Hey there developers! I know, I'm sorry! I have been very inconsistent recently, didn't post for three months straight. But duty calls, college went fast these three months. Anyways you must be wondering how come I came all of a sudden! Thanks to the Hashnode Bootcamp! I was able to relieve those old days, where I used to struggle with writing, and today I'm earning from the very thing! Come hear my story of how it all started.
- 6th July 2020 : The beginning
I bought a Udemy course on Web development after researching for hours on what I should do this Lockdown ( after wasting two months of binge watching series ). At first I wasn't sure of how I would go about but the instructor was really good at explaining stuff and soon I grew in love with coding. It gave me hopes of a career change. I knew there was more to it rather than just coding, and actually showcase my work out in the public. After that I got my ears on Open Source contribution.
- 1st October 2020 : Open Source World!
Hacktober Fest begins! I was really excited on how I would perform. I made some friends on the discord server, and soon enough, got a hang around what actually to do. Initially, I was nervous to send that pull request. Well, what's there to lose! It was a successful merge! The reply back from the maintainer just gave me enough motivation to complete the challenge.
I used to watch a lot of youtubers during this time, when I came across a video titled "Top skills you need to possess as a developer", and yeah you might have guessed it right by now, Blogging was one of them! Guess that video changed my life.
- 12th October 2021 : My first article!
Yeah and finally I did the impossible. I wrote my first article on Dev . I was always bad at writing essays back in my school days. I wouldn't even get half the allotted score. I knew my first article won't go viral, but I was off to a good start.
I started to read articles written by other developers, and later developed a taste in writing articles. Well it didn't just come by reading, I had to write more articles.
- 9th April 2021 : A boost much needed!
I got introduced to Hashnode around January through the hackathons. Soon enough, I even got a offer to work with a startup, thanks to my hackathon submission! What provoked me to write on Hashnode was the constant support I was receiving from the Hashnode staff.
Later one fine day, I learnt how to make a VSCode theme from scratch , and wrote a brief article on it describing some tricks and errors one might face otherwise. Guess what! It got featured! The feeling, I was just proud of myself! That was the confirmation I was waiting for!
- 11th May 2021 : A dream come true
I wanted to take a step forward. I started to see a plenty of articles on freeCodeCamp. In my mind right now, I wanted to build a audience on Twitter. I reached out to the editorial team, and they were happy enough to bring me on their team. What a pleasure, to work with the team that strive to provide free tutorials and content on coding. Truly a honor. In no time I released my first article on freeCodeCamp and the response was just mind-blowing. It was the first time I saw such an immense response. This was the time I realized that people were actually getting benefitted from what I write. The realization that I was helping other people, was truly a pleasure to experience.
- 23rd July 2021 : Leap of faith
I wanted to take one last jump. Something to make my parents feel proud, and make them realize that, what I'm doing is something serious and passionate about. I started to reach out multiple guest author programs. Thanks to Edidiong Asikpo who came in clutch to post an article on ways to earn money from blogging.
A week after I got back a reply! Swish it was game time. I made my mind clear, and wanted to focus on the article I was about to write for the company blog. A week after, I got paid for the work I did. The feeling? Unreal.
The journey was filled with obstacles. I had friends that said it was going to be tough. The reality? Everything's tough, nothing comes for free. You have to work until you sweat. If you love what you're doing, go for it. Listen to your heart.
My advice to upcoming writers
- Every writer has their own style of writing. You may have to change it when you're representing a company blog like I did. But you can always write freely on platforms like Hashnode and Dev.
- Start writing one today. It's tough to start, I have been there. But what's there to lose. If you feel your content can help even one developer, your in for the job.
- Read articles from other developers. Illustration is something I learnt from reading articles written by other developers. I wasn't good at graphic design first, but there are free tools that can help you get started.
- Keep your content G-Rated. There are many young developers who are going to read your articles. It might be misleading for them.
- Choose unique topics. I personally don't advice to repeat the same articles again and again. Let's say TypeScript. I wouldn't advice to write about how to use it, as there are plenty of resources online, but you can write about how TypeScript helped your development process, or how important is it to add it in your job resume?
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