HomeAuthor InterviewsInterview with Enrico Murru

Interview with Enrico Murru

Enrico Murru is the author of Hands-On Low-Code Application Development with Salesforce and Salesforce Advanced Administrator Certification Guide, we got the chance to sit down with him and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.

Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey.

Enrico: I’ve been contacted by Packt’s team on March 2019 for my first ever book on Advanced Salesforce Administration Certification. Honestly, it wasn’t my first choice for a book, but I decided to go on for a simple reason: I ALWAYS wanted to write a book, but I’m not the kind of guy who is able to write a thriller or sci-fi novel, so early in my days as a software developer, I decided that somehow someday I’ll have written a technical book. And, at the end of 2018, I started putting down the bases for a Salesforce guide for newcomers Salesforce professionals, few months after the Packt teams contacted me, and that seemed like destiny, I couldn’t say no! And after the first publication, who honestly had a mild appreciation due to its “advanced nature”, my friend Alok Dhuri at Packt asked me to write my second book about “Low-Code development in Salesforce” which, guess what, was the kind of book I wanted to write since the beginning of my author career.

Q: How long did it take you to write the book?

Enrico: For both books it took me around 6 months from first to last chapter to write the whole content. I had spikes of activity, so it happened that some weeks I wrote like a crazy like 1 chapter a week (mostly working on the weekends) and some other months just 1 chapter a month.

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

Enrico: For both books the path was pretty clear, describing Salesforce platform features for beginners and advanced administrators, I already new the content, I just needed some boost from the Salesforce community, blogs, Trailhead content or advanced articles found online and, of course, my 10+ years experience.

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

Enrico: The greatest problem you can face while writing a book is that, especially with technical books, sometimes you have to explain pieces of technology that you are not in love with or that you don’t always use in your daily life. So you need a great dose of patience not to lose your passion while writing. This is the “writer’s block”, when they told me this could be possible even with technical books, I believed it was a lie…after all you already knew what you were about to write about!
No chances indeed, it happens to anyone!”

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

Enrico: I wrote a blog post about being “an amazing Salesforce developer” few years ago and I can say this still applies (have a look at https://www.masonfrank.com/salesforce-blog/10-signs-youre-an-amazing-salesforce-developer/), and the top signs are curiosity with continuous-self-improvement, boredom fight with new stimulus, having some side projects to take your attention high and humility (the “I don’t know anything” is a good mantra)

Q. How do you keep up-to-date on your tech?

Enrico: I’m a Salesforce professional and so far my career is almost entirely focused on Salesforce but I love technology and love experimenting whenever I have time. To keep yourself updated with latest technology, blogs are the places where you always get the latest news but I can say that social channels are an amazing place to get the last tweet as soon as they are tweeted (I’m not talking about Twitter only, Facebook and LinkedIn are amazing references as well).

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

Enrico: Yes, visit the following page: https://blog.enree.co

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

Enrico: https://www.salesforceben.com/salesforce-blogs/ has a list of the coolest Salesforce blogs out there (mine in #6)!

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

Enrico: Working with the Packt team has been slick and smooth, they gave me the necessary resources and help to bring my books to see the light. Absolutely suggested to new authors, to this step, it is tiresome to write a book especially if you already have a job, a family, a life, but it is so satisfactory when you see your creation coming alive!

You can find Enrico’s books on Amazon by following this link: Please click here

Hands-On Low-Code Application Development with Salesforce – Available on Amazon.com
Salesforce Advanced Administrator Certification Guide – Available on Amazon.com