Book Reviews: Redux, Soft Skills

A bit late getting to picks this month... I've been in four different time zones in the past two weeks. Finally getting back to my usual routine!

Building React Applications with Idiomatic Redux

The newest series of videos from Dan Abramov could easily be called Redux: The Missing Manual. He covers many topics you will encounter in building Redux applications such as loading asynchronous data, routing, logging, and persistence. I like that not only are the solutions he provides very concise, but that he continually refactors while progressing through the videos.

Redux has matured quite a bit in the past year, and this series shows elegant solutions to common application concerns.

Soft Skills - John Sonmez

This is a book that should be gifted to all new developers. In university or bootcamps, they teach you to code, they do not teach you the business of being a developer or how to manage relationships and yourself throughout your career.

I'm glad that John has laid this out in a simple, accessible way. Some of the lessons here I had to learn the hard way myself.

John also gives his account of going from employee to entrepreneur and his career-long experience in real estate investment. It's important for everyone to plan for the future, but developers being especially well-paid in the US, it's even more critical that they learn to manage their finances.