HomeAuthor InterviewsMiguel Angel Garcia-Ruiz talks about his book "DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists".

Miguel Angel Garcia-Ruiz talks about his book “DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists”.


Miguel Angel Garcia-Ruiz is the author of DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists, 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)?

Miguel: Human-Computer Interaction, microcontroller projects, video game development and testing.

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

Miguel: I have used Packt books before for teaching and in my research projects. I think those are some of the best technical books. That motivated me to write the book.

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

Miguel: I spent a couple of months doing research and a literature review on microcontrollers and their applications.

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

Miguel: My main challenge was using the provided Word format for the first time. I had problems getting used to the different requirements for writing the full text, the captions, etc.

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

Miguel: We will see many more Internet of Things (IoT) applications with microcontrollers in the future, with important applications in many areas, like household, medical, automotive, etc. We will also see many wearable computing applications using small microcontrollers and sensors.

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

Miguel: The main difference is that our book has practical exercises to work with. Students and hobbyists will “learn by doing” by following the instructions for completing useful applications.

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

Miguel: Using microcontrollers for developing practical and simple applications can be low cost and easy. People can learn electronics having fun with microcontroller boards.

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

Miguel: Learn electronics and an introduction to C language programming first. This will help a lot with the exercises explained in the book. Buy a kit containing a microcontroller, they contain the necessary electronic components for starting programming and applying simple examples with microcontrollers.

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

Miguel: This website can be very useful, it contains projects with microcontrollers: https://circuitdigest.com.

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

Miguel: I will recommend Packt to aspiring authors. The assistants and editors provided helpful information and responded fast to my queries.

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

Miguel: This is a magazine about technology in general: wired.com , this is a more “academic” one: https://cacm.acm.org/. I read a number of tech journals online.

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

Miguel: I dedicated some hours a week working on the book, when I was not teaching or doing other types of research. I kept all my notes on my computer, and did backups every week.

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

Miguel: Get familiar with the Word documents and instructions provided from the publisher, they provide crucial information for editing the book document.

You can find Miguel’s book on Amazon by following this link click.

DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists is available on Amazon.com