Hemanth Manda is the author of IBM Cloud Pak for Data 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)?
Hemanth: My background is Data and AI and I am fortunate to have lead product , strategy and delivery teams over the past 20 years. My experience spans all the different facets of Data and AI including Databases, Data Governance, Data Ops/Engineering, Data Integration, Master Data Management, Analytics and Data Science/AIsoft 365
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Hemanth : Having launched and lead IBM Cloud Pak for Data for over 4 years, I always wanted to find a more effective means to evangelize the product. I luckily happened to bump into a friend who recently wrote a book through Packt and became an inspiration and my connection to Packt. Here I am 12 months later launching my own book. There are a number of people who helped me make this a reality including my co-authors Sriram Srinivasan and Deepak Rangarao.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Hemanth: Given the book is based on the product that I head, the content and what I wanted to cover was pretty straightforward. My initial research was hence focussed on identifying the sections and topics I wanted to cover in the various Chapters of the Book. Having a structure in place significantly helped my journey and in co-ordinating with my co-authors.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Hemanth : Yes , Yes and Yes . For one, writing a book is never an easy job and it is even more challenging when you are collaborating with multiple authors. You need to equitably divide the work , ensure to make steady progress while effectively incorporating the feedback received from publisher. All of this is time consuming – The secret to overcome these challenges is effective planning , persistence and steady progress. Not getting disillusioned by slow progress is key. Sometimes it helps to slow down and take your time,
Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Hemanth :Data and AI will be key to any enterprise. The modern approaches discussed in the book along with the concepts highlighted will be critical as enterprises modernize their
Q: Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Hemanth : For readers interested in embracing a modern approach to implementing Data and AI, this book provides a unique and differentiated approach based on IBM’s Cloud Pak for Data platform. It is one of the very few if not the only book that goes into details around IBM’s Cloud Pak for Data product and its various capabilities.
Q. What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away from the book with?
Hemanth : The key takeaways that I want readers to get from this book are (a) Ignoring Data and not pushing the boundaries with respect to AI adoption is a bad idea (b) A modern cloud native platform is critical to modernize and scale one’s data footprint and (c) Governance around Data and AI is extremely relevant and need to be considered as part of planning exercise. This not only helps regulatory requirements but also in driving self service.
Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Hemanth : Be aggressive and value specialization over being a generalist. So honing your skills on a specific topic and being very good is critical going forward as knowledge is becoming a commodity. What really differentiates you from the rest of the crowd is your depth on a select few topics.
Q. Do you have a blog that readers can follow?
Hemanth : Yes , https://hkmanda.medium.com
Q. Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Hemanth : Product – https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud-pak-for-data, Blog : https://medium.com/icp-for-data, Free Trail – https://dataplatform.cloud.ibm.com/registration/stepone?context=cpdaas&apps=all, Documentation – https://www.ibm.com/support/producthub/icpdata/docs/content/SSQNUZ_latest/cpd/overview/overview.html, Developer Center – https://developer.ibm.com/components/cloud-pak-for-data/
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Hemanth : Packt is very professional publisher and my experience with them has been stellar. I would recommend Packt to any author looking to write a book, especially if they are first-timers .
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Hemanth : Yes I am a member of many tech community groups on linked in and internally at IBM. I am also an avid reader of a number of news papers, magazines, blogs and books.
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Hemanth : https://www.theinformation.com/ , http://www.stratechery.com, http://www.stratechery.com, a16z podcast, Acquired podcast
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Hemanth : it’s been very challenging to balance my work while authoring a book. A thorough up front planning helped me immensely . More importantly revisiting and revising the plan every 3 months helps one of keep focussed and continue driving incremental progress. This is the key to my success.
You can find Hemanth’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
