HomeArticlesInterview With Author Tomohiro Tanaka

Interview With Author Tomohiro Tanaka

Tomohiro Tanaka is the author of Serverless ETL and Analytics with AWS Glue, we got the chance to sit down with him and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.

Q: What is/are your specialist tech area(s)?

Tom: Data Engineering and Analytics, AWS Glue, AWS IoT, Apache Spark, Apache Iceberg

Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?

Tom: It’s an honor for me to be a member of the book by the invitation from my colleague. I’m really excited to share the book with people who are or will get interested in AWS Glue.

Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?

Tom: In addition to my years experience on AWS Glue and relevant BigData technologies, I have researched AWS Glue related topics again, and actually evaluated multiple services and software for several months to write the book.

Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?

Tom: It was a bit challenging to organize multiple technology domains into one chapter and make them clear for readers. To make this process simple, I tried separating major topics into small topics and also arranging small topics to make them sense.

Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?

Tom: BigData technologies and its culture are continuously growing by many communities and people. AWS Glue and its one of the core technologies; Apache Spark will also give better performance and use to us along with its community’s growth.

Q: Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?

Tom: The book is the first published one mainly presenting AWS Glue. You can learn everything about the Glue such as the best practices of using it, how it works with other systems, how to manage it and so on.

Q: What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away with from the book?

Tom: The basic concepts of AWS Glue such as serverless data Integration service working with your systems, and its automation features that expand your data analytic systems.

Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?

Tom: In my opinion, it’s important not only to learn through reading books but also to actually test on your end.

Q. Do you have a blog that readers can follow?

Tom: No

Q. Can you share any blogs, websites, and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?

Tom: https://aws.amazon.com/glue/ and https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/big-data/category/analytics/aws-glue/

Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?

Tom: I was able to enjoy writing the book with Packt team members. They always give me helpful feedback and writing knowledge. I appreciate their kind help and great work!

Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?

Tom: Apache Iceberg

Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?

Tom: Watching tech-community conference recordings gives me a lot of modern knowledge about BigData and relevant technologies. Through the recordings, I usually try new software, learn its background, check its source code (if it’s open sourced) and so on.

Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?

Tom: I worked on writing the book in my spare time such as early-morning, holidays and weekends.

Q. What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?

Tom: This is just one of my styles for writing the book. When I got stuck with writing the book, I always analyzed the blocker and split the problem into small chunks.

Q. Would you like to share your social handles? If so, please share.

Tom: http://linkedin.com/in/ttomtan

You can find Tom‘s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here


Serverless ETL and Analytics with AWS Glue – Available on Amazon.com