Well folks today is a less technical post as I discuss the books that I have read over the last 12 months and those that I hope to get through in the coming year.
As we approach the end of the summer here in Ireland, I always think its a good time to review the reading material that I have got through and put some plans in place to keep me busy for the long Winter.
As with most of us, life is very busy and Time is our most precious resource so between work, family, working on my few acres it leaves very little time for professional development outside of work hours. I like to try and get through a few courses every year and of course do my daily reading of the many bloggers (post on this at a later stage) that I follow, so when it comes to books I tend to read these in my downtime, i.e. Late in the evening during those cold winter months. So go easy on me, the list is small! 🙂
Ok so first up, lets review the books I have got through:
- SQL Server 2019 Administration Inside Out
- SQL in a NutShell: A Desktop Quick Reference
- Fundamentals of Data Engineering: Plan and Build Robust Data Systems
- PostgreSQL 14 Internals (e-book)
SQL Server 2019 Administration Inside Out – I bought this as we had planned to upgrade our prod databases from 2016 to 2019. Initially I thought I would use is mostly as a reference book, but I actually got through nearly all of it, learned a lot as well. SQL Server 2019 is such a broad topic that no one book can cover everything so it doesn’t go into huge detail in anyone subject but a very good book for scanning through and picking up on some new features you had never come across (like partially contained databases).
SQL in a NutShell – This book is a revised version written by the brilliant Kevin Kline. As it states in its name its more of a reference guide to be kept on your desk than a book that you read from start to finish. Some very useful nuggets of information in this and I would regularly find myself picking it up.
Fundamentals of Data Engineering – Bought this book on the recommendation from SeattleDataGuy, as a great beginners book into the world of Data Engineering. We all learn different but for me I need to understand something from its lowest level to feel comfortable so this felt like to me a good book to get started on my Data Engineering path. Having read Database Internals by Alex Petrov I had a good understanding on some of the topics already that are covered in this book, but I would recommend it for sure before jumping into any courses or tools for Data Engineering.
PostgreSQL 14 Internals by Egor Rogov – This is a free e-book that goes into a lot and I mean ALOT of detail. Look its > 600 pages, confession time I have not read all 600 pages, but have dipped in and out of it. We are looking ahead already to PostgreSQL Version 16, but this book is still very relevant. Its a must have for a PostgreSQL DBA, especially for a relative newbie like myself. Keep this one on your laptop, you will need it.
Planned reading for the Year a head:
- Azure SQL Revealed by Bob Ward
- AWS Fundamentals (e-book) by Tobias Schmidt & Alessandro Volpicella
- Indexing Beyond the Basics by Tobias Petry
- Grokking Algorithms by Aditya Y. Bhargava
- DB Performance at Scale (A Practical Guide) by Felipe Cardeneti Mendes, Piotr Sarna, Pavel Emelyanov & Cynthia Dunlop
Azure SQL Revealed by Bob Ward – To help me on my journey to getting Azure certification I brought this book as it is aimed as a guide of Azure from the view point of a SQL Server professional. Also of course its written by the brilliant Bob Ward, Bob has the rare ability of breaking down the most complicated features into simple form so that even folks like my self can understand.
AWS Fundamentals (e-book) by Tobias Schmidt & Alessandro Volpicella – I would be familiar with a lot of what Tobias writes from Twitter (X) and he is super smart. I’m a big believer in understanding the fundamentals of a technology, so although I would be very familiar with many of the services in these books and use them regularly, there is always time to brush up on the basics and here’s hoping this book delivers on this, by my initial review it should do. Another good thing about this book is you get really detailed info graphics for all the major services which come in very handy for quick references.
Indexing Beyond the Basics by Tobias Petry – Again I would consider myself fairly strong when it comes to indexing but this book goes a little more into detail which I was looking for. Again I’m sure there is a few nuggets of gold to be found on this.
Grokking Algorithms by Aditya Y. Bhargava – Throughout our day as Data Engineers/Computer Scientists we are regularly using various algorithms that we don’t ever think twice about. Therefore this year I want to get a better understanding of these everyday algorithms which help us so much, i.e. What is the big O notation, how does quicksort actually work.
DB Performance at Scale – This book is written by the team at ScyllaDB and by all accounts its a really practical look at the issues you face when attempting to scale performance. Along the way are many current and useful links to blog posts and white papers for further reference. The very fact that this book is written by IT experts in the field should ensure its very relevant, looking forward to this one. Sometimes in our line of work you can get bogged down in the minute detail and don’t get me wrong its important to know this but every now and again its good to take some time to have a more high-level view of databases and hopefully this book will do this.
So there is 5 books listed here, will I get them all read? Probably not but sure we’ll do our best anyways and there’s no harm in having a goal, even if you don’t reach it.
You will notice a common theme here, 4 of the books and covering fundamental aspects of my job where as there is only one book ‘Azure SQL Revealed’ that is venturing into new territory. As an old football coach used to say to me, by all means learn new skills but make sure to practice the ones you currently have even more.
Until next time, Slán!
Disclaimer: Never just believe everything you read in a post, test this out for yourself, we all can make mistakes! Happy coding.
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