Ask HN: What books should I read to forward my career as a engineer?

Clean Code by Robert Martin. You'll see it mentioned frequently on HN and online in general. Changed the way I wrote code almost immediately. I kind of wish it had been a part of my university curriculum. I'm sure we HNers can pick on the book for this and for that (can't any book?) but overall I think it's excellent.

For other books, this page is also a good start: https://hackernewsbooks.com/top-books-on-hacker-news

Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann. If you ever plan on working on systems with high availability, high throughput or high data volume requirements, this is the book to read. Great balance between practical and theoretical, best book on distributed systems IMO.

Speaking from a software engineering perspective, here are a few that I found really valuable. I've seen them recommended by people I respect on many occasions.

Code Complete by Steve McConnell https://www.amazon.com/Code-Complete-Practical-Handbook-Cons...

The Mythical Man Month by Frederick Brooks https://www.amazon.com/Mythical-Man-Month-Software-Engineeri...

No matter you want to become a manager or architect, you need to know how to run a project.

The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win https://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Project-DevOps-Helping-Busine...

A must: Code Simplicity by Max Kanat-Alexander https://www.amazon.com/Code-Simplicity-Fundamentals-Max-Kana...

How to win friends and influence people.

This is a must read. It will give you a lot of insight on how to deal with people.

* Hackers and painters * Deep work * The Code