This Christmas special post for software engineers will help you give yourself the gift of upskilling, personal growth, and health this holiday season! Your technical and non-technical skills, along with your habits as a software engineer, largely determine how valuable a resource you become in your career. This holiday season, give yourself a gift that’ll last a lifetime. Let’s jump right in!
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In this article, we’ll cover:
- Top Software Engineering Skills to Gift Yourself this Christmas
- Best Software Engineering Books Your Future Self Will Thank You for
- Habits To Gift Your Career and Your Health this Christmas
- Vital Non-Technical Skills to Gift Your Future Self this Christmas
- Best Christmas Gifts for Software Engineers
- FAQs on Best Christmas Gifts for Software Engineers
Top Software Engineering Skills to Gift Yourself This Christmas
Here are some software engineering skills that are in high demand to help you become more valuable as a Software Engineer:
- Java
- Python
- C#/.Net
- Mean
- Ruby
- Object-oriented design
- SOLID principles
- Data Structures
- Algorithms
- Redux
- Docker
- AWS
- Azure
- Kubernetes
- Spark
- React.js
- Jenkins
- Debugging
- Software testing
- Problem-solving
- Logical thinking
- Communication, both written and verbal
- Teamwork
- Kafka
- Ansible
If you want to learn more about this, check out our article on Software Engineering skills,
Best Software Engineering Books Your Future Self Will Thank You for
Investing in your future as a software engineer can look a lot like investing in your education, experience, and upskilling often. Books are a great way to do that. Gift yourself a book this Christmas that your career and your future self will thank you for! Here are some suggestions from our article on Best Books That Help You Land an SDE Job at FAANG+ Companies (you can check out the article for the full list):
- Data Structures Through C in Depth by S.K. Srinivasan and Deepali Srivastava
- Cracking The Coding Interview by Gayle Laakmann McDowell
- Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems by Martin Kleppmann
- The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition, 2nd Edition: Your Journey to Mastery by David Thomas, Andrew Hunt
- Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin
- The C Programming Language by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie
- Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm
- Clean Architecture: A Craftsman's Guide to Software Structure and Design (Robert C. Martin Series)
- Software Engineering at Google: Lessons Learned from Programming Over Time by Titus Winters, Tom Manshreck, et al
- A Common-Sense Guide to Data Structures and Algorithms, Second Edition: Level Up Your Core Programming Skills by Jay Wengrow
Habits to Gift Your Career and Your Health this Christmas
Our habits affect our physical, mental, and emotional well-being and inevitably support or become a hurdle in our careers. Here are some healthy habits you can gift yourself this Christmas for a happier, healthier, and more prosperous future:
- Look into and learn from the source code of excellent projects.
- Write code as often as you can, preferably every day.
- Write clean, scalable, and maintainable code and document well.
- Take small breaks every hour or so and stretch.
- Learn a new high-demand programming language
- Exercise regularly, meditate, eat healthily, and get some sun.
- Keep learning new things regularly.
- Keep track of the leaders in the industry and any significant events.
- Learn from mentors and peers and teach them as well.
- Ask for help when needed.
- Respect each opportunity and learn from it.
- If appropriate, take up open source/side projects outside work.
- Practice, make mistakes, learn from them, and then move on.
- Learn effective written and verbal communication, whether it’s about tech or non-tech, occurring within or across domains or teams.
- Use Google effectively and efficiently, don’t copy-paste.
- Keep a career journal.
Vital Non-Technical Skills to Gift Your Future Self this Christmas
Did you know that improving non-tech skills improves how you handle technical tasks? Check out these crucial non-tech skills this Christmas that’ll help you in many areas of your life, including, but not limited to your career as a Software Engineer:
- Verbal, written, and non-verbal communication skills
- Teamwork and collaboration skills and a team player’s attitude
- Ability to handle ambiguity
- Staying solution-focused and composed during a crisis.
- Time management skills
- People management skills
- Leadership skills
- Negotiation skills
- Empathy
- A sense of humor
- Creativity and problem-solving skills
- Ownership and accountability
- Patience, trust, adaptability, and cooperation
- Organizational skills
- Self-learning and growth mindset
- Adaptability and self-learning
- Collaboration and teamwork
- Accountability
- Business acumen
Best Christmas Gifts for Software Engineers
We can’t really end this article without sharing some items you can gift yourself and other software engineers to make their life easier! You can look into:
- Ergonomic chair
- Sit-stand desk
- Blue-light filter glasses
- A career notebook or journal
- A whiteboard
- Ergonomic keyboard
- A course/book on a high-demand skill
- Noise-canceling headphones
- A one-touch or an easy-to-make coffee machine
- Heat sensitive/self-heating mug
- Geeky apparel
- Water bottle with hydration tracking
- Software Engineer Christmas Ornaments
Hope you enjoyed our article. Happy holidays!
FAQs on Best Christmas Gifts for Software Engineers
Q1. What are some good Christmas gifts for a Software Engineer?
Noise-canceling headphones, laptop accessories, an ergonomic chair, self-heating/heat-sensitive mugs, and other such items that make the life of a Software Engineer easy are some good gifts for them.
Q2. What are some skills Software Engineers should definitely have?
Communication, object-oriented programming, coding, teamwork, multitasking, attention to detail, some mathematics, and problem-solving skills are some of the skills Software Engineers should definitely have.
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