Writing has really been everything for my career. It's lead to an incredible amount of opportunities. Honestly, I can find out so much more about someone if they've written than purely from the code they've purported to have contributed. Writing provides backstory, context, and demonstrates a willingness to share the knowledge.
But it was years before writing became part of my career. I'd have done it sooner if I had the motivation and confidence, but I got along fine without it. Ultimately you'll do well if you're willing to practice the craft with care. Don't write if it isn't fulfilling.
Trouble maker and Problem solver ⚙️🔧
Loves simplicity, hates bullshit 💩.
Productivity obsessed, avid learner 🖥🚀
Sport and outdoor freak 🧗⛰
Metalhead 🎸🤘 Father of 2 👨👩👦👦
Opinions are my own
Writing provides backstory, context, and demonstrates a willingness to share the knowledge.
exactly. especially for companies looking for employees who match their culture fit, a quick read a some blog posts may tell more about the attitude, the motivation of the candidate rather than a bunch of commits to opensource or pet projects.
Been using UNIX since the late 80s; Linux since the mid-90s; virtualization since the early 2000s and spent the past few years working in the cloud space.
Location
Alexandria, VA, USA
Education
B.S. Psychology from Pennsylvania State University
hi Thomas,
I think that's fine because we're expressing frustration, which is normal. We're not robots.
To me, regarding "frustration", I personally think there's a difference between:
"Spent 3hrs trying to center a div, I hate jQuery. I wish it was easier. This is how I did it. Wish there was a easier way...." kind of thing.
VS
"Here a stance about (insert tech, politics, dev community, best practices) and if you don't agree, then you are a bad person and need to change. Look at my likes and followers and see how everyone else agrees with me."
The thing is, I don't think a person should necessarily change who they are or how they write just for their career. Expression is a important part of each individual.
But when the question is, "will my blog help me in my career". If a candidate constantly extrudes arrogance, putting down those that do not agree, and one-way communication, I'm not sure it helps (in general) 😕.
Been using UNIX since the late 80s; Linux since the mid-90s; virtualization since the early 2000s and spent the past few years working in the cloud space.
Location
Alexandria, VA, USA
Education
B.S. Psychology from Pennsylvania State University
If you're the writing type, maintaining "personal" and "tech" blogs is generally a good idea. Preferably, doing it under unique userids to reduce the likelihood that you'll blog to one when you meant to blog to the other.
Then again, I generally try to maintain a fairly strong firewall between "work" me and "personal" me when it comes to online presence. In both cases, my attitudes will definitely still come across. It's mostly a topics-separation (my politics doesn't generally have bearing on how I approach technical things and technical stuff tends to bore/confuse the people that read my personal stuff). That said, "pure rant" (i.e., stuff that doesn't include "how I solved or worked around this problem" type of content) tends to go on my personal blogs.
I think these two comments above me are well said.
It also gives a better sense of depth of knowledge then code. And for someone who reviews candidates, it's definitely seen as a plus.
I would say attitude is double edge sword though. Some bloggers are incredibly egotistic and almost shame and embarrass the reader. Blogging about something your passionate in is one thing, but taking the "I'm a advocate" to justify rudeness/bullying is another....and the #watercooler talk among my colleagues is that nobody wants a rude a-hole on the team 🙄
I think it's a balance, you need to be who you are. But once it's public, it can both help and hurt.
Absolutely. I definitely look for compassion for the reader and excitement to teach in one's writing every bit as much as I look for technical expertise.
Been using UNIX since the late 80s; Linux since the mid-90s; virtualization since the early 2000s and spent the past few years working in the cloud space.
Location
Alexandria, VA, USA
Education
B.S. Psychology from Pennsylvania State University
If I can write something I've recently learned down in an explanatory fashion, it helps solidify that learning in my memory.
If the thing I learned was something obscure, if I've written it down in a blog, then I know that I only need search my blog for that bit (and, bonus, it's already in an explanatory format) rather than hoping I can reconstruct the Googling process that allowed me to learn it in the first place (which with links dying over time, can be problematic - especially for edge-case stuff)
When I inevitably get asked a question about something at work, if I've already blogged it, I can respond to the person with a "here: read this" rather than having to engage in the back-and-forth of a full explanation.
It's just a habit that makes life easier. Plus, it's kind of cool when someone tells you "your page was the first google hit" (or you look at your blog's analytics and see how many people around the world were drawn to your blog for a given bit of information). It's really funny when it's someone at work posting into a Slack channel, "I'd run into this problem, so I hit Google, and the first result I got back (or first result that explained it in an easily understood manner) was in your blog".
Trouble maker and Problem solver ⚙️🔧
Loves simplicity, hates bullshit 💩.
Productivity obsessed, avid learner 🖥🚀
Sport and outdoor freak 🧗⛰
Metalhead 🎸🤘 Father of 2 👨👩👦👦
Opinions are my own
Been using UNIX since the late 80s; Linux since the mid-90s; virtualization since the early 2000s and spent the past few years working in the cloud space.
Location
Alexandria, VA, USA
Education
B.S. Psychology from Pennsylvania State University
That too. Though, usually, my inability to forget means that I usually remember "I know I wrote something about that, once". Usually, though, I'll think "it was a few weeks ago" and it turns out to have been a few years ago. :p
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
Writing has really been everything for my career. It's lead to an incredible amount of opportunities. Honestly, I can find out so much more about someone if they've written than purely from the code they've purported to have contributed. Writing provides backstory, context, and demonstrates a willingness to share the knowledge.
But it was years before writing became part of my career. I'd have done it sooner if I had the motivation and confidence, but I got along fine without it. Ultimately you'll do well if you're willing to practice the craft with care. Don't write if it isn't fulfilling.
exactly. especially for companies looking for employees who match their culture fit, a quick read a some blog posts may tell more about the attitude, the motivation of the candidate rather than a bunch of commits to opensource or pet projects.
Oof... My posts tend to be full of attitude: frequently, what's caused me to write was something that was annoying to research and solve.
hi Thomas,
I think that's fine because we're expressing frustration, which is normal. We're not robots.
To me, regarding "frustration", I personally think there's a difference between:
"Spent 3hrs trying to center a div, I hate jQuery. I wish it was easier. This is how I did it. Wish there was a easier way...." kind of thing.
VS
"Here a stance about (insert tech, politics, dev community, best practices) and if you don't agree, then you are a bad person and need to change. Look at my likes and followers and see how everyone else agrees with me."
The thing is, I don't think a person should necessarily change who they are or how they write just for their career. Expression is a important part of each individual.
But when the question is, "will my blog help me in my career". If a candidate constantly extrudes arrogance, putting down those that do not agree, and one-way communication, I'm not sure it helps (in general) 😕.
If you're the writing type, maintaining "personal" and "tech" blogs is generally a good idea. Preferably, doing it under unique userids to reduce the likelihood that you'll blog to one when you meant to blog to the other.
Then again, I generally try to maintain a fairly strong firewall between "work" me and "personal" me when it comes to online presence. In both cases, my attitudes will definitely still come across. It's mostly a topics-separation (my politics doesn't generally have bearing on how I approach technical things and technical stuff tends to bore/confuse the people that read my personal stuff). That said, "pure rant" (i.e., stuff that doesn't include "how I solved or worked around this problem" type of content) tends to go on my personal blogs.
I think these two comments above me are well said.
It also gives a better sense of depth of knowledge then code. And for someone who reviews candidates, it's definitely seen as a plus.
I would say attitude is double edge sword though. Some bloggers are incredibly egotistic and almost shame and embarrass the reader. Blogging about something your passionate in is one thing, but taking the "I'm a advocate" to justify rudeness/bullying is another....and the #watercooler talk among my colleagues is that nobody wants a rude a-hole on the team 🙄
I think it's a balance, you need to be who you are. But once it's public, it can both help and hurt.
Absolutely. I definitely look for compassion for the reader and excitement to teach in one's writing every bit as much as I look for technical expertise.
I've been a habitual writer from early on:
It's just a habit that makes life easier. Plus, it's kind of cool when someone tells you "your page was the first google hit" (or you look at your blog's analytics and see how many people around the world were drawn to your blog for a given bit of information). It's really funny when it's someone at work posting into a Slack channel, "I'd run into this problem, so I hit Google, and the first result I got back (or first result that explained it in an easily understood manner) was in your blog".
That is very cool feeling, I agree.
it's also very cool when you google for a solution you don't remember anymore and you find your own post! :-)
That too. Though, usually, my inability to forget means that I usually remember "I know I wrote something about that, once". Usually, though, I'll think "it was a few weeks ago" and it turns out to have been a few years ago. :p