About Steve

Steve McConnell is an internationally recognized thought leader on software development practices. He is the author of Code Complete, often cited as the most popular software development book of all time. Readers of Software Development magazine named him one of the three most influential people in the software industry along with Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds.

Steve has served in numerous software industry roles, including Editor in Chief of IEEE Software magazine, Chair of the IEEE Computer Society’s Professional Activities Board, member of the Panel of Experts of the SWEBOK project, member of the Computer Science Advisory Board of Whitman College, and chair of the Computer Science Advisory Board of Seattle University.

Steve earned a Bachelor’s degree from Whitman College and a Master’s degree in software engineering from Seattle University. Steve received Software Development Magazine’s Jolt Award and their Productivity Award, was named Seattle University’s Alumni of the Year for Professional Accomplishment, received the Golden Core from IEEE Computer Society, and the 40 Under 40 award by Puget Sound Business Journal.

What Steve Says About Himself

Software has been my professional passion my whole adult life. I also have numerous personal interests.

Dogs—My golden retriever, Cooper, is still a puppy who keeps me on my toes (mostly from licking my hand when I’m not expecting it).

Gardening—I like digging in the dirt and making things grow. Sometimes after a day in the yard I think there isn’t much difference between what I like to do now vs. what I liked to do when I was 5 years old.

Motorcycling—I enjoy road trips around the Pacific Northwest. These days I mostly ride a Ducati Super Sport and a Gold Wing. I seem to trade motorcycles often. I’ve enjoyed riding Harley’s and have had a V-Rod and a Soft tail.

Home Improvement—I get a lot of satisfaction out of home improvement projects ranging from putting shelves in my garage to building a fort to building my own home theater room.

Car Wax—I was debating with a friend whether cleaning something could ever be fun, and I realized I actually spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning–but when you do it to your car it’s called detailing! I like all aspects of detailing, and I especially enjoy car wax. At one point I had my car divided in 6 different test panels to analyze different kinds of wax. Does that surprise anyone? Probably not.

Community Service—I believe that service is important, whether it’s to my profession or to my local community. I’m on the board of my local Rotary club and was president of my club in 2021-22. I also served on my local school board for six years.