Michael Schwartz is the author of Docker for Developers, 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…
Michael: Packt reached out to me after reading my blog post about using Docker to improve our lives as developers.
Q: How long did it take you to write the book?
Michael: The entire book took about 8 months.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Michael: I was one of three authors. I wrote the first four chapters, mostly about what I already know. I did research what I wrote, as far as fact checking and that triggered additional points to cover.
My real research was in building the programs in the GitHub repository with an eye toward how it would advance my narrative. I then wrote to the examples.
I was founder and CEO of Best Internet Communications in 1994. We quickly grew to be one of the largest regional ISPs at the time. We invented www.yourdomain.com hosting and [email protected] email service. As our customers’ sites grew, we grew to offer one of the first self-hosting data centers.
I have a world view of how hosting (among many other things) works and needs to work.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Michael: If anything, some of our chapters cover advanced and complex technology. It took longer (time) to research and more pages to cover.
Q: What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Michael: To be great at anything, it takes 10,000 hours of practice. The machine is your ultimate teacher; you have to put in quality time trying things, failing at some, and learning from it all.
Q. How do you keep up-to-date on your tech?
Michael: I am a voracious reader of technical literature and documentation. I learn from my workmates. I invest my money in the technology that interests me. YouTube has all sorts of technology oriented videos.
You can find Michael’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
