Genesis

I was fortunate enough to get introduced to Pluralsight early on in my software development upbringing… Back in 2016 when I was first learning how to code, I was a part of the Microsoft Software and Systems Academy (MSSA) located at Fort Bragg, NC. Through this technical training program for current and former military members, I was able to get access to a free subscription by way of a “student” type plan that was available at the time. Thanks Microsoft!

Pluralsight and other learning resources were huge to my early development as an engineer. I never thought that one day I would actually be a Pluralsight author myself. It wasn’t until about a year ago that I really began to set my sights on it. I was inspired by other stories I would read on the internet about folks who were making quite a large amount of passive income through their video course royalties. We’re talking over $500K a year in some cases!

Diving In

Fast forward through almost 4 years of intense learning and more Pluralsight usage and I finally decided I’d just get my foot in the door to start out with. At the time I was finishing up my Master’s degree while working full-time so I didn’t have much time to spare for creating courses. So, I auditioned to become a “Guide” author.

The idea was that you would right small guides on different programming topics and get paid $200 a guide. It was perfect for me at the time! So, I auditioned and it was really straightforward. Pluralsight guides are written in Markdown and there are set guidelines that you use when structuring the Markdown file. For the audition they gave me a Markdown file that was setup with the basic structure and then I got to choose a topic to write about. I got accepted and became a Pluralsight Guide Author! I went on to right almost 50 guides (1 shy, dangit!) in about 6 months. I earned almost 10K on the side writing guides pertaining to Python, JavaScript, Spark, PostgreSQL, and other technologies. Pluralsight has since paused their pursuit of guides in favor of other, more engaging learning strategies. I hope that continue this pathway again at a later date!

Transition

Fortunately, about 3 months in to writing guides, I had finished up my Master’s degree and so actually had time to give to creating video courses. I bought the most basic audio recording setup to start out with. I am still mostly using just a very basic setup. This includes:

  • Blue Yeti USB Microphone
  • Pop Filter
  • Shock Mount
  • Boom Arm

With this equipment ready to go, I reached out on Pluralsight’s website asking to audition to become a course author. I was tasked to create an 8-10 minute video in which I would teach a topic of my choice.

So I went to work! I think it took me about 2 weeks of fuddling around before I had something I was ready to share. The process roughly involved:

  • Coming up with a topic and creating a rough outline (my topic was functional programming in TypeScript)
  • Creating powerpoint slides
  • Recording audio over the powerpoint slides
  • Recording a coding demo
  • Editing all of the video/audio!

I had literally no idea what I was doing. This is why it took 2 weeks to finish about 10 minutes of video! I used Camtasia to record and edit my audio/video. I learned a ton about editing - it is no joke! I definitely have a new found respect and understanding for people who edit audio and video. A lot goes into it.

I submitted my audition. I failed.

They sent it back to me with some feedback. My topic and teaching was good! But… I needed to up my powerpoint slide game… and my demo quality.

I readjusted, and made the fixes and resubmitted within another week or two.

And it was done! I got accepted!!!

After I got accepted as a Pluralsight course author, I ended up purchasing some audio treatment for the walls of my office and an isolation shield in order to help decrease the sound reverberation.

Since then, I have finished one course and am currently working on another one that is nearly there! My first course was titled “Managing Data and Memory Allocation in C” and I finished it in roughly 2 months while working full-time! If you have a good process and take advantage of the editing services available you can really create courses quick!

I hope that this brief post inspires others to become Pluralsight course authors! Please reach out to me via email at bennett.zachary@outlook.com if you have any questions. I’m always happy to help point anyone in the right direction. I think I’ll write another post that details some of my process that I go through when I create a course.

My goal is to be one of the top ten best Pluralsight authors ever and to create over 50 video courses… 49 more to go!

Cheers and stay tuned for my next course (another course related to C) which will drop sometime in mid to late March of 2021!