James D. Miller is the author of Mastering Splunk 8, 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.
James: Packt reached out to me based upon my LinkedIn profile. I have authored 10 books with Packt to-date.
Q: How long did it take you to write the book?
James: 6 months.
Q: What was your motivation for writing this book?
James: Splunk is a front-running technology which is changing the global machine data landscape and readers would do well to gain experience with it.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
James: I had written other books on the topic in the past, so I spent around 1 month researching this title before beginning.
Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
James: We can see Splunk continue to lead in all areas of consuming machine data – security, operational, machine learning, etc.
Q: How do you see these technologies benefiting society in the long run?
James: Splunk makes it possible to use any kind of data for real-world action at machine speed. When you bring data to everything, anything is possible. Take action in real-time!
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
James: Not really, I love to write and I love the topic. Packt was always there for any queries around the writing side of the project and I have a good support network.
Q: What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
James: Read the book cover to cover and try the examples! Download the free trial version of the software and use it!
Q. How do you keep up-to-date on your tech?
James: Read everyday, leverage online training, keep it “hands on”!
Q. Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
James: splunkbase.com
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
James: Very smooth! Yes I would recommend Packt!
You can find James’s book on Amazon by following the link below the cover image:
