This month we are celebrating the success of our colleague Can Bilgin. Can published his first book “Mastering Cross-Platform Development with Xamarin” in April 2016. He joined Authority Partners in January 2016 as a Program Architect. Can is a Microsoft MVP for Windows Platform Development. You can find out more about the book, Can himself, his motivation and work in the interview below:

AP: Can, tell us a little about yourself and your background?

CB: I am originally from Turkey but have been more of a nomad since I left motherland at the age of 16. I went to high school in Trieste, Italy and later on moved to Bremen, Germany to pursue a university degree. I have been in Sarajevo for over 8 years where I tied the knot and possibly anchored.

AP: “Mastering Cross-Platform Development with Xamarin” is your first book, tell us more about the topics it covers?

CB: Even though the book is titled Cross-Platform Development with Xamarin, the first part of the book deals with mobile development fundamentals for managed runtime. Later chapters transition the readers to more platform-specific topics and features related to iOS and Android platforms with reference to Windows Phone and Windows Runtime applications. There are a few chapters about UX design patterns for cross-platform applications and introductory information and demonstrations for Xamarin.Forms. Final chapters talk about application lifecycle management (ALM) strategies for Xamarin applications including testing, beta deployments and finally publish mediums.

AP: What was your biggest inspiration while writing this book?

CB: Software development for mobile and embedded systems has always been a passion of mine. However, I didn’t get many opportunities during office hours for mobile development since in the commercial ecosystem companies generally target enterprise grade technologies. In order to stimulate myself I had been working on personal projects, attending to/speaking in conferences and blogging about mobile technologies which led to my first MVP award. Finally, I wanted to go one step further and write a book about architectural patterns for mobile development and Xamarin. The publisher responded with a counter-proposal for a wider topic on Xamarin and that’s how the book idea came to life.

AP: How long have you been writing this book?

CB: We began the project in June 2015, around the same time as my baby daughter’s birth (that’s why it is dedicated to her). Final drafts were accepted around February, 2016.

AP: What was the most challenging part of writing this book?

CB: The most challenging part of the book was the first chapter. Once the introduction chapter was completed the rest came by itself.

AP: What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

CB: The accompanying code samples and technical parts were the most entertaining part. Most of the theoretical part, I had to push through.

AP: Did you learn anything from writing this book and if so, what?

CB: Because of my .NET background, I had never felt comfortable with JAVA and iOS platforms. However, during my research for the book I had to do a lot of reading about these platforms. Even though Xamarin provides a complete .NET development and managed runtime experience, it was imperative to understand the underlying runtime for analysis and in-depth explanation.

AP: Have you had an official book promotion? If yes, what kind of feedback did you get from the audience?

CB: No official promotion yet. I haven’t received any public feedback yet. I just have the positive technical feedback from the two reviewers of the book. They are also from the MVP communities in Turkey and the USA.

AP: What are your future project plans? Another book? 🙂

CB: No clear plans yet. It was an exhausting year so I will continue only with blog posts for a while.

Congratulations Can! We are very proud and honored to have had the opportunity to celebrate this success with you!