HomeAuthor InterviewsInterview with Archana Tikayat Ray

Interview with Archana Tikayat Ray

Archana Tikayat Ray is the author of Practical Discrete Mathematics, we got the chance to sit down with her and find out more about her experience of writing with Packt.

Q: What is/are your specialist tech area(s)?

Archana: Data Science, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, System Design and Optimization

Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?

Archana: My co-author (Ryan) approached me with this book idea. I realized that it was a very novel idea and hence decided to jump in.

Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?

Archana: I spent quite a lot of time researching about the topics we would want to include in the book. It took us a month or so to put down the chapters and the names of the subsections.

Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?

Archana: I am a full-time Ph.D. student, and hence finding a balance between working on the book, my thesis and completing projects and homework on time was quite a task. I had to set deadlines for myself and followed through as much as I could with minimal disruptions.

Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?

Archana: The concepts discussed in the book are crucial for understanding the basics of Discrete Mathematics. In addition, the Python code snippets will come handy and help readers implement them on their own.

Q: Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?

Archana: This book has a practical touch such as implementation of concepts using Python – something that is missing in other books on discrete mathematics.

Q. What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away from the book with?

Archana: After reading the book, the readers will know how important (yet overlooked) these concepts are. Some concepts such are Big-O notation are asked in interviews and are very crucial if you are planning on working in the Tech industry.

Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?

Archana: The most important tip I would like to give – Be patient with yourself since learning something new takes time.

Q. Do you have a blog that readers can follow?

Archana: I don’t have a blog, but a personal website: https://archanatikayatray.com/

Q. Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?

Archana: https://www.kaggle.com/

Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?

Archana: My journey with Packt has been great, everyone was supportive and understanding. I would definitely recommend Packt to aspiring authors.

Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?

Archana: No

Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?

Archana: MIT Technology Review The Batch – By Andrew Ng I keep myself up to date by making sure to read about new technological developments on a daily basis – thanks to Google’s recommendation algorithms. In addition, I follow some eminent ML scholars on Twitter, where they post about their research.

Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?

Archana: I try to set deadlines for myself and follow through – it works most of the time with minor disruptions.

Q. What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?

Archana: Be proactive and communicate your difficulties with the book to the editors. This not only saves time but also keeps everyone on the same page.

You can find Archana’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here

Practical Discrete Mathematics Available on Amazon.com