David Santana is the author of Cloud Computing Demystified for Aspiring Professionals, 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)?
David: Multi-Cloud Architect, Developer, Administrator, Data Engineer, DevOps, Data Scientist.
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
David: I believe I was chosen by Packt because of my multi-cloud background supporting AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud business partners and internal divisions of training and certification. This book is a culmination of decades of experience learning from leadership, engineers, and senior technical trainers who have imparted to me their knowledge and in doing so inspired me to share that wisdom in hopes of helping everyone including public and private sector organizations and individuals learn the truth about cloud technologies and the essentials required for those who are willing to learn and consequently use these modern technology resources to innovate and hence drive us into the future.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
David: I’ve been researching, tinkering, and using for business and non-business purposes the technologies described in this book for over 20 years. My research includes observations from AWS, Azure, and GCP documentation, including subject matter experts in the field, each with decades of experience. Wherein these pundits have also mastered these technologies and corroborated my books observations to ensure academic and real-world accuracy. More importantly, I, like my peers, who have aided me through sharing their knowledge are certified with each cloud leader. And we are accredited by each cloud leader to communicate accurately their services and provide architectural recommendations based on each cloud providers experience.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
David: I was challenged with selecting a finite list of key technologies used in practical applications today from each cloud provider. I sought help from our tech community including insights from Gartner and chose what was believed to be the most widely used not only in cloud but in multi-cloud scenarios including hot topics like health care.
Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
David: As always, I am amazed how these technologies are the very infrastructure supporting popular including obscure services today. I believe AI will continue to advance and consequently continue improving our lives unkbenowist to many. These technologies will continue to provide the efficiency we require and very soon help us be a better people in all aspects of our daily lives.
Q. Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
David: This book will help readers understand what a cloud computing service is, and how simple it is to use, and how you can fast-track getting certified in modern technologies that are key in all services today and hence required to provide services used by every industry. The key difference here, is that this book describes and tutors you on Amazon, Microsoft, and Google Cloud technologies. While most other books delve into how an expert used only one of the technologies from only one of the cloud leaders. And this book is written objectively, without cloud or technology preference. This book is not technology biased and does not compare one technology to another by sharing the expert’s personal opinion. Here is an example, some books I read, mention using Linux is better than Windows and go as far as exclaiming that persons subjective persepective without empirical facts and even write negative comments about the technology in jest to build rapport. In brevity, “I do not take sides.”
Q. What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away from the book with?
David: Understand the evolution from a traditional infrastructure to a modern cloud computing infrastructure. Explain in detail what is cloud computing. Describe who the major cloud computing providers are. Describe the cloud computing core services and tools that accelerate development, operations, and security. Educate the reader on how different industries use cloud computing services. Educate the novice practitioner on recommended resources to continue their learning journey.
Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
David: Mentors can influence and build or expand one’s knowledge and partnerships. Do not wait idly by—persistently reach out to instructors and tech community SMEs and leaders to establish a mentee-mentor relationship.
Q. Do you have a blog that readers can follow??
David: https://web.fastlaneus.com/blog/author/david-santana
Q. Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
David: Amazon Web Services: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/index.html, Microsoft Azure: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/?product=popular, Google Cloud: https://cloud.google.com/docs/
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
David: The team was very helpful in editorial recommendations to improve the overall book. I would highly recommend Packt in the tech community.
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
David: AWS Certified Global Community, Microsoft Certified Trainer Network, and Google Certified Trainer Community.
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
David: CODE magazine; https://www.codemag.com/magazine, and research and technical computing on AWS; https://aws.amazon.com/government-education/research-and-technical-computing/
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
David : As a cloud course director for Fast Lane a training partner for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud training and certification. I would be remiss if I told you it was simple. I had obstacles like any other IT Pro. So, I worked overnight and through the weekends. Working while writing the book helped me add more context and provided realworld solutions instead of theories.
Q. What is the one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
David: Allow the editors to help you write for your audience. Sometimes IT Pros write as though the author is the intended audience.
Q. Would you like to share your social handles? If so, please share.
David: Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/multicloud-davidsantana , Twitter: @david_course
You can find David’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
Cloud Computing Demystified for Aspiring Professionals– Available on Amazon.com
