Well Read IT guy

I was looking for what is recommended as the must reads for an “IT Professional”. Below is the most recommended ones I came across, not in any particular order. If you know any other must read, do leave a comment.

1. Code Complete – Steve McConnell
2. The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master – Andrew Hunt, David Thomas
3. Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code – Martin Fowler
4. Introduction to algorithms – Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, Stein
5. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs – Harold Abelson, Gerald Jay Sussman, Julie Sussman
6. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software – Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and John Vlissides (Gang of Four)
7. The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering – Fred Brooks
8. Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams – DeMarco and Lister
9. The design of everyday things – Donald Norman
10. The Timeless Way of Building – Christopher Alexander
11. Psychology of Computer of Programming – Gerald Weinberg
12. Making Things Happen : Mastering Project Management – Scott Berkun

I have read about 6 of above. Other than that, below are some of the books I read and I would recommend, even though some of it is not exactly related to IT as such:-

1. iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It – Steve Wozniak. Got to the book after listening to his talk through IT conversations. Inspiring.
2. Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary – Linus Torvalds. Again in the list just to have read about one of the heroes.
3. Extreme Programming Explained – Kent Beck . Read this (or Test Driven Development) to atleast to know that there are other ways to do this.
4. Drive: Surprising Truth about what motivates us – Dan Pink. Just finished – will write a review later.
5. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert Pirsig . Might be recommended in any list.
6. Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully – Gerald Weinberg. It was a useful read, on working with customers.
7. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey
8. Dilbert and the way of the weasel: Scott Adams (or one of any other book by Scott Adams may be a must read – just to make sure we don’t slip into weasel behavior)
9. Outliers – Malcolm Galdwell. He tells good stories, even if it may project the points he wants to prove. Read this atleast to comfort ourselves that genius can be made with deliberate practice.
10. Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Peter Drucker. Even if you don’t start a new business, even to do innovation in smaller ways, this might be useful.
11. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die – Dan and Chip Heath.
12. How to Win Friends & Influence People – Dale Carnegie. Including just because they may be others like me in this community who need some help..:)

Some other books recommended by different lists:- Working Effectively with Legacy Code, Godel/Esther/Bach, Sun Tzu, Practice of Programming (Kernighan and Pike), blogs/books like Paul Graham, Joel Spolsky, Seth Godin.

Also need to mention – Joel Spolsky’s list which I have used as reading list in past.