HomeAuthor InterviewsInterview with Dario Kondratiuk

Interview with Dario Kondratiuk

Dario Kondratiuk is the author of UI testing with Puppeteer, 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)?

Dario: Back-end developer and WebAutomation expert.

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

Dario: Writing a book was on my dream list, but it wasn’t in my plans for 2020. When I got an email from Kaustubh, product manager of Packt, I wasn’t quite sure if that was for me or even if it was the right moment. But then he told me that there was no book about Puppeteer in Amazon. After working so many years on Puppeteer, I considered that the community needed a book.

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

Dario: I created PuppeteerSharp (a port of Puppeteer to .NET) in 2017. So I knew the project pretty well. But all the work required to plan a book was surprising. From identifying the target audience to the process of building a “story” that shows the entire API. All that process took me several weeks, and I didn’t even start with the book! Each chapter also required many hours to research not the API but the fundamental concepts the chapters were based on.

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

Dario: As a developer who has a full-time job, and who even spend a few hours in the morning the open-source projects, finding the time and the energy was challenging. I ended up spending a few hours during the week doing research, finding content and resources. And then invest Saturdays and even some Sundays to write the content.

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

Dario: In Chapter 2, I talk about how UI testing is not only for QA Analysts but also for front-end developers. The rise of frameworks like React.JS, Angular, or Vue.JS is moving the code from the server to the client. Now developers need more tools to test their UI components. That’s why we will see tools like Puppeteer being using used more and more by developers.

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

Dario: Well, the good news is that UI Testing With Puppeteer is the first book about Puppeteer available in the market. The goal of this book is not to be a reference book but a book where you can learn not only about Puppeteer but also about UI Testing in general.

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

Dario: With this book, I want to empower QA analysts. This book is not only about a library. Readers will learn about UI testing, CSS, XPath, Continuous Integration among many other things. I hope they leave with a feeling that they understand more about the web development business.

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

Dario: Tools might and will change. If we talk about headless browsers and UI Testing, it was only about Selenium a few years ago. Now we have Puppeteer, Playwright, Cypress, and many other exciting tools. But the tool is not important. Learn the concepts, Learn about how the web works. Learn how good UI tests should be coded rewardless the tool. Today we are talking about Puppeteer, who knows what’s coming next. That’s why each chapter opens with essential concepts related to the topic because I want this book to be more than just about an API, and I want the reader to learn more than just a library.

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

Dario: Yes! You can read more about automation at https://www.hardkoded.com/ also on my twitter account https://twitter.com/hardkoded

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

Dario: I love dev.to. I think it’s a great place for developers, where we all can share what we learn.

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

Dario: What I love about Packt is that they know that they are not dealing with professional authors. They help you during the whole process. I want to brag on Sofi Rogers, the Senior Editor of the book. I learn a lot! from her. She helped me get the right tone and basically taught me to write a book.

Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?

Dario: You can find me on StackOverflow and on the Puppeteer’s slack channel.

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

Dario: I think the key is finding the right people to follow on twitter!

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

Dario: That’s part of the challenge. I think we don’t work all the same. I feel more productive in the morning. Others are love to work at night. I think the key is finding the pace that fits you and stick to it.

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

Dario: You are not as bad as you think you are. Start writing, you will get there.

You can find Dario’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here

UI Testing with Puppeteer is Available on Amazon.com