Three books for new college graduates

If you are associated with the high technology (Software) area, you know the importance of reading and practising new technologies. This is all the more important for new college graduates. With that in mind, I am recommending a three books to new college graduates who aspire to succeed in the technology industry. I have read these books and I feel they can be useful at any time in your career.

• Designing Data Intensive Applications: Data and analytics are among the most sought after skills these days. This books will give you a strong foundation in database concepts followed by practical usage in distributed systems. The book also covers batch and stream processing which are fundamental concepts for big data systems.
• Head First Design Patterns: Design patters by gang of four is a very popular book. But I recommend the “Head First” series because this is more useful for new college graduates. In real world the effectiveness of software design determines the quality of the code. In colleges, it is common to focus on programming languages but remember there are new languages invented every now and then. But solid design principles will stand the test of time.
• Effective Java: Java may not be as wildly popular as it was during the early part of my career but it is still used heavily. While you can learn the programming constructs from several books, I strongly recommend “Effective Java” after you have a reasonable command over the language. In addition to the subtleties of the language, the book can help learn a few good programming practices.

I am sure there are many other really good books. I was even tempted to add a couple of honorary mentions. I will add more recommendations once I complete my study of those books. Until then, I strongly suggest you read the above books.