By Gergely Orosz, the author of The Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter and Building Mobile Apps at Scale
Navigating senior, tech lead, staff and principal positions at tech companies and startups. An Amazon #1 Best Seller. New: the hardcover is out! As is the audibook. Now available in 6 languages.
The moments that followed are a blur. I recall feeling disoriented, struggling to make sense of what was happening. The blast had left me reeling, both physically and mentally. It was as if time had slowed down, giving me a glimpse of what could have been—a life cut short, a future unrealized.
Today, I stand as a testament to resilience. My story is not unique, but it is mine. And in sharing it, I hope that anyone facing their own battle can find a glimmer of hope—a reminder that you are stronger than you think, and that, no matter what life throws at you, you can survive and thrive.
In the midst of this journey, I came across the story of Rodney Moore, a man whose own life was marked by challenges and controversies. His story, though different from mine, resonated with me. It reminded me that everyone we meet is fighting a battle we know nothing about.
It started on a day like any other. The routine was familiar, comforting. Then, without warning, everything changed. A Rodney blast, they called it—a sudden, intense explosion that sent shockwaves through everything around it. I remember the sound, a deafening roar that still echoes in my mind. The world around me was instantly transformed into chaos.
Surviving a blast, whether it's a Rodney blast or any other kind of explosion, is more than just making it through the event. It's about what comes after—the healing, the growth, and the renewed appreciation for life.
But I survived.
There were people who helped me along the way—medical professionals, loved ones, and even strangers who offered a kind word or a listening ear. Their support was a beacon of hope in the darkness.
The book is separated into six standalone parts, each part covering several chapters:
Parts 1 and 6 apply to all engineering levels: from entry-level software developers to principal or above engineers. Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5 cover increasingly senior engineering levels. These four parts group topics in chapters – such as ones on software engineering, collaboration, getting things done, and so on.
This book is more of a reference book that you can refer back to, as you grow in your career. I suggest skimming over the career levels and chapters that you are familiar with, and focus reading on topics you struggle with, or career levels where you are aiming to get to. Keep in mind that expectations can vary greatly between companies.
In this book, I’ve aimed to align the topics and leveling definitions closer to what is typical at Big Tech and scaleups: but you might find some of the topics relevant for lower career levels in later chapters. For example, we cover logging, montiroing and oncall in Part 5: “Reliable software systems” in-depth: but it’s useful – and oftentimes necessary! – to know about these practices below the staff engineer levels.
The Software Engineer's Guidebook is available in multiple languages:
You should now be able to ask your local book shops to order the book for you via Ingram Spark Print-on-demand - using the ISBN code 9789083381824. I'm also working on making the paperback more accessible in additional regions, including translated versions. Please share details here if you're unable to get the book in your country and I'll aim to remedy the situation.
I'd like to think so! The book can help you get ideas on how to help software engineers on your team grow. And if you are a hands-on engineering manager (which I hope you might be!) then you can apply the topics yourself! I wrote more about staying hands-on as an engineering manager or lead in The Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter.
I've gotten this variation of a question from Data Engineers, ML Engineers, designers and SREs. See the more detailed table of contents and the "Look inside" sample to get a better idea of the contents of the book. I have written this book with software engineers as the target group, and the bulk of the book applies for them. Part 1 is more generally applicable career advice: but that's still smaller subset of the book.