Interview: Satish Kore, Author of Flex 3 with Java

Satish is the author of the recently released Flex 3 with Java which helps the readers to develop rich internet applications quickly and easily using Adobe Flex 3, ActionScript 3.0 and integrate with a Java backend using BlazeDS 3.2.

He hails from Bangalore, the IT capital of India. He has more than 8 years experience in the technology world, spread across multiple technologies and domains. He has extensive knowledge of Java, J2ME and Adobe Flex, ActionScript, and so on. He is a technologist and Rich Internet Application (RIA) and Adobe Flex enthusiast. He has been working on Flex since its early 1.5 version days. You can visit his blog at http://blog.satishkore.com or follow him on twitter http://twitter.com/satishkore for more information.

Packt: How did you find the overall experience of writing your book for Packt?
Satish:For me it was my first book writing experience and working with Packt was a very enriching experience. Packt’s team helped me throughout the writing
process starting from outlining, writing, reviewing, publishing and now marketing the book. Packt is very professional and experienced publisher and I would love to work with Packt
again.

Packt: During the writing process, did you come across any issues/ difficulties that affected your writing and how did you overcome these?
Satish:Since I did not have any prior experience of writing a book I was not sure how to start with explaining things in general. First two chapters were difficult, but then I slowly began to learn many small things such as what is first person and third person perspective, different document styling formats etc. Though these are small things but that was something new for me.

Packt: Whilst writing your book, did you find that it overshadowed personal life in any way? How did you deal with this?
Satish:Yes, since I was writing this book after office hours and on weekends, it consumed all my free time and I was hardly left with any time that I could spend with my family and friends. At one point of time I used work over night to deliver chapters on time. I slowly learned how to manage my time. One most important thing I learned from this experience is that when you are writing a book you have got to follow deadlines very strictly.

Packt: Was there anything interesting that happened during the writing of the book?
Satish:Yeah! I lost my weight! lol.

Packt: How did our Acquisition Editors help you - what kind of things did they help you with and how did they support you throughout the writing process?
Satish:The original idea of this book came from my acquisition editor James Lumsden and he was involved with me on this book starting from outlining, reviewing
initial chapters and guiding me on the style and formatting of writing and also encouraging me. In short he is the true essence of this book.

Packt: Our authors usually have full-time jobs whilst writing for us. Was this the case for you and how did you approach managing your time?
Satish: Yes, I work fulltime as a Principle Engineer at multinational software company in Bangalore, India. Initially it was tough to juggle between office work and writing a book. It was difficult to handle work responsibilities and go back home and start thinking about writing chapters. But I managed to stretch my day by couple of hours and spend that time on writing chapters and Packt too was reasonable on schedule dates so that also helped.

Packt: What benefits did writing a book bring to your specialist area?
Satish: There are many benefits such as you get to learn many things that you tend to ignore when you are reading a book. And obviously you get a lot of respect and credibility as an expert in the circle.

Packt: Do you have any tips for other authors, or tricks that you learnt whilst writing, that you'd like to share?
Satish:Yeah, do not over burden yourself with writing and deadlines. Just relax and don’t lose focus even if you face any obstacles or compromise on your free time because at the end of it everything is worth when you see your book in the stores.

Packt: Do you have any advice for other authors who may be interested in writing for Packt, but are still unsure?
Satish: If you have a book idea just get in touch with Packt and then Packt will help you get started with your book.

Packt: What projects, if any, are you working on at the moment?
Satish:Currently no active projects but planning to start on open source project soon.

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