Computer Science Graduate Recommended Reading (19 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 — 413 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 Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery, 20th Anniversary Edition by Andy Hunt (Goodreads Author) 4.33 avg rating — 23,835 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
3	The Staff Engineer's Path: A Guide for Individual Contributors Navigating Growth and Change by Tanya Reilly (Goodreads Author) 4.38 avg rating — 1,974 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
4	The Software Engineer's Guidebook: Navigating senior, tech lead, and staff engineer positions at tech companies and startups by Gergely Orosz (Goodreads Author) 4.08 avg rating — 699 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
5	Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach by Mark Richards 4.25 avg rating — 2,146 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
6	Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann (Goodreads Author) 4.70 avg rating — 10,331 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
7	Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin 4.36 avg rating — 23,282 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
8	Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems by Betsy Beyer (Editor) 4.21 avg rating — 2,882 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
9	Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective by Randal E. Bryant 4.46 avg rating — 1,122 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
10	Kill It with Fire: Manage Aging Computer Systems by Marianne Bellotti 4.15 avg rating — 744 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
11	Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Questions and Solutions by Gayle Laakmann McDowell (Goodreads Author) 4.33 avg rating — 6,901 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
12	Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Harold Abelson 4.47 avg rating — 4,841 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
13	How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie 4.22 avg rating — 1,133,714 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
14	Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher 3.94 avg rating — 85,770 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
15	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 — 3,738 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
16	Soft Skills: The Software Developer's Life Manual by John Sonmez 3.84 avg rating — 2,844 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
17	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
18	Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction by Steve McConnell (Goodreads Author) 4.30 avg rating — 9,467 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
19	Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold 4.40 avg rating — 10,475 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