Your Software Career Is About to Grow Exponentially (If You Do This)

SUMMARY

Bogdi, a software engineer and university professor, outlines a two-step strategy—investing 10% of income in personal growth and reading high-quality technical books—to exponentially advance software careers.

STATEMENTS

Software engineering salaries can grow exponentially, but most developers overlook effective strategies for achieving this.
Bogdi's two-step approach has enabled over 500 students to skyrocket their careers through consistent commitment.
Bogdi has spent seven years growing early-stage startups, securing over 10 million euros in funding, while teaching functional programming to more than 500 students.
In his first job, Bogdi faced low pay, repetitive work, outdated technology, and mental drain, prompting a career-shifting realization.
Investing 10% of income in personal growth, specifically books, built momentum and felt like quietly accumulating fortune through ideas.
High-quality technical books transform engineering thought processes by providing comprehensive, structured knowledge.
Books are battle-tested, reviewed, and reliable, making their quality easier to trust compared to other resources.
Most content like videos, courses, and articles originates from books, forming the foundation of great ideas.
Reading technical books equips engineers with professional language and induces discomfort that fuels growth by highlighting untapped potential.
Change occurs when the pain of stagnation exceeds the discomfort of adaptation, which reading actively promotes.

IDEAS

Exponential career growth in software requires deliberate, underutilized strategies beyond standard job hopping or coding practice.
Allocating a fixed 10% of income solely to personal development, like books, creates tangible momentum without overanalysis.
Ordering over 40 books in a year can personalize even postal interactions, symbolizing deep commitment to self-improvement.
Technical books offer a complete, structured overview of technologies, surpassing fragmented online resources.
The reliability of books stems from their endurance through reviews and time, fostering trust in self-education.
Books serve as the original source material for nearly all modern tech content, closing the loop on knowledge creation.
Exposure to advanced ideas in books can make readers feel inadequate, but this discomfort signals growth opportunities.
Professional jargon and confidence emerge naturally from deep reading, elevating one's perceived expertise.
Untapped potential awakens through unease, turning reading into a catalyst for breaking career plateaus.
Consistent reading rewires the brain, enhancing problem-solving and innovation in engineering roles.
Personal growth investments compound over time, much like financial returns, but in skills and mindset.
Early career stagnation in outdated environments can be escaped by proactive, idea-driven self-upgrading.

INSIGHTS

True career acceleration demands financial commitment to learning, treating personal growth as an unavoidable expense like rent.
Discomfort from superior knowledge isn't a deterrent but a vital signal of progress, pushing engineers beyond comfort zones.
Books' depth and origins make them the ultimate knowledge multiplier, outpacing superficial digital alternatives for long-term mastery.
Exponential salary growth hinges on mindset shifts from consumption to creation, where reading builds an internal "fortune" of ideas.
Battle-tested resources like books ensure efficient learning paths, minimizing wasted effort on unproven trends.

QUOTES

"spend 10% of your income on personal growth. Don't overthink it. Just do it."
"Each book felt like I was quietly building my fortune, one idea at a time."
"change happens when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of making a change."
"almost every other form of content comes from books. YouTube videos, online courses, articles, every great idea started on a printed page."
"if any of this makes you feel uncomfortable, good. This is a sign that there's untapped potential inside you and it's trying to wake you up."

HABITS

Dedicate 10% of monthly income exclusively to purchasing books for personal and professional development.
Order technical books regularly from sources like Amazon to maintain a steady influx of new material.
Read high-quality technical books to gain comprehensive knowledge, best practices, and structured insights.
Embrace the discomfort from challenging reads as motivation to push personal boundaries and grow.
Track progress through reading by noting how it enhances professional language and engineering thinking.
Integrate reading into daily routines to rewire brain patterns for better problem-solving over time.

FACTS

Bogdi has helped early-stage startups secure over 10 million euros in funding over seven years.
As a university professor, Bogdi teaches functional programming to more than 500 students each autumn semester.
In his first job, Bogdi dealt with tiny salary, repetitive tasks, outdated technology, and mental exhaustion.
Bogdi ordered over 40 books in one year, to the point where the postman recognized his name.
Over 500 students have used Bogdi's strategy to significantly advance their software engineering careers.

REFERENCES

High-quality technical books on software engineering technologies, features, and best practices.
Amazon as a primary source for ordering books.
Bogdi's video on how to read technical books.

HOW TO APPLY

Calculate 10% of your monthly paycheck immediately after receiving it and set it aside strictly for personal growth investments like books.
Identify gaps in your technical knowledge from your current job or projects, then select 3-5 high-quality books addressing those areas.
Schedule dedicated reading time each day, starting with 30 minutes, focusing on absorbing the full structure and best practices in each book.
After finishing a book, reflect on how its ideas make you uncomfortable and list one actionable change to implement in your work.
Track your reading progress monthly, noting new skills or language gained, and adjust your book selections based on evolving career needs.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Invest 10% of income in technical books to fuel discomfort-driven growth and exponentially advance your software engineering career.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Prioritize technical books over quick online tutorials for deeper, more reliable skill acquisition.
Use reading-induced discomfort as a benchmark for selecting challenging material that stretches your abilities.
Automate the 10% income allocation to books to build consistent habits without monthly decision fatigue.
Share book insights with peers to reinforce learning and expand professional networks organically.
Revisit foundational technical books periodically to solidify battle-tested practices amid evolving tech landscapes.

MEMO

In the competitive world of software engineering, where salaries can skyrocket but often plateau, Bogdi—a seasoned engineer who has propelled startups to secure over 10 million euros in funding and now teaches functional programming to hundreds of students—reveals a deceptively simple path to exponential career growth. Drawing from his own escape from a draining first job marked by low pay and outdated tools, Bogdi advocates a two-step strategy: allocate 10% of your income to personal development and immerse yourself in high-quality technical books. This isn't casual advice; it's a commitment that transformed his trajectory and has empowered over 500 students to redefine their professional lives.

The power of this approach lies in books' unique ability to deliver comprehensive, battle-tested knowledge. Unlike fragmented YouTube videos or fleeting articles—most of which trace back to printed pages anyway—technical tomes provide the full spectrum of features, best practices, and structured insights in one trusted source. Bogdi recounts ordering over 40 books in a single year, turning his mailbox into a gateway for ideas that quietly built his expertise. More profoundly, these reads equipped him with the authoritative language of a seasoned engineer and sparked essential discomfort, the kind that exposes untapped potential and propels change when stagnation's pain outweighs adaptation's.

For aspiring developers feeling stuck, Bogdi's method rewires the brain for innovation, fostering a mindset where growth feels inevitable. It's not about speed but depth: embrace the unease of realizing how much further you can go, and watch your career compound like a well-invested portfolio. In an era of rapid tech shifts, this disciplined pursuit of knowledge isn't optional—it's the quiet revolution that separates maintainers from trailblazers.