Every Software Developer should write a blog

As a software engineer it’s been a couple of years that I’m saying to myself that I’m going to start writing blog posts tomorrow, next week or even next month, but truth is I never did write a single blog post. The reason I didn’t start was, I thought, I’m not an expert of anything, not a famous person, and not good at writing, but a regular software engineer. Therefore, why should I take my time write a post and nobody even read it. That always stoped me starting a blog. But recently, after I read couple of blog posts from programmers and software engineers I changed my mind and decided blogging.

Now, I have many reasons to write blog posts as a programmer, also, I think every software developer should have blog. Let’s see why I decided to write a blog:

Learn faster and improve your technical skills

I learn much faster when I try to explain or to teach somebody. I know this from Computer Science class group work projects from the college, because I still remember everything I tried to explain and show to other group members. Explaining pushes you to learn more about the topic which is good not only for your readers but for your own self as well. Starting a programming blog is very similar to teaching because in your blog you will be teaching the world about programming and computer science.

Market yourself and kick start your career

Your blog will open the doors for various networking and business opportunities that you might not find otherwise. Through the blog, you can get a lot of connections and leads for an upcoming freelance and contractor career. I’m going to tell you a real life example about one of my friends, he started learning Java programming language, and shared his progress on his blog, and he had recruiters sending him job offer that he never applied to, and they found his posts shared online. And, he started his software engineering career even before he finished his Java course.

Document your progress for giving back

How many times a week do you find the perfect StackOverflow article that solves your problem and saves you hours of banging your head against a wall? How many times do you spend hours solving a problem, but no one else ever benefits from your solution?

Even if you write post from time to time, weekly, you can show what kind of challenges you faced, how you solved them, which methods and techniques you used and which one you avoided. After a year when you look back you will see really helpful documents you provided to others with useful insights and show how you approach problems.

Also, people with very little programming experience can much better show how they struggled with certain topics and where are the traps and non-obvious parts compared to experienced programmers. So, people who read your posts won’t fall into the trap that what you wrote about.

Learn how to communicate and present your ideas

Believe it or not but your software career heavily relies on how good you are at communicating and presenting your ideas. Even if you are a good programmer, without a good communication, and presenting yourself your software career won’t shine, and be limited. Also, many programmers claim that writing articles help them also write a better code.

Remove your stress

Disconnect from your daily routine of coding life, give yourself some freedom, be with your thoughts and write about something that you would like to share, share your own opinion, write it down and publish. It will make you feel relaxed.

In general, blogging as a software developer is an amazing way to increase your personality. Writing a blog can boost whatever you do or planning to do. It opens doors where you would never expect them. It worths to try, and see its benefits.