# Joel on Software

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Joel on Software and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for getting readers interested in programming books and for its writing; one reader only came to enjoy it years later.

## Why people recommend it

- Sparked interest in programming books (1 comments): "Believe it was the Joel on Software blog who got me interested in those type of books" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50190413))
- Liked alongside Coding Horror (1 comments): "I liked Joel on Software, I liked Coding Horror" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48273966))
- Readers miss its writing (1 comments): "I miss his writing, I haven't seen a post by him in a while." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46829518))

## What people warn about

- Took years to appreciate (1 comments): "I didn't really enjoy Joel's writing until years later into my career." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50002211))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Simon Willison's blog](https://hackerapproved.com/p/simon-willison-s-blog.md): 21 recommend
- [acoup.blog](https://hackerapproved.com/p/acoup-blog.md): 19 recommend
- [gwern.net](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gwern-net.md): 19 recommend
- [Julia Evans blog](https://hackerapproved.com/p/julia-evans-blog.md): 11 recommend
- [computer.rip by J.B. Crawford](https://hackerapproved.com/p/computer-rip.md): 9 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Joel on Software", https://hackerapproved.com/p/joel-on-software-blog/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).