Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn business administration/finance?
The onramp for finance is accounting. There is no other right answer. This is also essential for general business administration.Accounting is a huge topic; being able to read financial statements is a good, first tangible exercise.Best book I have found for this is Thomas Ittelson, Financial Statements.Using double-entry accounting methods for your own financials with a tool like Beancount is super helpful from a practice perspective, and appealing to an engineering mind:http://furius.ca/beancount/"Being able to level with CEOs and CFOs" is less about administering a business and more about being able to communicate with executives. This is essential for all technical people, whether or not they have management or executive ambitions themselves.This also is a huge topic, I would suggest starting with concise definitions of what managing is, and what being an executive is about. When you understand the concerns of the people you are communicating with, you can do so more efficiently and effectively.From a mindset perspective I would start with Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive, and since everyone is their own CEO, his book Managing Oneself is very valuable.These are all classic texts, still valuable and relevant, as these topics are as old as the hills.Good luck.