Michal Kvet is the author of Developing Robust Date and Time Oriented Applications in Oracle Cloud, 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. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Michal: It was my long-term dream to publish my knowledge regarding the date and time processing in the respected publishing house. I have contacted Packt and asked them, whether the topic is relevant for them, and they just replied positively. Then, we have been speaking and discussing the content of the chapters and parts. After some weeks, all of us were convinced about the success, so I started with the writing process and implementation. During the development, all the Packt team members were continuously prepared and available for any discussion. It was my pleasure to cooperate with Packt.
Q: What is the name of your book?
Michal: Developing Robust Date and Time Oriented Applications in Oracle Cloud: A comprehensive guide to efficient date and time management in Oracle Cloud.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Michal: The date and time processing in Oracle Database has been my primary research since my dissertation, so the whole active years in education and research were associated with that topic.
Q: Do you have a blog that readers can follow?
Michal: I am not so active in social networks, but some references can be found here: LinkedIn, Oracle Academy.
Q: What key takeaways do you want readers to come away with from the book?
Michal: I often come across the opinion that time management is simple and there is no problem related to it. Until the moment when it is necessary to apply regional rules, time zones, or synchronization of events. And it is also important to mention security risks like SQL injection through time values. I want readers to understand the complexity of the topic, thanks to which they will be able to effectively develop software solutions that can be deployed anywhere in the world. I want them to know what existing functionality they can rely on, but at the same time to be aware of its boundaries, limits and risks.
Q: Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Michal: Some basic concepts are stated in the following videos: https://www.youtube.com/@oracledevs. However, go deeper and reach the complexity.
Q. Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Michal: Whereas the strategy of the writing was clear and I had an overall idea of the implementation, there were no significant challenges. Moreover, I have experience with writing books for our students (I am a university teacher at the University of Zilina (Slovakia)), so I knew what I could expect.
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Michal:It was really great cooperation and I can clearly recommend the cooperation with Packt. It was my pleasure to be part of it and I hope we will be able to write a new book soon.
Q. Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Michal: They should choose this book to become familiar with all aspects of the date and time modeling in Oracle Database. You want to spread your business worldwide, right? So, you must be familiar with the synchronization, modeling, regional approaches and principles, as well as ANSI standard references. All these topics are important for you and are discussed in the book. So, enjoy the reading and get inspired!
Q. What is/are your specialist tech area(s)?
Michal: Database specialist (databases, performance, analytics, Oracle APEX, cloud computing, SQL tuning), Oracle ACE (2021), researcher, university teacher.
Q. What advice would you give to readers jumping into this technology? Do you have any top tips?
Michal: The world is becoming globalized over the decades. The Covid pandemics clearly showed, that it is inevitable to build solutions deployable anywhere across the world, by making the solution applicable for the user by respecting his habits and regional rules. The time the solutions are local and placed in the local company server room is over. Make the solutions applicable anywhere, build reliable solutions and become familiar with proper date and time modeling. Thanks to that, you will be able to use the robustness of the date references in the database analytics.
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Michal: Oracle Academy, Oracle ACE group, University of Žilina.
Q. What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Michal: There are two main technologies discussed – Oracle Database, which is really widespread and forms the top level of the database approach. The second technology relates to the Oracle Cloud, which is currently the most significant data storage supervised by the security, reliability and always availability options. Whereas the systems are now made to be available worldwide by expanding the business, proper date and time management, synchronization and reliability are critical elements.
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Michal: Whereas I wanted to make it, I simply placed it as a priority. I had a long experience with that technology, so there was no problem with the implementation.
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Michal: I prefer reading technical books instead of journals. There are always perfect books about the databases released annually.
Q. Would you like to share your social handles? If so, mention them below.
Michal: LinkedIn, Oracle Academy, https://evergreen.uniza.sk/, https://code-in.org/, https://beeapex.eu/
Q: What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Michal: Make the clear idea before attempting to write. Pre-prepare content and make notes before.
You can find Michal’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
