Computer Science Graduate Recommended Reading (20 books)

The best books for recently graduated computer science majors to read to get up to speed and advance their skills in the workplace.

A career as a professional software engineer, programmer, developer, etc. can look and feel very different in practice than the theoretical approaches of most computer science majors. An adjustment period is normal.

Some of these books can also be good reads for professionals who are a few years past graduation but feel as if their career has stalled.

Also see MIT's Missing Semester of of Your CS Education (not a book, but a free online course).

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1	The Missing README: A Guide for the New Software Engineer by Chris Riccomini (Goodreads Author) 4.40 avg rating — 421 ratings score: 200, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect by Judea Pearl 3.94 avg rating — 6,566 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery, 20th Anniversary Edition by Andy Hunt (Goodreads Author) 4.33 avg rating — 24,008 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	The Staff Engineer's Path: A Guide for Individual Contributors Navigating Growth and Change by Tanya Reilly (Goodreads Author) 4.38 avg rating — 2,056 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
5	The Software Engineer's Guidebook: Navigating senior, tech lead, and staff engineer positions at tech companies and startups by Gergely Orosz (Goodreads Author) 4.09 avg rating — 751 ratings score: 97, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach by Mark Richards 4.24 avg rating — 2,200 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
7	Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann (Goodreads Author) 4.70 avg rating — 10,532 ratings score: 95, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
8	Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin 4.35 avg rating — 23,400 ratings score: 94, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
9	Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems by Betsy Beyer (Editor) 4.21 avg rating — 2,902 ratings score: 93, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective by Randal E. Bryant 4.46 avg rating — 1,135 ratings score: 92, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
11	Kill It with Fire: Manage Aging Computer Systems by Marianne Bellotti 4.14 avg rating — 752 ratings score: 91, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
12	Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Questions and Solutions by Gayle Laakmann McDowell (Goodreads Author) 4.33 avg rating — 6,911 ratings score: 90, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
13	Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Harold Abelson 4.47 avg rating — 4,855 ratings score: 89, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie 4.22 avg rating — 1,146,456 ratings score: 88, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
15	Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher 3.93 avg rating — 86,597 ratings score: 87, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	The Power of a Positive No: How to Say No and Still Get to Yes by William Ury really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,758 ratings score: 86, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
17	Soft Skills: The Software Developer's Life Manual by John Sonmez 3.84 avg rating — 2,843 ratings score: 85, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	Letters to a New Developer: What I Wish I Had Known When Starting My Development Career by Dan Moore (Goodreads Author) 3.96 avg rating — 51 ratings score: 84, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
19	Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction by Steve McConnell (Goodreads Author) 4.30 avg rating — 9,483 ratings score: 83, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
20	Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold 4.40 avg rating — 10,553 ratings score: 82, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars