"There has never been a more important time for a book like this. As early talent navigates the disruption of AI in the job market and the strain remote work places on traditional apprenticeships, this book offers the wisdom and guidance needed to grow, adapt, and succeed."
Level Up Your Software Engineering Career
The essential guide to mastering fundamentals beyond coding. Nate Schutta and Dan Vega teach you maintainability, architecture, and the skills that accelerate your career.
The gap between knowing how to code and being an effective engineer is real. This book fills that gap.
Boot camps and universities teach you how to write syntactically correct programs, but being a software engineer requires so much more. Whether you're an aspiring engineer beginning your career, an experienced developer seeking to formalize your knowledge, or a technical lead establishing team standards, this book is for you.
Written by Nate Schutta and Dan Vega, this comprehensive guide covers the fundamentals that will last a lifetime: reading and writing maintainable code, automated testing, working with existing codebases, software architecture, user interface design, data management, production deployment, and professional development. You'll also learn how to effectively integrate AI tools into your workflow.
These aren't trendy frameworks that will become obsolete next year. These are timeless fundamentals that will serve you throughout your entire career. Even as AI and agentic coding tools become more powerful, you need a solid grasp of these fundamentals to wield them effectively and advance to senior roles.
Table of contents
Master the fundamentals that matter.
From code readability to architecture and from testing to career growth, gain the complete foundation for a successful engineering career.
Core Skills
Essential foundations for becoming a true software engineer.
- Programmer to Engineer
- Reading Code
- Writing Code
Technical Practices
Master the practices that separate good engineers from great ones.
- Software Modeling
- Automated Testing
- Working with Existing Code
Application Development
Build applications that scale and delight users.
- User Interface Design
- Data Management
- Software Architecture
- Production Deployment
Professional Development
Level up your skills and advance your career.
- Productivity
- Continuous Learning
- Communication & Collaboration
- Career Management
- AI Tools Integration
"Shockingly, no book exists which provides a holistic overview of what software engineering really entails in the modern world...until now. Filling a void that in hindsight seems huge, this book provides an outstanding overview of the many facets of software engineering, told from a practitioner's standpoint. Like other books in the Foundations series, this one is an invaluable guide for both new engineers and experienced ones to backfill parts of the ecosystem they haven't touched (or didn't know about). Highly recommended."
"In this book, Dan and Nate teach quickly the essentials that years of formal education often fail to touch on. Their decades of experience shine through these pages, as they distil tactfully many dos and don'ts for professional developers."
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Testimonials
Loved by Software Engineers everywhere.
Hundreds of engineers have used this book to level up their skills and advance their careers.
"This book gave me the confidence to take on more complex projects. The sections on architecture and testing were game-changers."
Sarah Martinez
Full Stack Developer
"Finally, a resource that covers what bootcamps miss. The career growth chapter alone was worth the price."
James Kim
Software Engineer
"I wish I had this book when I started my career. Would have saved me years of trial and error."
Emily Chen
Senior Engineer
"The AI tools section is incredibly timely. Shows you how to use them effectively without becoming dependent."
Michael Brown
Tech Lead
"Practical, actionable advice from cover to cover. No fluff, just what you need to know."
Jessica Taylor
Backend Developer
"The code review chapter transformed how our team collaborates. Highly recommended for any team."
David Wilson
Engineering Manager