A Journey on Becoming a Pluralsight Author – Jon Flanders

I came to be a Pluralsight Author in what I would call the "old-fashioned" way. I learned how to tell stories to people in-person as a way to help them become better developers.

Over 15 years ago, I interviewed with a developer training company to become an instructor (and later, an author). At the same time, a guy named Aaron Skonnard was interviewing with the same company.

Of course, Aaron has now gone on to become the CEO of Pluralsight. But for much of his career he was also someone who excelled at learning seriously hard technical topics and then crafting a story around the technology that would resonate with developers. This is probably why Aaron has been able to build Pluralsight into what it is today; by understanding the very essence of technical training so well, he was able to use those skills to learn how to grow and run a large company.

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But in either arena, technical training or business, storytelling is the key to success. Both Aaron and I learned that from our boss at that training company so many years ago, Don Box (who is now a Technical Fellow at Microsoft).

So I would distill how I came to be a Pluralsight author down into: "I learned from Don Box how to tell a story."

I was already someone who could learn new things fairly quickly. I also was never satisfied with just learning a little about a new thing. I was compelled to learn as much as possible as I could about a particular topic.

Now, when I say "Story," I don’t mean a fictional tale of epic proportions. What I mean by "Story" is a narrative that can be applied to a particular technical topic that can help people to understand that topic at a deep level.

I often compare software development to cooking.

Anyone can read and follow a set of instructions to cook a particular dish. Many cooking shows do just that: show you and tell you step-by-step how to make different dishes.

Alton Brown, however, will not only show you how to make a particular dish, but he will also explain (using entertaining dialogue and effects) why a particular way of cooking or technique works. Often down to the molecular level. Alton Brown provides the "Story," which allows you, his viewer, to truly internalize both the "how" and the "why" of the dish. Once you really understand the motivation, your cooking ability improves commensurately. This is the benefit of an engaging, well-crafted "Story."

To become a Pluralsight author, one needs to move beyond routine, step-by-step instruction and turn those steps into a truly coherent, compelling story.

A story like that is one that contains a narrative that explains not only the "how" of a particular technology, but also the "why" of a particular technology. It not only explains the steps that someone would need to follow, but also why those steps are needed. Oftentimes the basic story is the basic motivation for the technology. The "why" of why the technology is worth learning at all.

Now, for old timers like me & Aaron, we cut our teeth telling stories live. We traveled the world to disseminate our stories. We can call that time the good old days of instructor-led training (ILT).

The world, of course, has become even more digital and distributed than I think most of us thought possible, and consequently most people now get their training from an online training (OLT) provider like Pluralsight.

So we’ve modified the storytelling a bit to adapt it to the online world, but the basic idea is the same.

Pluralsight has established its position because its library contains a wide array of curated, meaningful "Stories" about technologies that people in our field need to know.

Pluralsight is the Netflix of online technical training. We have the best storytellers in the world.

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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.