Ask HN: Books about lifelong engineering/technology career

9 points by saas_startup 1 year ago | 4 comments

I am looking for books/blogs that cover a lifelong career in technology (or engineering). Most of the materials typically focus on singular engineering achievement (building Apple I/II (like iWoz) or sending a rocket to the moon (any books about Von Braun) rather than focusing how one builds a life-long career.

The closest I ever found was a post by Will Larson: https://lethain.com/forty-year-career/

mitchbob 1 year ago |

The first part of your request sounds like you're looking for biographies of technologists, while at the end it sounds like you're looking for something more like self-help books. If you're looking for the former, a couple of big, fascinating histories that describe long careers in technology, starting with childhood, are

- The Dream Machine [1], which chronicles the career of J. C. R. Licklider

- The Friendly Orange Glow [2], where Donald Bitzer is the main character.

[1] https://press.stripe.com/the-dream-machine

[2] http://friendlyorangeglow.com/

saas_startup 1 year ago | |

Those are really good :) Already ordered, thank you!

meander_water 1 year ago |

This was posted here a few days ago:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42930528

markus_zhang 1 year ago |

I just read the first 2 chapters of iWoz and I already decided to recommend this book to everyone, especially if you have a kid. The first 2 chapters worth gold.