Software Engineering at Google
Software Engineering at Google by Winters, Manshreck and Wrightby Winters, Manshreck and Wright
Shares rank 8 of 21 software engineering books by recommenders
People recommend it for its practical lessons on writing and maintaining software at scale and over time, and it is available online for free.
People recommend it for its practical lessons on writing and maintaining software at scale and over time, and it is available online for free.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Recommended as the go-to reference
“That's called Software Engineering at Google”
Comment from 7 Aug 2026 in “Reverse Jevons Paradox” “Read 5 books about Engineering at Google”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Europe's $24T Breakup with Visa and Mastercard Has Begun”
Other software engineering books people recommend
The four most recommended other software engineering books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Mythical Man-Monthby Fred Brooks | 56 | 3 | 95% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Designing Data-Intensive Applicationsby Martin Kleppmann | 37 | 1 | 97% | 12 | — | Approved |
| A Philosophy of Software Designby John Ousterhout | 28 | 1 | 97% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Code Completeby Steve McConnell | 14 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Software Engineering at Googleby Winters, Manshreck and WrightThis page | 7 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's available online for free”
“goes into this (all factors of programming at scale / over time)”
“That's called Software Engineering at Google”
“The lessons in this book are universal and apply whether you’re on a team of 5 or 5,000.”
“Read 5 books about Engineering at Google”
“you may want to read the chapter on “Large-Scale Changes” in the “Software Engineering at Google” book”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.