Imran Kasam is the author of Building Low-Code Applications with Mendix, 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)?
Imran Kasam: Software Architecture, API Design, AWS Cloud Architecture, Mendix Development
Q. How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey.
Imran Kasam: I was contacted by Packt personnel on LinkedIn and invited to the project by a colleague on this specific book. The journey was interesting, this was my first time writing a book like this. The way the process was structured by Packt went very well to facilitate the editing and writing experience.
Q. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Imran Kasam: My motivation to write this book was to provide an accessible reference to help those starting in Mendix and broaden the availability of developer resources.
Q. What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Imran Kasam: I have worked with the Mendix platform for over 8 years. Prior to writing the book my experience came from going through the certification process from Intro to Expert and working with multiple Mendix customers to help build applications, grow Engineering teams, and set up processes for software design, development, and delivery.
Q. Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Imran Kasam: It was challenging to write a book along with having a full-time consulting practice. I was able to get through these challenges by working with colleagues to help write the book and by carving out specific times to work on the chapters and reviews.
Q. What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Imran Kasam: Low-code development will be the future of application development. More young people are experiencing programming through game-level editors and easy website builders. When that generation reaches the professional level, they will already have an expectation of what the software development experience should be like, and it won’t include writing 1000s of lines of code.
Q. Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Imran Kasam: There are no other books of this kind on the market. This book will supplement any learning gained from the Mendix Academy directly.
Q. What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away from the book with?
Imran Kasam: How to use the low-code tool to build a simple app, gain familiarity with Mendix Studio Pro and the Cloud Portal.
Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Imran Kasam: Treat this as a pure form with no expectations coming from the traditional coding world. Embrace the concepts and learn to extend the model with your own custom work. Use the platform tools to build and understand the differences in the process from traditional to low-code development.
Q. Do you have a blog that readers can follow? Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Imran Kasam: Yes you can follow my blog here:- www.thearchitectandtheexecutive.com. And sharing websites with to learn from:- https://academy.mendix.com/link/home, https://lowcodeacademy100.mendixcloud.com/p/home, https://forum.mendixcloud.com/index3.html, https://mendixcommunity.slack.com
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Imran Kasam: This was a well structured experience with a large group of editors, designers, marketers and behind-the-scenes people who support the experience. I would recommend Packt to anyone getting started. The team lets you focus on the content you are producing while handling all the ancillary tasks.
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Imran Kasam: I am an MVP in the Mendix Community.
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Imran Kasam: I follow many different people and companies on LinkedIn. I also subscribe to AWS newsletters to keep up to date on AWS cloud offerings.
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Imran Kasam: I mostly wrote late at night while other things were at rest!
Q. What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Imran Kasam: Get the information out and let the editors help you organize and perfect it. Don’t try to write it perfectly otherwise you’ll end up spinning your wheels and wasting some time.
You can find Imran Kasam’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
