Jeroen Mulder is the author of Multi-Cloud Architecture and Governance, 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…
Jeroen: I had this idea for a book covering architecture for multi-cloud, using the three major public cloud providers AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. I found out that such a book didn’t exist, but in my daily work for Fujitsu I noticed that customers are really embracing a multi-cloud strategy and were looking for documentation. I have some books from Packt and just decided to send them an email with the idea. In just two days I already got an answer back that they liked the idea and that I was invited to actually go and write it, as a valuable addition to the Packt portfolio.
Q: How long did it take you to write the book?
Jeroen: I started the writing in February of 2020 and finished the last chapter late September.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Jeroen: It’s my job, so I already had a lot of material. Next to that, I read a lot of books and blogs myself. Material from cloud providers themselves, but also from guys just like me that follow developments real close and write about it. Most of the time however was consumed by trying things in the actual cloud platforms: during the writing process I worked in the portals of Azure, AWS and Google Cloud – figuring out how code worked in these platforms. I’m involved in Azure and AWS already since 2014, Google was rather new to me – so I learned a lot myself in writing this book.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Jeroen: The one challenge that every writer has is the dealing with the speed of development in cloud technology. I had to rewrite quite a number of paragraphs because the providers changed something in their portals or published new features. I guess that’s just part of this game. Cloud is evolving at a tremendous speed, you have to keep up – but it consumes a lot of time.
Q: What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Jeroen: Just get yourself an account in one of the platforms and start. It’s cloud and as long as your working in an enterprise environment, there’s nothing holding you back from just trying things. The game changes when you do start working in enterprise clouds. In that case you’re bound to architecture rules that define the game. Learning architecture starts with understanding that architecture is more than just a technical design. It starts with the business and it includes many decision points, including security. But most important of all: whatever you do, do it in a consistent way. That’s where good architecture starts: with consistency.
Q. How do you keep up-to-date on your tech?
Jeroen: Read, read, read. And attending some good conferences.
How would you describe you author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Jeroen: All of the Packt team members I have interacted with are professional and easy to work with. I recommend aspiring tech writers consider Packt as the publisher for their work.
You can find Jeroen’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
