Self-Taught Web Developer Brings Real Life Perspective to Digital World

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(Fort Worth, TX) — Scott Gottreu, a web developer from Warren Douglas Advertising’s Digital Thrive team, recently published Learning jqPlot, an instructional book that will solve problems for frustrated web developers everywhere.

A representative from Packt Publishing approached Gottreu in November 2013 after reading on-topic blogs he had written, and believed his knowledge of the plugin and writing technique would be a good fit for a book.

Learning jqPlot places web developers in the frame of mind of a data analyst for a fictional consumer electronics company. “I want the book to walk them through the best practices, and help them become a rock star to their boss,” Gottreu said.

The narrative form of Learning jqPlot is something unique to instructional and educational books in the genre.

“I’ve read many technical books, and many time, the examples they provide do not match what a developer would see in the real world, or they are so abstract it’s hard to understand how to make it practical,” he said.

Gottreu spends his workdays at the WD analyzing data and creating web applications for clients, tending to the needs of large corporations, local companies and everything in between. Along with training for his next half-marathon, he enjoys looking into the mechanics behind board game design.

“It’s really just analog programming,” he said.

Gottreu attended Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La. where he received his bachelor’s degree in sociology and two master’s degrees in education.

When asked if he had any advice for aspiring writers, he simply said “It’s difficult — be ready for the criticism — but [it] will ultimately make your book better.”

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