Just read through a couple chapters and this is fantastic. Does anyone have a resource like this (theory-based, but still very hands-on and practical) for other subjects related to engineering, like say building engines?
Ex-Amazon employee here. I started at Amazon right out of college so I definitely learned a lot, but the work itself wasn't really challenging. Most of what I worked on were basic CRUD services and web UI's.
Once the newness of the job wore off, I started getting really depressed because it felt like my work was meaningless, but there were also really high expectations. 90% of the work at FAANG companies is boring, and the really interesting, cutting-edge stuff is only done by a handful of teams.
In general, being charming helps. Charm/charisma is just being fully engaged in a conversation with a person - no looking around the room scanning for someone you'd rather talk with, don't interrupt them and actually listen to what they're saying, and offer geniune compliments (infrequently).
Don't be an insecure people pleaser who needs lots of external validation. It's ironic, but a lot of people-pleaser behaviors come across as needy and annoying. If you're at a happy hour with coworkers struggling to get a word in, instead mentally take a step back and try to listen. I've found when I do this it makes my words more impactful when I do speak.
There's a youtube channel called "Charisma on Command" that has a lot of good advice, but I would take it with a grain of salt. Personally, I started with working through my low self-esteem before I found that channel, learning how to be more proactive, how to set boundaries and not be a pushover, etc, so the confidence is real and the social/charisma changes came naturally.
I'm not sure that was the best example to use of an abstraction that leads to more complicated code, with database code I feel like it's way simpler to have it separate from your business logic. That way, there's fewer places where you need to make changes anytime there's a schema change.
Abstracting away the database also makes it easier to write unit tests for your business logic.