to what the day-to-day is like before they make any major career decisions.
December 28, 2024
An invaluable read for any new software engineer! This book is clear and concise but extremely informative. It has a logical structure and well-edited prose, making it a more approachable read, whilst its plethora of real-life examples and author experiences help you see its tips in action. I liked how each chapter ends with a DO/DON'T summary, providing a handy overview for quick referencing, as well as giving some helpful resources for further reading. In addition, the content isn't language/company-specific, but rather written to apply to any new software engineer role across the industry. A highly recommended book!
August 9, 2025
the style of the writing is really bad..... e.g. please stop using examples like how Roma was built in multiple eras ... and when xxxx is shopping for washing machine........ and the tone is negative... make the effort to make this book a happy book to read.... and give prcisie definition and don't just throw words around e.g. software entropy and then you mentioned use linting tools, just say good practice to keep the code clean is to use linting tools... if the concepts is not helpful dont use it.... dont make yourself sound fancy, make people feel you are a friend not just some snobish nerdy guy... have some people to review the books please
April 26, 2023
I am switching careers so this was as good book to give me a broad sense of what to expect as a software engineer. There is a lot of technical jargon that forced me to slow down and look a lot of things up since I don't have experience in the field yet. This means that I probably didn't take away as much good technical information since it was hard for me to internalize things that I don't have a schema for. I plan on rereading this after I start working in the field to see if I can take more practical knowledge away.
September 20, 2024
The Missing README!
This is an outstanding book for new and aspiring developers and software engineers.
Although I have been professionally programming for almost 20 years, I found this book a really great resource to know what new-to-the-field developers are facing, and how to best assist them.
It also has a lot of really important and actionable tips for dealing with code reviews, management, and career trajectory.
I highly recommend checking out this book if you are new to your development career, or hoping to mentor youths.
4.8/5
This is an outstanding book for new and aspiring developers and software engineers.
Although I have been professionally programming for almost 20 years, I found this book a really great resource to know what new-to-the-field developers are facing, and how to best assist them.
It also has a lot of really important and actionable tips for dealing with code reviews, management, and career trajectory.
I highly recommend checking out this book if you are new to your development career, or hoping to mentor youths.
4.8/5
September 19, 2023
i finished it in 1 day. certain chapters have some valuable insight - code review, the role of a manager in career, importance of debugger, but i feel like these entire chapters could be summarized in 1 blog post ))) the advices look kinda obvious once u have some experience.
this book is good to read BEFORE you begin your software engineering career - when u dont know of various roles, career tracks, agile scrum XP methodologies etc.
this book is good to read BEFORE you begin your software engineering career - when u dont know of various roles, career tracks, agile scrum XP methodologies etc.
September 9, 2022
The best book you can read before landing a job in tech, or even for the first 1-2 years. It gives so much insight about the tech world in general and it gives you more resources if you want to read more about certain topic, 10/10.
March 23, 2023
This books provides a good high level overview of all things SW engineering and points out resources to go further. Would only recommend for full stack dev type engineers since it talks a lot about SW that’s deployed.
August 7, 2023
Had some useful tips but it’s hard to recommend this day 1 for someone’s first swe job. There are a lot of sections that might not make a ton of sense or be applicable until you’re a few months into the job.
April 23, 2024
Maybe useful for a junior engineer
Read this book to see whether it would be a good resource to recommend for my direct reports. I made some notes, but this book could have been a blog post :-)
Read this book to see whether it would be a good resource to recommend for my direct reports. I made some notes, but this book could have been a blog post :-)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews