Douglas Alves is the author of Enterprise React Development with UmiJS 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)?
Douglas: Software Engineering and Digital Transformation
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Douglas: It was my first time writing a book, but I already had the goal of sharing my knowledge. When I received the Packt invite to write a book, it was a perfect match! The team who worked with me was excited about the project too. It was a great experience!
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Douglas: Before writing a book, you must ensure that all technical details have a strong foundation, so looking for references in good quality literary works and official documentation is vital. Immediately after receiving the invite, I started collecting good references and writing the book outline, which took about a month.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Douglas : Being on time with the deadlines was a big challenge for me. I work with critical systems in the health care area, and this is an intense activity and a big responsibility. I had to re-plan most of my schedule for a while.
Q: Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Douglas: Readers won’t just learn another framework by reading Enterprise React Development with UmiJS. They will understand fundamental principles that every developer should know, like writing good quality code with consistent code style, writing tests, and delivering an application with AWS.
Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Douglas: I often see developers working with frameworks like React.js or Nest.js, but they lack foundations. If you’re starting, I recommend building a solid foundation. Study data structure and algorithms, JavaScript ES6 with TypeScript, HTML with CSS, and after studying those, study frameworks.
Q. Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Douglas : The best way to learn about React is through the official website: https://reactjs.org/. This site has all information about React and even tutorials and code projects. To learn about UmiJS, I recommend the official documentation website: https://umijs.org/.
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Douglas : For sure, I recommend writing your book with Packt. They have the right professional for all phases in the writing journey. The team was very engaged and excited about the project, and all the time, they were very considerate and proactive. It was a great experience.
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Douglas : To write this book, I first developed a project covering all the features I explained in the book. I also collected references for all the best practices like code styling and testing. Then I started planning the chapters, following the steps necessary to build the project, and explaining all the details and functionality. Among the details, I presented best practices, explained how to apply them in the project, and explained real-world scenarios.
Q. What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Douglas : Tell a story! The best way to explain something is with practical examples that follow a sequence. For example, in my book, the reader builds a CRM application, and in each chapter, I explain a new feature and how they can use React and UmiJS to make that feature.
Q. Would you like to share your social handles? If so, please share.
Douglas: You can follow me on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/douglas0n and Twitter: https://twitter.com/Douglas0n
You can find Douglas’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
