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Crack the Code to Career Success: The 13 Must-Read Books That Changed My Life
Discover the secret reading list that helped me escape the cubicle and land a high-paying tech role.
Kyle Thomas
July 15, 2023
(Read time 7 min)
Wake up in the dark.
Iron my shirt.
Tie my tie.
Slip on my dress shoes.
Get in my car with no working heat or speakers.
Drive through heavy traffic in the rain to the airport.
Sit in a cubicle for 9 hours doing data entry.
Get back in my car.
Drive home in the dark.
Eat some dinner.
Go to bed and do it all over again tomorrow.
That was my life for over two years, and it took a toll.
I considered myself a happy, energetic guy, but I felt stuck.
The spark of life inside me had been put out.
I knew this wasn’t the life I wanted to live and that there had to be something else out there.
Something I would be great at.
Something I would enjoy doing.
Something that would pay me more money.
Something that would put me on my desired path.
But what was that path, and how would I get there?
Not knowing where to turn or who to ask, I stumbled into a used book store and found myself in the Self-Help section.
I grabbed a handful of books that sounded like they could help me, bought them all for less than $20, and brought them back to my tiny basement apartment.
I didn’t know it, but those books were the starting line on the journey to change my career and life in a little over a year.
18 months later, I would go from lonely, stuck, and anxious in a dead-end cubicle job I hated to a dream job and multi-million dollar career at Uber.
It led to meeting founders and CEOs of top tech companies, launching billion-dollar markets, and founding my own company.
As I sat there reading, hungrily looking for a path forward, I took notes in a small moleskin journal that I still have today.
My first journal entry from February 2nd, 2012.
So today I’ll dig back into that journal to share the 13 books that catapulted my tech career in the order that I read them.
The order you read these books isn’t important but the messages, insights, and skills you’ll learn from them can change your life.
Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
I don’t know whether it was luck or the fact that the title told me I could get rich just by thinking, but this was the first book I read on my job hunt, and I have read it many times since.
The book explores the mindset and principles that separate high achievers from the rest of the pack.
Visualization, self-confidence, turning desire into action, being persistent, dealing with failure, and copying the actions of great people are all lessons that will improve your life and set you apart in your job hunt.
Personal Power by Tony Robbins (Audio)
My introduction to Tony Robbins was a small part he had in the movie Shallow Hal back in 2001 (full scene).
If you’re anything like I was, you’re skeptical of the self-help genre and have your guard up whenever someone tells you that you can experience unlimited success by listening to something for 30 days but Tony is the GOAT of personal development and there’s a reason why.
I listened to this program every day on my way to work, while I was working out, pretty much any downtime I had, I would throw my headphones in.
The belief-breaking and goal-setting exercises made a huge difference in my ability to make progress.
Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson
I was 24 years old and had never been formally taught about personal finance, so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t making any mistakes and that I was setting myself up with proper financial habits.
Regardless of what stage of your career, whenever you’re thinking about a job change, finances are on your mind.
This book gave me a crash course in budgeting, investing, and retirement planning and, most importantly, how to avoid the financial traps people fall into.
The Art of War by Sun Tsu
The Art of War was written in China sometime between 475 and 221 B.C.E by a military strategist during a period of constant war.
For a book to have that kind of staying power, it has to contain significant wisdom, and it doesn’t disappoint.
Reading this book can change your mentality from a passive job searcher to an active job hunter and outside of that it contains some amazing quotes applicable to the job hunt like...
Being unconquerable lies with yourself.
Being conquerable lies with the enemy.
and
The victorious army first realizes the conditions for victory, and then seeks to engage in battle.
Strengths Finder by Tom Rath
When you’re on the job hunt it pays to know and be confident in your talents and strengths.
That’s what Tom Rath helps you do in Strengths Finder.
It’s a great book to return to when you’re questioning what you’re uniquely good at and what will make you stand out among the competition in the job market.
Awake the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Tony’s back!
Having gone through his audio program and seen its positive impact on my mentality, I wanted to read more of what he had to offer.
I devoured this book, which helped me continue working on my beliefs and habits.
It might sound simplistic, but if you can figure those two things out, you can land any job you want.
The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
This book changed my life forever because it showed me the possibilities outside of banging my head on my keyboard in my cubicle all day.
If you haven’t read this book, do yourself a favor and buy it now.
It’s less about starting a business and more about intentionally designing your life plus, the tips about efficiency and effective time management can help you be less stressed with higher output in your job hunt.
This started my long love affair with Tim Ferriss and his work.
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Two things land people career-defining roles.
Relationships and value creation.
This book will help you become a master relationship builder.
Persuasion, fostering positive interactions, and creating genuine connections are all covered in this book and are the cornerstone of building a world-class network and crushing your interviews.
The Millionaire Messanger by Brendan Burchard
This book is all about discovering your unique message, packaging it in a compelling way, and leveraging various platforms to reach a wider audience.
The target audience is people who want to make money by speaking or selling products related to their story.
When job hunting, being able to tell people your story in a captivating way helps them connect with you, want to help you, and be bought into seeing you succeed.
If nothing else, it shows you the power of your personal story.
The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman
Pay $100,000 to go to business school or $17.99 to learn the principles, then apply them myself?
I chose option 2.
This book is amazing at giving you an understanding of business fundamentals.
Marketing, finance, leadership, it’s all there and written in an easy-to-digest way.
When I started my business, I had the opportunity to speak with multiple-time founder, former USC football player, and current founder & CEO of Pray.com, Steve Gatena.
He recommended I read two books:
Personal MBA
Startup Owners Manual
That says a lot.
Personal Power II by Tony Robbins
Tony, Tony, Tony.
As you can see, I wanted Tony in my ear as much as possible.
This speaks to how powerful mindset, psychology, and neuro-associations are when you’re job hunting.
You face consistent rejection, but your ability to constantly iterate and remain persistent and consistent using the right mindset is what allows you to win.
Beating the Street by Peter Lynch
When I read this, I had quit my job in Seattle, moved to New York City, and was living in an apartment in the financial district with 3 people who worked in finance.
I figured I should try and learn something about finance and investing.
I didn’t get too deep into this book because it wasn’t relevant to my job hunt but I did write down one quote that I find pretty amusing now.
The extravagance of any corporate office is directly proportional to management’s reluctance to reward the shareholders
If You’re Not First, You’re Last by Grant Cardone
To most people I speak with, selling yourself in interviews and networking conversations does not come naturally.
But, like anything in life, sales is a skill that can be learned.
The book covers successful sales mentality, follow-up, delivering value upfront, leveraging your network, standing out, and providing a unique proposal.
All keys to a successful job hunt.
There you have it, the entire stack of 13 books I read that led me from hating my life in my cubicle to being on fire as an early employee at Uber, one of the fastest-growing tech companies of all time.
You can buy all of them for less than $150 and I guarantee the return on investment will be worth the price.
The most successful people in the world are readers.
The best way to experience the success that you see in others is to adopt their habits.
So grab some of these books, start reading, and let me know how they change your job hunt.
But until then… let’s become career champions together 🏆
Kyle
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