The Effective Engineer: How to Leverage Your Efforts In Software Engineering to Make a Disproportionate and Meaningful Impact

Right after graduating from university with a CS degree in the summer of 2018, I landed my first programming job at an early-stage, seed startup. It's 2020, and I'm still working there as of this writing, but despite the myriads of projects I've worked on and the many hats I had to wear, only recently have I started to ask myself these questions:- How much have I grown as an engineer?- What kind of impact have I made?- Am I proud of what I've been able to accomplish?- Based on what I'm doing now, what does my career trajectory look like, within the company or elsewhere should I switch jobs?I wasn't quite satisfied with my personal answers, which made me realize that I needed to understand what is the role of an engineer and what differentiates a standout engineer from an average one.That led me to this book. Edmond Lau's varied experience in the tech industry, especially his time at Quora while it was an early-stage venture, deeply resonated with me. I saw that he was in my shoes before and yet was not discouraged by the circumstances of having to build a system from the ground-up. Instead, he took on the challenge with enthusiasm, made an indelible impact, and provided tremendous value from both an engineering and business perspective. Understanding how he was able to do that as well as the why is the purpose of this remarkable book, and as a result, I developed a framework that I look forward to applying consistently to help my company succeed.Highly recommended to any engineer who desires to make a real impact at his or her workplace!

A fantastic read for anyone looking to jump-start their own investigations in to best practice. It's definitely an engineer's book from an engineer's perspective which makes it all the more satisfying to read -- very thoughtfully designed with excellent word economy. In saying that, the concepts are high-level enough that analogies can easily be drawn to make them accessible from outside the pure software engineering world. As a technical director in film visual effects, not a lesson was wasted. Highly recommended!

This is by far one of the best books I've read on being effective. I've talked so much about it to others that they want to buy a copy. A manager at my work was completely impressed when I was describing how I was implementing it at work. He even said that we need more people like me. My niece who is a high school student told me that she wants to read it. One of my wife's friends who is also an engineer was in awe when I described the contents of the book.

Does a good job of calling out all the important things an effective engineer exhibits.

It's called "the effective engineer" but it can be really useful for everyone involved in the software product building process.The first main concept of the book is that you should be always analyzing what is the most impactful thing you can do, and focus on doing it.There is a lot of advice on the right mindset when working, organizing teams, planning, doing the right thing for the product at the right time, etc.It's short, it's on point, and I highly recommend it, especially, but not exclusively, to software engineers.

I reread this book recently because it made such an impact on me the first time. This book changed how I approach problems and prioritize work. I've recommended it to everyone I work with.

Guys, let me share this with you, this book is good, really good. Of course there are other books that may have some similar content but I should say that it is super good for starters. This book, should not be kept aside after reading it, but use it like using a dictionary for referencing. Edmond Lau in his book, really indeed set a pathway for all starters for success but only for those who decided to put it into practice.

I am already practising some of the things mentioned in the book but I enjoyed how the book is structured. The war stories are great as well and resonate with me deeply. I highly recommend all professional engineers to read this book.