> I think books on software management and process are mostly lost on someone who hasn't been involved in the process.

I think that's true and fair. However, once some experience has been acquired, I believe it's helpful to evaluate whether it's good experience or bad experience. Comparisons against the literature can be helpful at that point. Case in point: I tried reading 'The Psychology of Computer Programming' in college, but it didn't make much sense to me. Coming to it 15 years later, I realize it'd have been the perfect companion to my first five years in industry, naming and describing problems I'd faced and solutions that only came through experience more painful than reading.

Interesting counterpoint. I kind of agree that these books will be lost on people (although I believe I got something out of them and I'm early into my career). But I'm also thinking of it as providing early exposure so that if the students need guidance later on, they know where to visit. Much as high school students find the classics boring, but upon revisiting them later in life, discover their brilliance.

I agree that you should teach the practice. My ideal education would be co-ops combined with a reading course or two on the canon.

Any books to recommend for the topics you mentioned? Especially sql or mongo.

I really liked 'The Art of SQL', Stephane Faroult

Mongo has a series of online courses