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Corey O'Donnell
Corey O'Donnell

Posted on • Updated on • Originally published at codebycorey.com

Making the jump to start blogging!

I am ready to take my career and knowledge to the next level. One of the best ways of doing that is blogging. I want to be able to share all the knowledge I have along with anything new I learn from now on. This is a challenge for me since I do not share things publicly. I never posted things on social media. I was always sat back and watched. Being judged or people thinking I sucked always deterred me from writing out and in the open. I have decided I do not care. It is my time to start producing and helping others.

Reasons why I want to start blogging:

  1. To document things I learn.
  2. To help others learn.
  3. Build my Personal Brand.
  4. Work on my technical writing skill.

Document Things I Learn

Keeping all the things I learn documented is a nice resource to look back. It is like taking notes in a notebook that others can read and learn from also. Making the effort to document everything I learn would help solidify the topics in my head. If I cannot explain it simply to someone else, I do not know it well enough myself.

Helping Other Learn

Having my knowledge published can help others learn. The extra time after doing the research to compile and simplify the knowledge will benefit me and the reader. If a topic is complex and they stumble on my version, it could help bridge the gap on their understanding. If no one ends up reading my posts, that's okay. I am treating this like I am writing to help my past self.

Building My Personal Brand

Having a strong personal brand is important in my career. It can help increase my chances of getting more opportunities. Some employers look up candidates online to see what they are about. I deleted most of my social media accounts a couple of years ago so there was not much of me out there. I recently opened up a Twitter account and actually started posting to build up my followers.

Work on my Technical Writing

You are always writing technical documents as a Software Engineer or Web Developer. Whether its tech stack, infrastructure running your platform, or onboarding. Documenting is important to make sure your entire team knows how everything works. It is impossible for your team to be a part of every decision. Having the documentation is nice to have for when they need to look back. By sharing and writing about tech, I will increase my technical writing skill. The best way to learn is by doing.

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