HomeUncategorizedInterview with Bharath Sridhar

Interview with Bharath Sridhar

Bharath Sridhar is the author of Industrial IoT for Architects and Engineers, we got the chance to sit down and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.

Q: What are your specialist tech areas?

Bharath: Digital Transformation , Industrial Internet of Things, Embedded Systems, Smart agriculture

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

Bharath: I had been working with my Co-author Joey for quite sometime now. We have been part of large digital transformation projects in the space of smart manufacturing. We both share a common passion of solving problems through industrial internet of things. We came to realize, during one of our brainstorming sessions that there is a lack of a comprehensive and definitive framework for solving complex problems in the manufacturing space. That’s when the idea of writing a book to capture our experiences and the nuances behind an end to end industrial IoT application came up.

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

Bharath: We did multiple brainstorming sessions exchanging ideas on the whole topic. We wanted this to be a book for architects by architects. We wanted to also ensure that there is a strong takeaway for the readers as they traverse through the chapters. The knowledge had to be up to date and relevant in the current context. We began by collecting extensive research on this topic from leading industry bodies, collating that with our experiences working with Fortune 500 companies and arrived at a framework for the book.

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

Bharath: We had a lot of content to present for each of the chapters. The challenge was to compress content into a structured cohesive flow without compromising on the narrative while keeping it interesting and engaging for the readers. This was a challenge. We did a lot of writing, editing and fine-tuning to overcome this. There was no easy way to do it. Each chapter had to be analysed based on its merit towards fulfilling its objectives and dealt with individually.

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

Bharath: Industry 5.0 with intelligent and self-evolving cyber physical systems are going to be a reality very soon. Industrial revolutions have been historically, the fulcrums of human evolution and this would progressively be the next big thing elevating human experience in shaping up global economy. We have discussed in depth the various technologies that enable this digital transformation and how functional systems can be designed around them. The emphasis has been to create an architectural framework and then employ technology as an enabler to solve real-world problems.

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

Bharath: The book is structured in a very interesting way. We have alternated between architecture based discussions with coding based problem solving throughout this book. This creates an interesting combination of theory and practical problem solving that we think will the readers engrossed. We also have endeavored to paint the complete picture for the user through the journey of data from physical sensors culminating into enterprise business applications . Also strongly aligning with AWS, one of the leading and most used cloud platforms, we cater to a wider audience in terms of applicability of concepts towards designing working architecture paradigms.

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

Bharath: In 2 sentences, this is the “Journey” the book takes the reader on.
• How to approach and build IoT in your industry and the concepts of building an IoT Architecture in AWS Cloud.
• Starting with the Why, we will examine the How as we proceed and follow the data from start to finish.

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

Bharath: Technology is an important enabler. Solving real-world problems by understanding context, complexities and dependencies is important. Practically writing code, experimenting with scenarios is key to solving problems as we keep upgrading ourselves to the latest and greatest in tech. This is a great way to stay relevant.

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

Bharath: Packt is a very professional organization with great people. At the end of the day, it is the human touch that makes the difference. We did find the interactions with editors, product managers helpful and professional. The involvement, meticulous efforts and overall technology platform on which Packt conducts the authoring business is top notch. Definitely would recommend Packt to aspiring authors. The review mechanisms, the tools employed, and the overall process is also exemplary to note.

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

Bharath: Start with the big picture. Break it down into objectives for each chapter. Then into sections. Have a white boarding for the entire chapter before you start writing. The diagrams form the pivot around which the chapters narrative gets tied. I started with diagrams and then connecting them with text. The narrative is the key towards forming a readable and engaging experience for the reader.

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

Industrial IoT for Architects and Engineers is available on Amazon.com