Rodrigo is the author of ‘Building IoT Visualizations using Grafana‘. 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)?
Rodrigo: Electronic engineering, IoT, IT, IP networks, servers, cloud, ML.
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Rodrigo: I’ve been producing content for many years. I like to communicate, show, and teach about technology. Because of my online activities, people from Packt contacted me. They asked me to write a book, but we didn’t reach an agreement at that time. Sometime after, they asked me about a title I would be interested in to write. I told them about using Grafana in IoT projects. Some months later, I was contacted again to start writing the book.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Rodrigo: I had been using Grafana in IoT. However, in the book I write about many subjects that were new to me. So I had to do an extensive research. I learned a lot while I was writing the book. I also had to implement and run laboratories to test the configurations and be sure that they worked. I used the results obtained from these expermients to build most of the images of the book.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Rodrigo: Keeping the momentum and being consistent has been the hardest thing. The support from the editorial team has been crucial to overpass this.
Also, I had many problems building and running the laboratories. I have had to find ways to implement the systems described in the book in an easy and followeable way.
Q. What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Rodrigo: These technologies are widely used in modern systems today. You can see them everywhere: IT, IoT, IIoT, Smart Cities, Cloud Services, etc. And they are going to be used more in the near future.
Q: Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Rodrigo: This book is tailored to IoT systems. It treats about all the subjects related to the implementation of IoT solutions. It’s very specific about the use of Grafana in IoT. At the moment of writing this book, there is no other book that gather all this information.
Q: What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Rodrigo: I would tell them not to be afraid of learning and trying new things. Also, don’t discard a change in your career or profession. You can learn anything you are passionate about. Also, try to get your hands dirty as soon as possible. Nobody learns just by reading theory.
Q. What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away from the book with?
Rodrigo: Understanding IoT systems, from device to platforms.
Selecting the right communication protocol.
Storing data in time-series databases and performing queries.
Build outstanding visualization dashboards and perform analytics.
Connecting and integrating different systems.
Q. Do you have a blog that readers can follow?
Rodrigo: Yes, but it is in Spanish. https://iotconsulting.tech/blog
However, I use to publish in English in my LinkedIn account.
Q. Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Rodrigo: There are plenty of sites from where you can get tons of information. Start by visiting the websites of the companies or the projects. Then, look through the web. There are uncountable blogs, YouTube channels, forums, and so on.
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Rodrigo: Yes. If you want to write a book about technology, I recommend you to do it with Packt. You will need a lot of support, and they will provide it to you.
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Rodrigo: I’m not very good at planning, and I know that is something I must improve.
However, I kept working on the book, even when I had to face many challenges.
I prioritized the tasks according to the requests from the editorial team.
Q. What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Rodrigo: Writing a book is a long path. Be consistent. Don’t give up.your time effectively. Schedule time for you write daily, and do it. Even if you are going to throw away what you wrote, just get something down on the page. Blank pages find a way of staying blank longer than it takes to add one more word.
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Rodrigo: Yes. Communities about IoT, LoRaWAN, ML, Grafana, and other technologies and tools.
You can find Rodrigo’s book on Amazon by following this link
