HomeAuthor InterviewsInterview with Hector Parra Martinez

Interview with Hector Parra Martinez

Hector Parra Martinez is the author of Google Cloud for Developers, 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)?

Hector: I’m a developer with expertise in infrastructure and network failure detection and automation, which made me able to architect solutions using different components, using Google Cloud as the core.

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

Hector: I was a big fan of technical books in general and of Packt in particular. When I heard that they were looking for new authors, I knew this was an opportunity that I shouldn’t let go!

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

Hector: I looked for books about the topic and other types of similar documentation for weeks, but most of the titles were focused on certification preparation or were not targeted at developers, and I thought that this was a good opportunity to fill that gap.

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

Hector: To be honest, deciding when to stop was my biggest challenge. Once I estimated the number of pages for each chapter, I realized that I could easily triple them. There are always more information and examples that you can add, and at the beginning, it was more difficult to find the right balance. Luckily after some practice, everything became much more intuitive.

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

Hector: I see public cloud and private data centers merging into each other. Some workloads or data just make sense if they live in a private data center, while others make sense in a public provider. Others may live at the same time in both locations. Frontiers will fade away and it should be totally transparent both to users and to administrators where each workload is running.

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

Hector: This is a book written by a developer for other developers. I wrote this as the “missing manual” that I would have loved to have when I started developing on Google Cloud.

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

Hector: The main takeaway would be that cloud providers are a great help to build code faster and to get access to unlimited resources and services. They are a great way of democratizing access to massive-scale infrastructure. And Google Cloud is a top option when it comes to AI offered using public APIs, and also for deploying workloads virtually anywhere, thanks to Anthos.

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

Hector: I would recommend them to compare all public cloud providers’ basic services: AI, data analytics, containerization and portability, and security. And then choose their favorite and study all services to be able to make the best choices when it comes to architecting a hybrid or multi-cloud application.

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

Hector: I tried it, but I was not able to keep it updated as regularly as I would have liked to. But nowadays, I will be happy to engage in professional conversations on LinkedIn. Follow me or connect at the following address: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hectorparra/.

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

Hector: I would recommend Priyanka Vergadia’s website, available at the following address: https://thecloudgirl.dev/sketchnote.html. Her Google Cloud sketch notes are legendary and are a great aid to remember the many services and options that Google Cloud provides. And, of course, you should all get her book, too!

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

Hector: My journey has been amazing. I started as a Technical Reviewer and was later contacted for this book. The team at Packt has always been amazing. Their flexibility and their passion are really inspiring, and I would never have been able to finish the book without their experience and support.

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

Hector: Using an agile-like system makes things easier because there are deadlines for each chapter. If you are disciplined and create a schedule that you later follow, the process will be much more enjoyable.

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

Hector: I’m a big fan of Wired and MIT Technical Review, among many others. I also use Feedly to keep a list of my favorite sites and use RSS to centralize their latest articles. Finally, I use Google Discovery to have my favorite topics and journals close to me as soon as I open Chrome.

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

Hector: Enjoy some time to document yourself, then build a draft structure in your head, put it in the header, and only then start writing.

Q. Would you like to share your social handles? If so, mention them below

Hector: I will be happy to engage in professional discussions on LinkedIn. Follow me or connect at the following address: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hectorparra/

Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?

Hector: I’m afraid that I’m not a member of any specific group, but I recommend those which organize after-work or weekend face-to-face meetings, so you can grow your personal and professional networks. Combining these with virtual groups, which will help you meet people located far away, it will be much easier to be aware of new trends and projects.

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

Google Cloud for Developers– Available on Amazon.com