The best Computers & Technology Industry books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

There is quite more to it, starting with George Lucas wanting the entire story completely swapped with Boba Fett causing the studio to have to scrap most of the original story and completely rethink how the game plays from the e3 and back. Then when Disney bought Lucas and gave EA video game rights the team tried to sell the game to them, but EA just said they wanted to hire some of them for a new Star Wars RPG game.

Source: Jason Schreier an editor Kotaku made a book after going around interviewing people in the game development world called Blood, Sweat, and Pixels (Amazon Link)

I recommend checking out his book from a couple.years ago, Blood, Sweat, & Pixels.

Details a lot of the development of Diablo 3, Destiny, Uncharted 4, Witcher 3, Dragon Age Inquisition, and more. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062651234/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_6rw-Cb9RDZERF

I was listening to an EconTalk with Shoshana Zuboff about her book "Surveillance Capitalism". She mentioned how tech giants have this cycle of getting their products out in the market:

1. Do whatever they want
2. When someone complains about it, just stonewall them for years
3. During these years, keep producing the products, keep extracting data. She called this habituation.
4. Years later, when the lawsuit finally reaches it ends, barely anyone knows wtf they were complaining about in the first place, and, by then, people are just accustomed to these data extracting products being in their homes.
   1. But if they have to do something, then do something small and meaningless that doesn't change the fact that they're fleecing everybody for their data.

I imagine you're already aware of it given your interest, but in case you (or others) aren't Jason Schreier's book Blood, Sweat and Pixels has a whole chapter on Destiny's pre- and post-launch troubles. Schreier's the guy who broke the story on Anthem's awkward development just this week.

And the book Ready Player One in turn inspired Palmer Luckey during his Oculus building journey, and was a recommended read for new team members (according to the great book The History of the Future, which itself has a foreword by Ready Player One's author).

For anyone still on the fence around the potential dangers of surveillance like this please read this book immediately:

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power https://www.amazon.com/dp/1610395697/

We have unknowingly given these companies ultimate power over our future. Three men control the majority of the world's opinions and have the ability to force their worldview on everyone.

One of the biggest things I learned from Jason Schreier's Blood, Sweat and Pixels is that E3 "playable demos" are almost always tailor-built for the show. Sometimes they're one of the few things actually up and running at all. They're not demoing a working build; they're running a program that shows how they hope the final product will run someday... maybe.

If you's havent heard about it, i recommend picking up the book by Kotaku journalist /u/jasonschreier - 'BLOOD, SWEAT AND PIXELS', its available online and has a section all about the origins of Stardew Valley and lots of interesting insight (Such as how Barone learned to fake lighting in his video game due to his lack of knowledge around it)

Phoenix Project is a solid high-level overview of the concepts, and leads directly into the author's next book, The DevOps Handbook, which really digs into the details.

The best book to read as a developer is The Design of Everyday Things. If every developer read it, the software world would be a better place.

> My boss is an understanding person and knows that we're stressed, but the larger organization seems uninterested in reorganizing to lessen our burden.

That's all you really need to know. You expressed a concern about the health of the team(s), and the broader org said "no, this is fine". They can live with all the benefits and consequences that come with that decision. All you need to know is whether or not you can live with all the benefits and consequences of that decision.

> Are most jobs like this?

I would say no, but practices that promote burnout aren't exactly uncommon -- toil is one example.

It's not uncommon for organizational practices/structures to foster high levels of burnout, but most orgs who give a shit will tend to fix those problems because turnover tends to be more expensive than simply fixing the problems that cause the turnover. Kinda sorta depends on the business's priorities, though. Showing the value of strategic investment in technical resources is ... difficult at times. I like the approach taken by Accelerate -- numbers and figures are what your manager needs to be focusing on, though it is hard to do when you're drowning already and engagement from leadership is low to non-existent anyway.

Check out Blood, Sweat and Pixels for a bit of in depth info about the creation of The Witcher 3 and the seriously humble beginnings of CD Projekt. It has several other stories of games being made in a crunch period as well, it's a great read.

Commonality of design.

Both are objects meant for throwing by hand. It would follow there is an ideal size for handheld thrown objects, and therefore handheld thrown objects would be the same size.

Same reason doors you push and doors you pull have different handles and it feels wrong when the wrong handle is used for the wrong side.

Read The Design of Everyday Things to learn more.

There's a whole chapter here about how much trouble DAI went through because of that janky engine.

https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Sweat-Pixels-Triumphant-Turbulent/dp/0062651234

Frostbite is a cancer. I'm hoping Jedi Fallen Order sells like hotcakes so that EA's forced to reckon that (a) single player games are relevant and (b) that non-Frostbite games are easier to develop.

That's great that you're being involved in the interview process. I think that should give you some confidence that your company are looking to hire the right person.

If you have the time, you may find the book "The Phoenix Project" an interesting read. It's a novella that builds a story about specific management and leadership styles and how they are used to turn around a struggling incumbent organisation from the point of view of a Senior IT Leader who is fresh in the role: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phoenix-Project-Devops-Helping-Business/dp/1942788290/ref=pd_lpo_14_t_0/257-0577089-4636535?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1942788290&pd_rd_r=4898482d-06c3-4e20-b6be-cdd9ae60bad3&pd_rd_w=GO3cY&pd_rd_wg=8oKPD&pf_rd_p=da0677f5-a47b-4543-8b54-10be576b8f26&pf_rd_r=2MK9VRWESAWE5PY4MD9C&psc=1&refRID=2MK9VRWESAWE5PY4MD9C

It is a made up story, but it paints a very good picture of how good IT leadership can work.

The feeling of “inevitableness” is part of the strategy google and other data company’s are pushing so we feel helpless to stop them. Stop being helpless and merely accept the digital world the way (and extremely lucrative) Google and Facebook want it to be.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Harvard’s Shoshana Zuboff’s 2019 book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is a fantastic overview.

Guys, if you're interested in the making of Destiny, or stories like this in general, i encourage you to read Blood, Sweat, and Pixels. It is really good.

Classic Brent. For anyone who hasn't done so already, read The Phoenix Project (or listen to it on Audible). It's great.

https://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Project-DevOps-Helping-Business/dp/0988262592

Read the book "The Phoenix Project" https://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Project-DevOps-Helping-Business/dp/1942788290

It does well at explaining its your job to enable business and not restrict it, while still being a (semi) interesting read via story telling.

The first step is changing your mindset, then others will too.

I agree with the overall point of learning and continuous improvement, but I think a lot of common sense and research indicates that Mean Time to Restore is a very important metric to measure and improve. And if I had to choose, I would definitely pick Mean Time to Restore over Mean Time to Retrospective. If you can measure both, great.

As an example, Time to Restore is one of four metrics included in Software Delivery and Operational Performance which predicts organizational performance, as shown in the State of DevOps reports and the related Accelerate book.

IMO we're witnessing a new age of Facebook... we are watch them transform into a hardware company (technically with the Quest 2, they are a hardware company).

What they achieved recently with their Oculus Quest 2 making it consumer viable at $299 USD are signs to come if they can get their hands on Microvision's IP for the Augmented Reality space and secure MVIS' designs for their future AR headset.

I'm about halfway through the book "The History of the Future" which chronical the history and acquisition of OculusVR and Facebook and boy oh boy... anybody who wants Microvision is going to have a fight on their hands from Mark Zuckerberg.

GLTALs

You can absolutely go faster. Not by saying "go faster," but there are practices and organizational techniques that make quantifiable differences in how fast you can deliver software. A lot of it's stuff we've already heard of: good version control practices, CI/CD, test automation, rapid feedback cycles, limiting work in progress, good communication, keeping processes lightweight, etc. There's even a research-backed book that delves into this.

I'm going to second that recommendation. DevOps is a really versatile role and you'll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of the scope involved so that you can confidently set expectations when applying for positions.

It's become a bit of a buzzword in the last year, but for a good reason. It's pretty much essential for agile development and overlaps strongly with architecture / infrastructure development.

There are two books by the same team of authors I strongly recommend reading, including non-referral amazon links below.

• The Phoneix Project

• The DevOps Handbook

THIS! Here's the link on Amazon

the phoenix project is awesome!

EDIT*** this won't teach you technical things, but more of a life lesson and what to expect when working in the IT world and the business world. some times (alot of times) the two worlds don't mix well as you will soon discover lol

https://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Project-DevOps-Helping-Business/dp/0988262509

Well I'm glad Apple users are being forced to wake up at least. There's a mighty solid apathy about surveillance in most Apple users.

And speaking of surveillance and how it has already turned the world on its head, this is also available in audio so your can get your wake-up on in the car.

I agree with the overall point of learning and continuous improvement, but I think a lot of common sense and research indicates that Mean Time to Restore is a very important metric to measure and improve. And if I had to choose, I would definitely pick Mean Time to Restore over Mean Time to Retrospective. If you can measure both, great.

As an example, Time to Restore is one of four metrics included in Software Delivery and Operational Performance which predicts organizational performance, as shown in the State of DevOps reports and the related Accelerate book.

Start with this thread: reddit thread

You can find the book here: Amazon: Book Blood-Sweat-Pixels

According to The History of the Future they attempted to leave him with essentially nothing by saying that being fired invalidated his contractual requirement to work for them for a minimum of X years, but someone had tipped him off in advance to lawyer up. A WSJ article says his employment lawyer pointed out Facebook had breached California employment law by threatening to fire him if he didn’t make a false political statement, and they ended up settling for full compensation including future earnings.

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman is a really good general design resource.

In fact, doors that are ambiguous in the direction in which they open are named "Norman Doors" after him.