| Interviewer:
|
Please
take a minute to provide our readers with a brief
introduction/background. |
|
| Author: |
My
name is Tom Thomas and I am 32 years old and I have been in the
networking industry for many years. |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
Where
are you from? How--if at all--has your sense of place colored your
writing? |
|
| Author: |
I
have lived many places and I claim New Jersey as my home. As the son
of an immigrant I have had the opportunity to grow realizing the
honest hard work is one of the most fundamental factors for success. |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
When
and why did you begin writing? When did you first consider yourself
a writer? |
|
| Author: |
I
have always written things relating to hobbies or to help educate
people but it was all rather informal. This is my first formal
attempt at writing and it has only recently sunk in that people are
actually finding my book useful so I guess I only recently
consdiered myself an author. |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
Who
or what has influenced your writing, and in what way? What books
have most influenced your personal and professional life? |
|
| Author: |
I
would say that my the biggest influence in my writing has been my
desire to learn and help others learn. To many times in my life I
have enjoyed explaining complex topics in easy to understand terms.
This desire has fueled my desire to write in manner that conveys
information to people of all experience levels. |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
What
is the most romantic book you've ever read? The scariest? The
funniest? |
|
| Author: |
I
must admit that I don’t read books that the majority of people
would recognize, thus I cannot say for sure what is the
"most" book that I have read in a certain category. Sorry. |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
Who
is the target audience for your book? What should their level of
technical knowledge be? |
|
| Author: |
My
target audience is any network engineer that is looking for technial
information presented in an easy to read and use format. Their
technical knowledge can vary. I wrote a book that will appeal to
many readers. |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
How
is the book organized? |
|
| Author: |
The
book takes a logical approach regarding OSPF and networking with a
conclusion that deals with the future challenges that we will face
in our industry. |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
Tell
us how your background and experience enabled you to write about
this topic? |
|
| Author: |
I
have been involved in many different networks and network management
centers. This allowed me to see and really feel the need for
networking books that are technically competent and yet easy to
understand. So I decided put my ability to work on OSPF NDS and I
think that I have achieved my goal. |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
What
made you decide to write this extensively on this topic? |
|
| Author: |
When
I started there were only the RFCs available for reading material on
OSPF. While they certainly have there place many people need
material provided to them in a different manner. At the time I was
deeply involved in an very large OSPF network and was constantly
training people to understand OSPF. One thing led to another and now
I am a author. |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
Can
your book be helpful in preparing for Cisco certification? If so,
for which certifications or exams? |
|
| Author: |
OSPF
NDS can most certainly help any network engineer prepare for
certification. OSPF is the most widely deployed protocol today and
this is reflected in the certification test, you will encounter OSPF
on almost every single test that you will have. My book also has
additional material in it that helps you understand the Cisco way of
doing things such as troubleshooting. |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
What
other projects are you planning? Will we see another book from you?
If so when? |
|
| Author: |
Currently
I am working on a Network Security Book that will be in the CCIE® Professional Development Series by Cisco Press |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
What
did you think of the writing process? How long did it take you to
write your book? |
|
| Author: |
I
thought the writing process was very demanding when considering that
I was also working full time, married, and a father. Many night it
was come grab dinner smile at the family and disappear into my
office. If it was not for the support of my family I would never
have finished the book, I owe them a real debt of gratitude. |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
Did
you learn anything from this project? If so what? |
|
| Author: |
Time
& Stress Management :-) |
|
|
| Interviewer:
|
If
you were asked about what is the best way to succeed in the field of
networking what would you say? |
|
| Author: |
Never
stop learning and no one knows everything. |
