There seems to be a lot of criticism of the books mentioned in the blog and the comments. I am aware that expecting that some books are going to revolutionize a person's skills as an engineer is naive at best, but some people are even going as far as saying that following some principles/books can even be destructive. Ofc following anything dogmatically is dangerous, but is that the only concern? Just keep in mind that not everything can be applicable to every situation and we're good?
Genuine question, as a software engineer of 3-4 years professional experience, how should I approach furthering my skills? A lot of advice is just "do more, practice more, try things" and while that is going to be a significant part of it, I don't believe we should outright ignore books as a valuable source of info. How should I approach and identify books that contain "outdated" or sometimes "wrong" advice?
Understand that most of the books are born from experience. But they represent what that author(s) learned, which may or may not have been the right lesson in every case and, almost always, is not a true universal lesson.
Some views have to be considered in context. If OO means Smalltalk to one author and C with Classes to another their statements on “OOP” will actually be about two different things, learn from them both but don’t misapply the lessons from one to the other (happens a lot).
With that in your head, read the books and question them. Experiment with their ideas where you can or run thought exercises, “What if…?”
Also, read “The Psychology kf Computer Programming” by Weinberg. He presents many different case studies (though briefly) and commentary. One of the few books where it is clear his prescription is, “Study people and their behavior” not “Do what I say and you’ll make perfect code.”
Genuine question, as a software engineer of 3-4 years professional experience, how should I approach furthering my skills? A lot of advice is just "do more, practice more, try things" and while that is going to be a significant part of it, I don't believe we should outright ignore books as a valuable source of info. How should I approach and identify books that contain "outdated" or sometimes "wrong" advice?