The Benefits of Being a Pluralsight Author - John Papa

We’ve all solved many problems on our own. And many of those problems took a lot of time and effort. Now it’s easy, right? Sure, once you know how to solve a problem it’s less complicated. But what about those who haven’t crossed that bridge yet? We’ve all been down a rabbit hole and come out the other side with some key learning. Sharing a collection of those learnings via Pluralsight with a worldwide audience is a great way to pay it forward.

Like most developers, I’ve been all over the stack from back end to front end, and everywhere in between. I’ve had the most fun in the client stack this past decade with the amazing revolution on the web. The ever improving landscape of the web with JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS, Angular, and Gulp have been energizing for me. That’s why I can honestly say I truly love creating courseware to share solutions for these topics.

Apply to become a Pluralsight author.

There are so many awesome technologies out there. These days I’m tinkering with Docker, ASP.NET vNext, Node, exploring module systems in ES2015 (formerly known as ES6), and diving deep into Angular 2. So much to explore and so many more things are on my list, but we have to stay focused. We can’t be everywhere, or we end up nowhere. I’m focusing on these areas and hope to release some new courses in these areas in the next year.

It’s hard to step outside of what is comfortable and try something new. We grow accustomed to the framework, language, editor, or OS that we know deeply. Will we be able to pick it up as well as what we already know? Maybe, or maybe not. But we won’t know unless we try.

How do we decide what to learn amidst the deluge of new technologies and social media voices talking about the next great thing? What if put effort into something new and it doesn’t pan out? Being a technologist is not easy, but we have tools that can help us narrow the focus and learn more expeditiously. I keep an eye on Twitter and listen in on hallway conversations at events. But more than that, I engage people to find out what they are building, how they are building it, and why they chose the path they are on. Whether it’s at a conference or in the virtual cloud of social media, I enjoy asking questions and learning “why”. It’s more important to listen to why, than it is to what.

Pluralsight has provided a vehicle for me to share what I’ve learned and in a creative way. I’m a hand talker; I use voice inflection. I’m passionate about what I do, and for me that comes out when I talk. I’ve written over 100 articles and 10 books, but I get the most satisfaction out of authoring videos. I know I could be a full time author for Pluralsight, but I enjoy working with people and collaborating too. For me, this is a great symbiosis.

If you are considering becoming a Pluralsight author, stop considering and do it. Stretch yourself. Challenge yourself. Share what you know and take the leap. The key is to make the audience receive your message. Don’t talk to them, talk with them. Don’t show them, take them on a journey. When you engage your audience, great things happen.

Inspired to become a Pluralsight author? Visit us to learn about the Pluralsight collaborative authoring opportunity, our financial model and how to get started. We are currently looking for the following technical topics to add to our technical and creative training library: iOS, .NET, JavaScript, Security, Java, Management and Data Science.

About Pluralsight

Founded in 2004, Pluralsight is the global leader in online learning for professional software developers, IT specialists and creative technologists. As the world’s largest curated professional development platform, the company offers instant access to more than 4,000 courses authored by top experts. With customers in more than 150 countries, Pluralsight serves as a career catalyst, delivering hands-on, practical training for the most in-demand and understaffed jobs of today. For more information, visit Pluralsight.com.