Resources I've found useful.
- Writing Better Software
- Building Products
- Working with Teams
- Case Studies & Wisdom
- Personal Effectiveness
- Frontend & Design
- Game Development & Visual Learning
- Tools & Workflows
- Links
| Title | Author | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Pragmatic Programmer (Revised) | Andy Hunt, Dave Thomas | Foundation for being a good engineer | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Architecture Patterns with Python | Harry Percival, Bob Gregory | Non-prescriptive, anticipates questions, sums up tradeoffs well. My biggest gripe was the central example being a warehouse system. | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
- python-patterns.guide - Python design patterns with clear explanations
- zakirullin/cognitive-load - What makes code quality, how to write code for human brains
- Martin Fowler - Software design patterns and refactoring
- Simon Willison - Engineering notes and explorations on everything
- devhints.io - Collection of cheatsheets
- Database Fundamentals - Database fundamentals from first principles — storage engines, ACID, distributed systems
- Git Tips and Tricks - Talk by GitHub co-founder
- Julia Evans - Tools, terminals, systems, explanations of how things work
- History of OOP - How OOP came to be and evolved
- Scaling Up! - Talk about software at scale
- Python code quality for beginners - Code quality best practices and tooling — linters, formatters, type checkers
- Bite Code - Python best practices
- Trey Hunner - Python fundamentals
- Hynek Schlawack - Domain-driven design, clean code, nuanced engineering views
- mCoding - Deep Python internals
- anthonywritescode - Open source and best practices
- PyCon US - My notes
- CodeAesthetic - Non-obvious lessons about writing good code: naming, composition over inheritance, why code becomes unmaintainable
- No Boilerplate - Fast, dense technical videos
- Dreams of Code - Dev tools and workflows
- Theo (t3.gg) - Full stack TypeScript
- Lydia Hallie - JavaScript/web concepts
| Title | Author | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shape Up | Ryan Singer | Methods feel natural, helped structure my thinking and team collaboration | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Inspired | Marty Cagan | Hits the nail on the head on what makes some products succeed and others fail | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| The Startup Owner's Manual | Steve Blank, Bob Dorf | Framework for understanding companies, validates or clarifies vague ideas. Not just for founders. | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Hooked | Nir Eyal | Habit-forming products, gave me tons of ideas | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| The Principles of Product Development Flow | Donald Reinertsen | Tough read but eye opening ideas and take on common problems | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Don't Make Me Think (Revised) | Steve Krug | Usability fundamentals | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Sprint | Jake Knapp | Very fun to read, teaches really good principles when it comes to making product decisions as a team | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Obviously Awesome | April Dunford | Practical framework for product positioning that makes customers understand your value immediately | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Sales Pitch | April Dunford | How to craft compelling narratives that differentiate your product and resonate with buyers | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Rework | Jason Fried | Short, anecdotal, but the anecdotes confirm what many other books on the subject are arguing for. |
- Marty Cagan's SVPG
- I strongly believe in Cagan's product philosophy. If you are interested read his book. If you are not that interested, read this summary, if you are interested even less than reading that, watch this talk he gave.
- Prototype Testing
- The Most Important Thing
- Running design sprints
- Y Combinator - Founder essays, Startup School, and curated entrepreneurship content
| Title | Author | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crucial Conversations | Kerry Patterson et al. | Tools for high-stakes discussions | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| The Five Dysfunctions of a Team | Patrick Lencioni | Short, interesting, actionable | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Leading Without Authority | Keith Ferrazzi | Underrated book about collaboration — if you see a problem, solve it regardless of title. Influence and conflict resolution through the lens of solving business problems. | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Team: Getting Things Done with Others | David Allen | Gives some good tools and perspective |
| Title | Author | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Hard Thing About Hard Things | Ben Horowitz | Crisis moments and what was done to save companies | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Build | Tony Fadell | iPod/iPhone lessons from inside Apple | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| High Growth Handbook | Elad Gil | Interviews with knowledgeable founders | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Creativity, Inc. | Ed Catmull | Pixar culture and creative management | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Switch | Chip and Dan Heath | Maps out change in scale and the anecdotes were great to read about. Could have had better guidance around finding the right combination, and I would love to read an updated version, but enjoyable overall. | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Founders at Work | Jessica Livingston | Startup history, enjoyable | |
| Reset | Dan Heath | Read as an update to Switch — less substantive but still good | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| BE 2.0 | Jim Collins | Great but written for leaders of small to medium companies, maybe one day | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
- EO - Entrepreneurship insights, member interviews, and leadership education
| Title | Author | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atomic Habits | James Clear | Building good habits systematically | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Deep Work | Cal Newport | Focused work in a distracted world | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Four Thousand Weeks | Oliver Burkeman | Time management for mortals | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Where Good Ideas Come From | Steven Johnson | Natural history of innovation | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Business Made Simple | Donald Miller | Practical and prescriptive overview of all aspects of a business — pick and choose chapters. Could do without the self-promotion but the content is useful. | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
- Kevin Powell - CSS fundamentals and modern techniques
- Josh Comeau - Interactive learning for frontend
- Hyperplexed - Creative frontend recreations
- Jake Archibald - Browser internals and web platform
- Ahmad Shadeed - CSS and layout patterns
- Brian Lovin - Product design
- localghost.dev - Web development, tech commentary, and interactive projects
- Tailwind Labs - Tailwind CSS tutorials, feature demos, and project builds
- Huntabyte - Svelte and SvelteKit tutorials, live coding, and modern SaaS development
- Sebastian Lague - Master of visual explanations for algorithms and game concepts
- AngeTheGreat - Making an engine simulator and game, great technical content
- Acerola - Graphics programming explained visually
- Pezzza's Work - Physics simulations, raytracing, ML from scratch
- Bartosz Ciechanowski - Interactive technical explanations
- aarthificial - Concise technical gamedev
- SimonDev - Ex-Google, ex-gamedev, codes game-related things
- Tarodev - Unity techniques and patterns
- Mix and Jam - Dissecting and recreating iconic game mechanics
- PyCharm - My IDE
- Raycast - macOS launcher
- Hyperkey - Keyboard modifier
- Homerow - Keyboard navigation
- GitButler - Git client
- Vimium C - Keyboard navigation for browser
- Zen - Distraction-free browser
- Kvaesitso - Best android launcher
- Actual Budget - Personal finance
- Immich - Photo management
- Glance - Dashboard
- devaslife (Takuya) - Calm engineering videos, thoughtful FE development, sustainable indie app development
- Fireship - Quick tech overviews (older content better)
- TLDR - Tech newsletter
- My GitHub Stars - Software I find interesting
- Digital gardens I follow: ssp.sh, tolin.ski, nerdy.dev
- Two Minute Papers - AI research summaries
- Quanta Magazine - Math, physics, computer science breakthroughs