Reddit reviews Software Engineering (9th Edition)

Hi there, fellow EE.

We should make a club :)

I believe you can do a crash course into software development and catch up later when it comes to be a better software developer, since you've already been in the market for 4 years I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about (job has nothing to do with education, and you can learn as you go), and I know its the same in CS, a lot of companies just want you to do specific thing, and they don't really care about your theoretical knowledge or your full knowledge with software development life cycle.


Since you are an EE graduate I think you can relatively easily land a c++ software development job, but the problem with c++ is that there is a lot of theoretical knowledge is expected from you.

Still I believe if you set aside 3 months of your lifetime and study the following:

Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++

Code Complete

introduction to algorithms

Optional:

Software Engineering

Java Heads first

C# in a nutshell

Note, half of these books will bore you to death, but you have to power through.
Also there will come times where you don't understand what you are reading, I find it best is just to keep going, eventually things will make sense.

I personally find books is the fastest way to learn, and give you the deepest knowledge and always access to awesome tips and tricks that you can't learn at class or from a video.

If you pick those books, you can read from them in parallel, make a habit of finishing a chapter per 24/48 hour and practice 1-2 hours of programming (of what you've learned) I'm sure by the end of the 3 months you will be better than a lot of CS graduates

I used these books when I took the course in college:

http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Software-Development-Pilone/dp/0596527357

http://www.amazon.com/Software-Engineering-9th-Edition-Sommerville/dp/0137035152

These are what I had. Different professors might use different books, obviously.

• Algorithms: Introduction to Algorithms, by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein -- otherwise known as the bible of algorithms.
  
• Architecture: Computer Organization and Design, by Patterson and Hennessy
  
• SoftEng: Software Engineering: a practitioner's approach and Software Engineering, by Sommerville
  
  I didn't actually use or even buy the books for SoftEng and did fine. The other two classes relied heavily on problems from the book for homeworks.