Ask HN: Is having a personal blog/brand worth it for you?
306 comments
I've found it worth doing. My blog (xeiaso.net, formerly christine.website) is the main way that I get employed at this point. It also helps that people link it here a lot. After 100 articles or so writing got a lot easier and now people rely on my blog for a lot of things. I think it's worth it, but I've also been exclusively self-hosting it. I currently have the code (and writing) open source on GitHub (https://github.com/Xe/site) but I'm considering moving the writing to either a private repo or a SQLite database because people keep copying it, slathering it in ads and rehosting it.
EDIT: also because independent personal blogs are a rarity now, having a decent one means that you can really stand out from the crowd.
EDIT: also because independent personal blogs are a rarity now, having a decent one means that you can really stand out from the crowd.
My personal story:
I read patio11 over the years and was struck by his often mentioned "Write about what you know and it will surprise you the value it will add to people" (paraphrasing). In particular, in one of his posts about consulting he mentions: "Some of my consulting engagements were essentially me doing a dramatic reading of my blogs posts."
I realized that for the past couple years I had been coaching my friends through salary negotiations and general career advice as well. This led me to start a blog and write about some of the ideas and stories I used to help people get a better understanding of how to negotiate a compensation package, how to think about switching jobs etc.
I then posted it to Hacker News and didn't get any response at all for the first couple posts. Then one of them took off. I should mention that when that post did take off, I thought there was a bug in my metrics script but no, not a bug, it did indeed hit the front page of HN.
~30 people reached out and a couple turned into paying clients.
So answer to the question "was it worth it"?
- From a personal financial perspective, better than not doing it
- From a "wait! you can write things down, people read your words and then pay you money to hear more?!?!?" perspective, I can't think of a more worth it experience
PS There is this one distinct memory from when I did a free consult and the person said "I read your blog and thought to myself 'If I'm ever switching jobs, this guy is the first person I'm calling' ".
I read patio11 over the years and was struck by his often mentioned "Write about what you know and it will surprise you the value it will add to people" (paraphrasing). In particular, in one of his posts about consulting he mentions: "Some of my consulting engagements were essentially me doing a dramatic reading of my blogs posts."
I realized that for the past couple years I had been coaching my friends through salary negotiations and general career advice as well. This led me to start a blog and write about some of the ideas and stories I used to help people get a better understanding of how to negotiate a compensation package, how to think about switching jobs etc.
I then posted it to Hacker News and didn't get any response at all for the first couple posts. Then one of them took off. I should mention that when that post did take off, I thought there was a bug in my metrics script but no, not a bug, it did indeed hit the front page of HN.
~30 people reached out and a couple turned into paying clients.
So answer to the question "was it worth it"?
- From a personal financial perspective, better than not doing it
- From a "wait! you can write things down, people read your words and then pay you money to hear more?!?!?" perspective, I can't think of a more worth it experience
PS There is this one distinct memory from when I did a free consult and the person said "I read your blog and thought to myself 'If I'm ever switching jobs, this guy is the first person I'm calling' ".
From the hiring side, I always spend time reading people's blogs, Github, or social media if they make an effort to include it on their resume.
9 out of 10 times, blogs are extremely stale content from 5+ years back. A lot of people start blogging at the beginning of their careers and then just stop. This creates a weird frozen-in-time effect where what's shown on their blog doesn't match their current skillset at all.
I've read enough personal blogs that I know to look for timestamps and put it in context. If I see a "Ruby on Rails TODO app MVP" blog post or Github repo dated 8 years ago, I'm not going to use that for consideration in hiring them.
However, not every resume reader is going to be that considerate. If your blog isn't up to date, you may want to omit it from applications to avoid giving someone the wrong impression that you're still a beginner.
9 out of 10 times, blogs are extremely stale content from 5+ years back. A lot of people start blogging at the beginning of their careers and then just stop. This creates a weird frozen-in-time effect where what's shown on their blog doesn't match their current skillset at all.
I've read enough personal blogs that I know to look for timestamps and put it in context. If I see a "Ruby on Rails TODO app MVP" blog post or Github repo dated 8 years ago, I'm not going to use that for consideration in hiring them.
However, not every resume reader is going to be that considerate. If your blog isn't up to date, you may want to omit it from applications to avoid giving someone the wrong impression that you're still a beginner.
As a side note, I miss reading blogs from people. I remember 12-14 years ago when google was still useful to find information, I would often stumble onto blogs that had a lot of relevant info. For example when looking for reviews about a private school, I'd see a blog with someone whose kids go to that school, when looking for reviews of a restaurant, I'd see someone with reviews on their blog, etc...
Now it seems that whenever I search for something, I only get content farm and search engine optimized garbage.
I do get that now a lot of this has migrated to instagram, tiktok and/or youtube but it's not searchable (and it's a lot less useful than it used to be)...
Now it seems that whenever I search for something, I only get content farm and search engine optimized garbage.
I do get that now a lot of this has migrated to instagram, tiktok and/or youtube but it's not searchable (and it's a lot less useful than it used to be)...
I've been writing online for almost 10 years now https://podviaznikov.com/writings
The best part for me is receiving some random emails from time to time with people saying they liked my post or poem or something else.
I don't have expectations for those letters though. Intentionally I don't have google analytics on my site. When I did have it, it influenced how and what I was writing.
Now I just write for myself. And if my writing happens to be valuable to someone else - it's a bonus. Mostly I write when I want to offload some thoughts about some topic. When I finish thinking about something, I write it down and that topic is "closed" for a while.
Also, what helps me to write and publish is my setup. I changed setup many times. When there was friction to write and publish - I rarely did it.
The best part for me is receiving some random emails from time to time with people saying they liked my post or poem or something else.
I don't have expectations for those letters though. Intentionally I don't have google analytics on my site. When I did have it, it influenced how and what I was writing.
Now I just write for myself. And if my writing happens to be valuable to someone else - it's a bonus. Mostly I write when I want to offload some thoughts about some topic. When I finish thinking about something, I write it down and that topic is "closed" for a while.
Also, what helps me to write and publish is my setup. I changed setup many times. When there was friction to write and publish - I rarely did it.
It's worth it for me in the sense that I blog to process my thoughts, learnings, projects, and experiences. Blogging helps me do that, and since that's the point, it's worth it.
In terms of getting noticed/finding jobs, my blog (https://liza.io) is not super high traffic or anything. I don't market it. I don't even usually tweet about my new posts, even though Twitter is my one active social media platform. But I have had recruiters mention checking out my blog posts and sometimes reference my blog content. I've also had interviewers mention my blog and ask about personal projects I've written about in the past. I also used some of my blog articles as supporting material when applying for a position that featured a lot of technical writing. So I think that even though improving job prospects is not the primary goal of my personal blog, it has been a bonus.
Another bonus has been getting occasional emails and comments from random readers to say a certain post has helped them. A while back I wrote a post about testing external API calls in Go, and have had a few people reach out to thank me. Though I write primarily for myself, it's always nice to see when someone stumbles across my content and appreciates it.
It's also always cool when a post ends up in newsletters I've never heard of. I don't have a consistent way to detect each time this happens, but can sometimes trace back traffic through a referrer or notice a backlink from a newsletter archive.
In terms of getting noticed/finding jobs, my blog (https://liza.io) is not super high traffic or anything. I don't market it. I don't even usually tweet about my new posts, even though Twitter is my one active social media platform. But I have had recruiters mention checking out my blog posts and sometimes reference my blog content. I've also had interviewers mention my blog and ask about personal projects I've written about in the past. I also used some of my blog articles as supporting material when applying for a position that featured a lot of technical writing. So I think that even though improving job prospects is not the primary goal of my personal blog, it has been a bonus.
Another bonus has been getting occasional emails and comments from random readers to say a certain post has helped them. A while back I wrote a post about testing external API calls in Go, and have had a few people reach out to thank me. Though I write primarily for myself, it's always nice to see when someone stumbles across my content and appreciates it.
It's also always cool when a post ends up in newsletters I've never heard of. I don't have a consistent way to detect each time this happens, but can sometimes trace back traffic through a referrer or notice a backlink from a newsletter archive.
I have been blogging for 15 years, and it has been worth it. Some years I only write a couple posts. Writing helps me clarify my thoughts, and while I publish just a fraction of what I write for myself the act of sharing it gives me a small thrill. A few times a year, someone will read and reach out and it is a much deeper form of connection than social media comments/likes.
For me the biggest thing that helped my "personal brand" wasn't so much the blog, but was taking some of the blog entries and submitting them as talks for programming conferences.
Being a speaker at a decent size programming conference, opens up a lot of networking opportunities.
The blog provided an outlet for me to make an idea into something more concrete, as well as allowed me get early feedback on the idea. I used this to refine the idea into something that would be of interest to a larger audience.
Being a speaker at a decent size programming conference, opens up a lot of networking opportunities.
The blog provided an outlet for me to make an idea into something more concrete, as well as allowed me get early feedback on the idea. I used this to refine the idea into something that would be of interest to a larger audience.
I'm highly self-critical so I'd go through phases where suddenly I'd decide I need to be on-brand and delete all my stories, musings, music, non-brand-related stuff. Only to get anxious later and think "now I just look like another self-promoting schmuck" and with my inner voice whispering "what worthy endeavour have you contributed to the industry to deserve the acclaim you're begging for", I'd delete and rewrite all that "narcissistic" brand stuff and post some quirky stuff for a while. Rinse and repeat.
Granted it's a very "me" problem but was worth it for me business-wise? Not really. I just found it made my anxiety worse. Maybe in the future I'll start up something small and low key and pseudonymous but I will definitely not be wanting to tie it in any way to my sense of self-worth, my work, or anything like that. I'm glad it works for many people but for me it's just not worth it on a personal level.
In terms of finding jobs etc, I just try and do a great job on my contracts, be honest and open with clients, be friendly and check in with people from time to time to see how business is doing. I get longer term and much more fulfilling work through the people I know and have worked with previously, granted it took years to establish a small network but none of the blogs or articles I wrote ever attracted any attention beyond my own obsessive self-doubts.
Granted it's a very "me" problem but was worth it for me business-wise? Not really. I just found it made my anxiety worse. Maybe in the future I'll start up something small and low key and pseudonymous but I will definitely not be wanting to tie it in any way to my sense of self-worth, my work, or anything like that. I'm glad it works for many people but for me it's just not worth it on a personal level.
In terms of finding jobs etc, I just try and do a great job on my contracts, be honest and open with clients, be friendly and check in with people from time to time to see how business is doing. I get longer term and much more fulfilling work through the people I know and have worked with previously, granted it took years to establish a small network but none of the blogs or articles I wrote ever attracted any attention beyond my own obsessive self-doubts.
I've been blogging a while now (~18 years), I find it worth it from a couple of perspectives.
1) Writing forces me to think through things clearly and when doing things like walkthoughs I often find things where my understanding wasn't quite right, so it helps there.
2) I often return to things I wrote a while back where I can't remember the details of a specific topic.
3) I appreciate when other people take the time to explain things, nothing like finding a good blog post when you're researching a topic, so this is my part of helping out.
4) Getting the odd message from someone saying they appreciate something I've written about is nice :)
5) It's helped my career. I now work in a field where I'm paid at least partly to write (security advocacy), and I've had companies approach me to talk about jobs based on them having read something I wrote.
In terms of the tech. I use, I keep it super simple. Jekyll and GitHub pages, so there's no server maintenance, just write markdown and publish.
1) Writing forces me to think through things clearly and when doing things like walkthoughs I often find things where my understanding wasn't quite right, so it helps there.
2) I often return to things I wrote a while back where I can't remember the details of a specific topic.
3) I appreciate when other people take the time to explain things, nothing like finding a good blog post when you're researching a topic, so this is my part of helping out.
4) Getting the odd message from someone saying they appreciate something I've written about is nice :)
5) It's helped my career. I now work in a field where I'm paid at least partly to write (security advocacy), and I've had companies approach me to talk about jobs based on them having read something I wrote.
In terms of the tech. I use, I keep it super simple. Jekyll and GitHub pages, so there's no server maintenance, just write markdown and publish.
> - Does the time spent writing feels worth it to you?
100%. I've been blogging since 2003. It helps clarify my thoughts. It helps me learn things. It helps me see how much I've learned and changed.
I wrote a bit more about blogging for myself here: https://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/2188
> - Did it help to get noticed/ find jobs or other opportunities?
Umm, a bit. I've gotten a bit of contract work from it. I've published a book from my blog (yet to earn out my advance). I've been in job interviews where people mentioned my blog. I was asked to be on a podcast because of something I'd written (but only because it trended on HN).
But no "Dan is making $Xk/month from his blog and only works 10 hours/week."
> - Do you learn something new from it?
Yes! I have found that I've never learned something so much as when I tried to explain it. And explaining something using words is so much harder than interactively; you have to be clearer and you have to be more rigorous.
Examples:
https://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/3244
https://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/2832
100%. I've been blogging since 2003. It helps clarify my thoughts. It helps me learn things. It helps me see how much I've learned and changed.
I wrote a bit more about blogging for myself here: https://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/2188
> - Did it help to get noticed/ find jobs or other opportunities?
Umm, a bit. I've gotten a bit of contract work from it. I've published a book from my blog (yet to earn out my advance). I've been in job interviews where people mentioned my blog. I was asked to be on a podcast because of something I'd written (but only because it trended on HN).
But no "Dan is making $Xk/month from his blog and only works 10 hours/week."
> - Do you learn something new from it?
Yes! I have found that I've never learned something so much as when I tried to explain it. And explaining something using words is so much harder than interactively; you have to be clearer and you have to be more rigorous.
Examples:
https://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/3244
https://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/2832
I don't blog much. Maybe 1-2 articles a year if I'm lucky. A lot of my attempts end up half-finished, and never published. (I just have too many other interests and get tired in the evening.)
BUT: What really made a personal blog worth it for me was writing my own blog engine as a learning project. I hadn't done much in the Node.js stack, so I wrote my own blog engine to run in Heroku. Maybe if I have some downtime between jobs I'll do it again, too.
My blog engine isn't anything special; but it achieved my goals: To get a feel for Node.js and the general state of web development in April-May 2020: https://github.com/GWBasic/z3
BUT: What really made a personal blog worth it for me was writing my own blog engine as a learning project. I hadn't done much in the Node.js stack, so I wrote my own blog engine to run in Heroku. Maybe if I have some downtime between jobs I'll do it again, too.
My blog engine isn't anything special; but it achieved my goals: To get a feel for Node.js and the general state of web development in April-May 2020: https://github.com/GWBasic/z3
It's been worth it for me, though not yet in the way I had expected. I write novels when I'm not coding, and I maintain a self-hosted blog about reading and writing mysteries and thrillers. I had hoped to draw a loyal audience of readers who would buy my books, though I never actually implemented a coherent readership-building strategy. I just wrote about whatever I felt like.
Turns out, a handful of like-minded readers, authors, and editors have gotten in touch through my contact page. Those contacts have opened up a number of opportunities and helped me develop a network.
I had a larger following on my Facebook author page years ago, but I didn't like the platform or the company. I stayed on solely for the author page. Judging by the number of followers and post engagements, I seemed to have a broader reach there. But I can say the actual engagement of those followers was much shallower.
People have contacted me through my blog for film rights and European publishing rights (neither of which panned out). They've given me free copies of books by other authors to review. They've invited me to write articles for their sites, and more.
I wouldn't say my blog has helped develop a brand, but it has definitely been useful. And it's never a chore if you just write when you please about what you please.
Turns out, a handful of like-minded readers, authors, and editors have gotten in touch through my contact page. Those contacts have opened up a number of opportunities and helped me develop a network.
I had a larger following on my Facebook author page years ago, but I didn't like the platform or the company. I stayed on solely for the author page. Judging by the number of followers and post engagements, I seemed to have a broader reach there. But I can say the actual engagement of those followers was much shallower.
People have contacted me through my blog for film rights and European publishing rights (neither of which panned out). They've given me free copies of books by other authors to review. They've invited me to write articles for their sites, and more.
I wouldn't say my blog has helped develop a brand, but it has definitely been useful. And it's never a chore if you just write when you please about what you please.
Yes definitely, but my situation is unusual. I use my blog primarily to publish research results. A typical post is halfway between a typical blog post and a peer-reviewed paper in an academic journal or conference. I've been dipping my toes into the latter and have not been having as good results. Basically, a blog is more efficient in use of time, and I also like the voice where I'm trying to explain things to a broad audience.
I really don't like Medium - I did a few things there before switching to GitHub Pages. The point of writing is to reach an audience. Why accept friction to juice their monetization?
And yes, there's no question my blog opens doors for me. For example, I recently got invited to give a keynote at RustLab this fall, and I'm sure that was on the strength of a blog post I had done on Rust UI architecture.
I really don't like Medium - I did a few things there before switching to GitHub Pages. The point of writing is to reach an audience. Why accept friction to juice their monetization?
And yes, there's no question my blog opens doors for me. For example, I recently got invited to give a keynote at RustLab this fall, and I'm sure that was on the strength of a blog post I had done on Rust UI architecture.
I found I only have something really worth saying every few years which isn't often enough to make my blog be content marketing for my personal brand. I do like my blog, I can read things I wrote a decade ago and still believe in them. Any sort of artificial cadence would undermine this.
Also as I get older I find the hot takes I used to write down are not interesting enough to share in article form. They live better as comments or tweets. I'm more aware of nuance in everything, and caveating my claims out the wazoo to appropriately constrain my claims is not worth it.
I see a lot of this hot take style writing from other young devs making it to HN front page. So that's not to say this style of writing isn't popular. But it isn't popular with me, and first and foremost I'm writing for myself.
Also as I get older I find the hot takes I used to write down are not interesting enough to share in article form. They live better as comments or tweets. I'm more aware of nuance in everything, and caveating my claims out the wazoo to appropriately constrain my claims is not worth it.
I see a lot of this hot take style writing from other young devs making it to HN front page. So that's not to say this style of writing isn't popular. But it isn't popular with me, and first and foremost I'm writing for myself.
While this certainly gets into semantics, I don't think you need a "blog" but a website can help a lot.
I wrote about why most smaller companies don't need a blog here: https://kolemcrae.com/notebook/humblesuggestion.html
You may say: isn't that a blog post? I would disagree. You can read how my website isn't really a blot here: https://kolemcrae.com/notebook/notablog.html
I'd say a website is fantastic for your brand, and combining that with a fantastic LinkedIn profile can take you far. Needing to blog constantly on the other hand isn't as important.
I wrote about why most smaller companies don't need a blog here: https://kolemcrae.com/notebook/humblesuggestion.html
You may say: isn't that a blog post? I would disagree. You can read how my website isn't really a blot here: https://kolemcrae.com/notebook/notablog.html
I'd say a website is fantastic for your brand, and combining that with a fantastic LinkedIn profile can take you far. Needing to blog constantly on the other hand isn't as important.
I will try to keep this short. I have a history.
My Website wasn't the best or the top but was right up there amongst many popular ones. Once upon a time, I believe it was within the Alexa top 1,000 or something like that. If I can recollect right, it has even seen its millionth visitor in a month. There was also a popular term called Google PR (I need to double-check this term); mine had "8" out of 10 for a long time.
To this day, I get occasional emails from people thanking me for kickstarting their careers because they read and followed my writings.
I will not dwell on those, but here are a few more interesting personal anecdotes.
I got one of my girlfriends because she doesn't trust the visitor counter on my Website. She contacted me via the contact form, "It must be a script. How can your visitor counter jump so fast every second?" "Meet me for coffee, and I will show you the real-time Website Analytics."
I was on a business trip. One fateful winter rainy night, I introduced myself to some new friends at HackerDojo, Mountain View (halfway around the world). Someone on the side overheard and approached me, "Are you brajeshwar.com?" "Yes." "Wow! I followed your blog, and thanks for your articles." That made my night.
My Website's revenue had bank-rolled me for many years while I kept failing with my Startups while continuing to stay in an upscale part of Mumbai.
My Website, indirectly, got me my USA Visa pretty easy and smooth.
I had brought down a business/Startup because the founder was cheating. But later, I regretted that and deleted every article related to that business. I should have never written something like that, and I will never forgive myself for it.
These are the quickies I remember without probing into my mind and notes. Now, I keep it as my Time Capsule. I don't have analytics either (I'm married).
Suggestion: Have a personal website/blog; don't rush. Start today, and have fun in 25+ years.
My Website wasn't the best or the top but was right up there amongst many popular ones. Once upon a time, I believe it was within the Alexa top 1,000 or something like that. If I can recollect right, it has even seen its millionth visitor in a month. There was also a popular term called Google PR (I need to double-check this term); mine had "8" out of 10 for a long time.
To this day, I get occasional emails from people thanking me for kickstarting their careers because they read and followed my writings.
I will not dwell on those, but here are a few more interesting personal anecdotes.
I got one of my girlfriends because she doesn't trust the visitor counter on my Website. She contacted me via the contact form, "It must be a script. How can your visitor counter jump so fast every second?" "Meet me for coffee, and I will show you the real-time Website Analytics."
I was on a business trip. One fateful winter rainy night, I introduced myself to some new friends at HackerDojo, Mountain View (halfway around the world). Someone on the side overheard and approached me, "Are you brajeshwar.com?" "Yes." "Wow! I followed your blog, and thanks for your articles." That made my night.
My Website's revenue had bank-rolled me for many years while I kept failing with my Startups while continuing to stay in an upscale part of Mumbai.
My Website, indirectly, got me my USA Visa pretty easy and smooth.
I had brought down a business/Startup because the founder was cheating. But later, I regretted that and deleted every article related to that business. I should have never written something like that, and I will never forgive myself for it.
These are the quickies I remember without probing into my mind and notes. Now, I keep it as my Time Capsule. I don't have analytics either (I'm married).
Suggestion: Have a personal website/blog; don't rush. Start today, and have fun in 25+ years.
I don't have a brand, but having a personal website is worth it to me, on a personal level, it shows the stuff I've done through the years, some people might find it useful, but the primary thing for me, is to have it so that I can look back at what I've done, and serve as a practical way to show stuff to people who are interested.
I maintain a "personal brand," and a lot of that, has to do with trying to remain positive, honest, reliable, and friendly, as much as with my technical acumen.
I do blog, in sporadic bursts[0]. I haven't written much, lately. I tend to write (both code and prose) for myself, as opposed to any particular audience.
I feel as if it is "worth" it, but I don't bother trying to have a high "social media" score. That takes way too much time and effort.
[0] https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany
I do blog, in sporadic bursts[0]. I haven't written much, lately. I tend to write (both code and prose) for myself, as opposed to any particular audience.
I feel as if it is "worth" it, but I don't bother trying to have a high "social media" score. That takes way too much time and effort.
[0] https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany
I get a kick out of the occasional "hey, thanks!" from some internet stranger who struggled with some problem that I happened to have solved and written about. We've all been in the stranger's situation at some point, probably more than once, so it's sort of a way to pay it forward.
Other than that, I did get a few positive remarks and interested questions during job interviews. I've even had a home assignment waived after they checked out my blog[1] and concluded that I "seem to know what I'm talking about," so that was a welcome surprise.
Inspiration waxes and wanes, and I make no promises about publishing regular content. But occasionally I solve an interesting problem with an elegant (IMO) solution and get the urge to tell the world about it.
[1] https://badgateway.qc.to
Other than that, I did get a few positive remarks and interested questions during job interviews. I've even had a home assignment waived after they checked out my blog[1] and concluded that I "seem to know what I'm talking about," so that was a welcome surprise.
Inspiration waxes and wanes, and I make no promises about publishing regular content. But occasionally I solve an interesting problem with an elegant (IMO) solution and get the urge to tell the world about it.
[1] https://badgateway.qc.to
Can I just say I'm so envious of all of you who are able to write publicly without worries?
I did try to start a blog many, many years ago, but I can never get over my fears that whatever I put out publicly will inevitably be used against me, by someone with power, in one way or another. (Yes, including this comment.)
I did try to start a blog many, many years ago, but I can never get over my fears that whatever I put out publicly will inevitably be used against me, by someone with power, in one way or another. (Yes, including this comment.)
I've had https://www.swiftjectivec.com for several years.
Benefits:
Benefits:
- I don't do much front end, so I enjoy learning new stuff to maintain it like Tailwind, Jekyll, etc.
- I learn new things all the time since I typically write technical posts.
- I Google something, and stumble upon my *own* posts sometimes!
- I look at it as a career benefit as well, something employers could look at.
- It does help with other things, for example, when I created a book series over iOS - people were aware of my work, writing style and more from years of my previous posts: (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31534988)
- It does feel that if you don't keep it up to date you become a bit skittish, so in that sense - having one means you kinda feel like "there is always something to work on." I am still trying to make peace with this.
- I ran sponsorships (they are still live right now) but wow did I not expect how much I don't enjoy them. Even though they were good money for, basically, doing something I already do - they are very mentally taxing for me.
- It also becomes your online identity, for better or worse.
Absolutely, yes.
My blog ( https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com ) is primarily a way for me to share teaching material around React, Redux, JS, and TS. Most of my blog posts have been written in response to questions other folks have asked that I've answered repeatedly. It gives me a way to write a longer answer _once_, and share it going forward.
A few top examples:
- "A (Mostly)" Complete Guide to React Rendering Behavior": https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/2020/05/blogged-answers-a-...
- "Why Context Is Not A 'State Management' Tool (and Why it Doesn't Replace Redux": https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/2021/01/context-redux-diff...
- "The History and Implementation of React-Redux": https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/2018/11/react-redux-histor...
- The slides and videos for my various conference talks: https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/series/presentations
I've never had a specific goal of "trying to get noticed" per se, but I've certainly done a lot of "hey, here's this post I wrote that answers your question". And yes, in addition to brain-dumping my existing knowledge, I often end up doing additional research while writing posts.
As a result, I've had numerous folks tell me that my posts were helpful and that they learned something, which is really all I wanted out of this.
(side note: my blog is still using an ancient version of Hugo, 0.17, because that's what was out when I started. It's simple, it works, and I have no reason to change it :) )
My blog ( https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com ) is primarily a way for me to share teaching material around React, Redux, JS, and TS. Most of my blog posts have been written in response to questions other folks have asked that I've answered repeatedly. It gives me a way to write a longer answer _once_, and share it going forward.
A few top examples:
- "A (Mostly)" Complete Guide to React Rendering Behavior": https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/2020/05/blogged-answers-a-...
- "Why Context Is Not A 'State Management' Tool (and Why it Doesn't Replace Redux": https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/2021/01/context-redux-diff...
- "The History and Implementation of React-Redux": https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/2018/11/react-redux-histor...
- The slides and videos for my various conference talks: https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/series/presentations
I've never had a specific goal of "trying to get noticed" per se, but I've certainly done a lot of "hey, here's this post I wrote that answers your question". And yes, in addition to brain-dumping my existing knowledge, I often end up doing additional research while writing posts.
As a result, I've had numerous folks tell me that my posts were helpful and that they learned something, which is really all I wanted out of this.
(side note: my blog is still using an ancient version of Hugo, 0.17, because that's what was out when I started. It's simple, it works, and I have no reason to change it :) )
It's definitely worth it for me as my blog doubles as a repository or personal notes, projects, and ideas I reference often. And sometimes I get noticed, so far without further opportunities.
What made me blog way more, from once per month to nearly daily, was to switch to a lightweight, low-friction hosted blogging platform. Now the tool fades away and blogging feels fun.
What made me blog way more, from once per month to nearly daily, was to switch to a lightweight, low-friction hosted blogging platform. Now the tool fades away and blogging feels fun.
I write at www.somehowmanage.com (have made the HN front page at least 3 times that I can remember), and I'd say the biggest benefits are:
- It really clarifies my thinking.
- If I'm going to work with someone (someone I hire or who wants to hire me), I can share my blog posts as a way of showing how I think (outside the interview context).
- With my team, I can share posts that reflect an opinion and they are way more coherent than me doing it in audio.
- It's also really rewarding to occasionally get a note from someone about how they learned something from something I wrote (or just to see it organically mentioned on Twitter and such).
Honestly one main roadblock for me (as someone with no social media following) is that when I try to share to HackerNews, I've gotten flagged as promotional. But really when I share I'm kind of in the mode of "I think this would be interesting for the HN crowd, let me share it and if they agree they will up vote it". And when I'm writing, it's mostly for the HN type of audience (I used to write on Medium but found that I ended up being pulled to write more click-baity, mass-consumption pieces that were less rewarding to me).
- It really clarifies my thinking.
- If I'm going to work with someone (someone I hire or who wants to hire me), I can share my blog posts as a way of showing how I think (outside the interview context).
- With my team, I can share posts that reflect an opinion and they are way more coherent than me doing it in audio.
- It's also really rewarding to occasionally get a note from someone about how they learned something from something I wrote (or just to see it organically mentioned on Twitter and such).
Honestly one main roadblock for me (as someone with no social media following) is that when I try to share to HackerNews, I've gotten flagged as promotional. But really when I share I'm kind of in the mode of "I think this would be interesting for the HN crowd, let me share it and if they agree they will up vote it". And when I'm writing, it's mostly for the HN type of audience (I used to write on Medium but found that I ended up being pulled to write more click-baity, mass-consumption pieces that were less rewarding to me).
Yes, I've been blogging for over 11 years.
No one has ever wanted to hire me because of it.
Yes, I have learned things from it. Sometimes I like to experiment with web features that I don't or can't at work. Over the past 5 years, I've been carefully considering what I write in blog posts, and it has forced me to research and reflect more on what I write. Even though it's mostly notes and thoughts on whatever videogame I've just finished playing, I think that blogging has improved my writing overall, from work emails to HN comments.
https://theandrewbailey.com/
No one has ever wanted to hire me because of it.
Yes, I have learned things from it. Sometimes I like to experiment with web features that I don't or can't at work. Over the past 5 years, I've been carefully considering what I write in blog posts, and it has forced me to research and reflect more on what I write. Even though it's mostly notes and thoughts on whatever videogame I've just finished playing, I think that blogging has improved my writing overall, from work emails to HN comments.
https://theandrewbailey.com/
I do not have a personal brand online, but I wish I already had it and I will hopefully put more effort towards attaining one in the future. I am determined to do this because it feels like the best way to protect myself from ageism in the future.
To get known within a niche I am interested in would mean I would have a wider array of opportunities to choose from and would give me a leg up towards other candidates or among fellow contractors as I get older and face the possibility of ageism. That's what I tell myself anyway.
It seems to me that in our industry eventually older developers who won't go into management are forced to go solo or to settle at a job they don't like or that doesn't utilize their full potential just because of its security. This seems like a trap that I am looking to proactively avoid and having a personal brand seems like a great tool to achieve that.
To get known within a niche I am interested in would mean I would have a wider array of opportunities to choose from and would give me a leg up towards other candidates or among fellow contractors as I get older and face the possibility of ageism. That's what I tell myself anyway.
It seems to me that in our industry eventually older developers who won't go into management are forced to go solo or to settle at a job they don't like or that doesn't utilize their full potential just because of its security. This seems like a trap that I am looking to proactively avoid and having a personal brand seems like a great tool to achieve that.
Self hosted, hands down. The big tech lost all credibility in being a medium for your voice. They can't help it, they want control over it.
Said that, is worth for self-referece as the very least. You'll see the evolution of your subjects of interest, styles and voice.
For example, some post might be useful for referencing in a future interview.
Said that, is worth for self-referece as the very least. You'll see the evolution of your subjects of interest, styles and voice.
For example, some post might be useful for referencing in a future interview.
Definitely! I think it comes down to a few things:
1. You need the same username/handle on all platforms (e.g., your domain name, your twitter name, your github name, etc...). This is easier if you have a weird name.
2. You need to consistently update your content on these platforms (e.g., no one will care if you have a blog with a single post from 10 years ago)
3. You need to identify a reason for the blog (e.g., is it for work, or is it for fun?) and know your audience.
4. Your "brand" lets you control what people see when they Google you. However, if you're trying for a more professional appearance, don't blog about politics, religion, etc... because you'll be bound to upset someone at some point. Also, don't write controversial Twitter posts.
I've been blogging for almost 10 years now [1]. I only write a few articles per year, but they're always about things I'm working on. I work in IT and try to apply things I learn at work to my "homelab", and then write about it. This actually landed me a DevOps job because they saw that I used Ansible, Terraform, Docker, etc... and was proficient enough to write about those tools. When I asked in the interview, they mentioned my blog and github content as reasons why I was chosen over other candidates.
I personally use Jeff Geerling [2] as my inspiration. His "brand" has blown up recently, and while I'm not trying to get YouTube famous, I think he has great posts, creates great public code (ansible playbooks and docker containers), etc...
PS - I also blog using Hugo on a VPS. I run Debian server and let unattended-upgrades do my maintenance. I use a GitHub action to publish my code to the VPS, so once I commit, I'm done.
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[1] - https://loganmarchione.com/
[2] - https://www.jeffgeerling.com/
1. You need the same username/handle on all platforms (e.g., your domain name, your twitter name, your github name, etc...). This is easier if you have a weird name.
2. You need to consistently update your content on these platforms (e.g., no one will care if you have a blog with a single post from 10 years ago)
3. You need to identify a reason for the blog (e.g., is it for work, or is it for fun?) and know your audience.
4. Your "brand" lets you control what people see when they Google you. However, if you're trying for a more professional appearance, don't blog about politics, religion, etc... because you'll be bound to upset someone at some point. Also, don't write controversial Twitter posts.
I've been blogging for almost 10 years now [1]. I only write a few articles per year, but they're always about things I'm working on. I work in IT and try to apply things I learn at work to my "homelab", and then write about it. This actually landed me a DevOps job because they saw that I used Ansible, Terraform, Docker, etc... and was proficient enough to write about those tools. When I asked in the interview, they mentioned my blog and github content as reasons why I was chosen over other candidates.
I personally use Jeff Geerling [2] as my inspiration. His "brand" has blown up recently, and while I'm not trying to get YouTube famous, I think he has great posts, creates great public code (ansible playbooks and docker containers), etc...
PS - I also blog using Hugo on a VPS. I run Debian server and let unattended-upgrades do my maintenance. I use a GitHub action to publish my code to the VPS, so once I commit, I'm done.
-------
[1] - https://loganmarchione.com/
[2] - https://www.jeffgeerling.com/
It‘s definitely worth it!
I share a database tip on https://sqlfordevs.io every two weeks and get a lot of feedback. I started on Twitter almost a year ago sharing weekly tips but I always felt the 280 characters to be limiting. You simply can‘t explain a complex topic by being such constrained. So I share a full article every two weeks and the other one a simple one with Twitter‘s constraint.
And the feedback is really great. People tell me they had been able to solve a performance problem, do something more efficient or simply got a new idea on how to do something relevant. Seeing the content you write influencing someone is totally valueable and a good reason to start blogging.
I share a database tip on https://sqlfordevs.io every two weeks and get a lot of feedback. I started on Twitter almost a year ago sharing weekly tips but I always felt the 280 characters to be limiting. You simply can‘t explain a complex topic by being such constrained. So I share a full article every two weeks and the other one a simple one with Twitter‘s constraint.
And the feedback is really great. People tell me they had been able to solve a performance problem, do something more efficient or simply got a new idea on how to do something relevant. Seeing the content you write influencing someone is totally valueable and a good reason to start blogging.
Personally, I tried writing in some blogging platforms (medium, dev.to etc), then moved to self hosted solution with Hugo but honestly it was too much maintenance. Writing up my thoughts in presentable state took too much time/effort. Right now, I simply save my notes to my personal Notion for future reference.