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Perficient Colleague Authors Most Downloaded Refcard of 2013

Tom Marrs is a technical architect in Perficient’s Denver office and a respected member of the tech community at large. One of his passions is sharing his expertise, which he does  through speaking engagements, authoring books, and many other outlets. Recently Tom was honored to learn of his latest accomplishment – having the most popular Refcard of 2013 which, as of this post, has more than 26,000 downloads. 

Q: Why do you think this particular Refcard was so popular?Perficient Colleague Authors Most Downloaded Ref Card of 2013

A: When I was first approached to create a Refcard on JSON I noticed that there was a lot interest in the topic but a streamlined “Nuts and Bolts” hadn’t been created. Since JSON is the main data format used for web services, I thought pairing an interesting topic with a visually appealing format would produce excellent results.

Q: There are many different ways to distribute information; why did you choose to create a Refcard?

A: A lot of peers in the industry were creating Refcards and were very pleased with the end result. People enjoy having a resource that’s easy to navigate and can provide them meaningful information with as a little “fluff” as possible. Over 26,000 downloads later I think we can say we selected the right platform.

Q: Do you have any advice for someone before they’d create a Refcard or a similar product?

A: Make sure you work out of the template that’s provided from the start of the project. When I created the first draft for the JSON Refcard I used a blank Word doc and 11 point font. Once the draft was completed I copied and pasted the information into the template and discovered the template uses 6 point font. So, instead of being almost finished with the project, I realized that I still had a lot of additional material to create.

Q: You’re doing an excellent job building your brand in your field of expertise and many people are trying to get to that “next level” professionally.  What advice would have for someone as they start that journey?

Top RefcardsA: I think the most important factor in positioning yourself as a leader in any field is being passionate about your ideas. People will be able to feel your enthusiasm, and the more genuinely excited you are, the more excited they become as well. Speaking and writing also go a long way in building your brand. Practice your speaking career with lunch and learn events with your teammates and speaking at local user groups. If you are serious about public speaking toastmasters is a tremendous asset and I would highly recommend aligning yourself with that organization.

A big part of how I got my start was speaking at conferences. After that, I was contacted by O’Reilly to start doing book reviews, and after doing a few reviews O’Reilly asked me to write my first book JBoss at Work. 

Q: Are there any exciting projects coming in the future?

A: I’m writing my second book for O’Reilly and the topic will be JSON so it’ll be exciting to build on the success on the Refcard with a much more detailed project. 

Thank you for visiting our blog.  If you have any questions about this post please leave a comment below.  If you would like more information regarding careers at Perficient please visit our careers page.

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Eric Osterman

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