But First, Let’s Answer the Question. Should Programmers Blog?<\/h2>\n
Yes.\u00a0 As a programmer, starting and maintaining a blog will be a significant boost to your career and to your personal development.\u00a0 It may get you out of your comfort zone and require some extra effort, but it is unquestionably worth doing.<\/strong><\/p>\n Let’s unpack this a little and get into specifics.\u00a0 I’ll admit that writing, and blogging, in particular, is not what a lot of folks think of when they think of a STEM career. But here are some explanations as to why it’s a natural fit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let’s start with an easy one.\u00a0 This might sound strange, but blogging actually makes you a better programmer<\/a>.<\/p>\n How does that work?<\/p>\n Well, first of all, nothing forces you to develop a deep understanding of something like having to explain it.\u00a0 If you’re new to programming and rushing to get something out the door, you might find yourself programming by coincidence<\/a>, which amounts to getting something working without really understanding why.<\/p>\n But if you’re blogging about a topic, that simply won’t cut it.\u00a0 Putting something out there in public and explaining it forces a level of rigor that prompts you to do more research and develop a deeper understanding.<\/p>\n And this only becomes truer as your blogging profile grows.\u00a0 Readers will comment, critiquing your points, asking questions, and starting discussions with you.\u00a0 All of this forces you to do even more research, both prompted by these discussions and for future posts.<\/p>\n The blog will drive you to higher levels of understanding in your field, which is never a bad thing.\u00a0 Being a better programmer is, of course, a boon for your career.<\/p>\n Let’s now leave aside the idea of programming skill<\/a> and look at another thing that is good for careers.\u00a0 I’m talking about communication skills.<\/p>\n I know, I know.\u00a0 “Communication skills” often induces an eye-roll, both for being generic and cliche.\u00a0 But seriously.\u00a0 Communication skills.<\/p>\n Early in your programming career, it’s easy to see an entire career of sitting quietly in front of a text editor, building your code and interacting with no one.\u00a0 You’ll quickly need to collaborate in all sorts of ways.<\/p>\n There’ll be pair programming and code reviews where you have to trade ideas and debate with your peers.\u00a0 You’ll have to present ideas to project managers and your company’s leadership.\u00a0 As your career progresses to senior software developer and architect, you’ll need to communicate your vision to developers.\u00a0 And, if you ever have management aspirations, you’ll definitely need to be well-versed in power points, emails, word documents, and the like.<\/p>\n The blog helps sharpen your saw for all of these considerations.\u00a0 It’ll help you build arguments and prepare for debates.\u00a0 Writing how-to posts will make you better able to teach your peers.\u00a0 And the blog will teach you to present highly technical concepts to less technical people.<\/p>\n All of this is highly valuable as you navigate your career<\/a>.<\/p>\n The last two points differed, but both focused on making you better at your current job.\u00a0 Let’s switch gears now and look at the career you’ll have beyond your current or first job.<\/p>\n And you\u00a0will\u00a0<\/em>have multiple jobs.\u00a0 Programmers stay in their jobs an average of two years or so.<\/p>\n As you blog, you’ll start to accumulate readers and followers.\u00a0 Fellow programmers will stop by and engage with you.\u00a0 This can lead to interesting discussions in the comments or on social media.\u00a0 But beyond that, it can lead to the start of professional relationships.<\/p>\n This might seem wishy-washy or intangible, but this tends to grow.\u00a0 Yesterday’s Twitter discussions become today’s collaborations on some open source thing, and those become tomorrow’s job opportunities.<\/p>\n Generally speaking, your work life will benefit from having a wide circle of colleagues, acquaintances, and friends.\u00a0 If you only ever collaborate with people at your day job, it becomes much harder to cultivate this.<\/p>\n The last point touched on this next one a bit.\u00a0 Having a large network is good for its own sake, but it’s obviously good for helping you land new jobs.\u00a0 People in your growing circle might invite you to the inside track in their company’s interview process.<\/p>\n That’s a big leg up, and it will happen over the long haul as you blog.\u00a0 But it’s not the only way that your blog helps.<\/p>\n What do you think is more powerful during a phone interview when the interviewer asks you about Java: pointing at your own resume with its claims of a few years of experience, or pointing at a blog where you have a few years of experience explaining detailed Java concepts?<\/p>\n Yeah, you’re right.\u00a0 It’s the latter.<\/p>\n Your blog can serve as a better version of your resume and a more accessible version of a project portfolio.\u00a0 Send a link with job applications, refer to it during phone interviews, and bring it up on a monitor during interviews.\u00a0 It’s a powerful interview process aid.<\/p>\n So, in the end, your blog helps you find job opportunities through your network and then makes you more likely to get those jobs when compared to other candidates.<\/p>\n Let’s take a look at one more advantage to blogging.\u00a0 This one not only transcends your current job but all jobs.\u00a0 Your blog can help you have a nice option for a side hustle or a full-time, independent consulting career.<\/p>\n If that sounds far-fetched, I assure you it isn’t.\u00a0 This is literally the blueprint for my career<\/a>, starting with full-time software jobs and eventually leading to independent consulting and the building of businesses.<\/p>\n Was my blog the only<\/em> factor?\u00a0 Of course not.<\/p>\n But was it a huge factor?\u00a0 Absolutely.<\/p>\n As you build a network and a following, an interesting thing starts to happen.\u00a0 You become an expert in topics and people regard you as an expert in those topics.\u00a0 People start to stumble across your blog and say to themselves, “we should bring that person in to help us with technology X.”\u00a0 And then they start to call you, offering you money to help them.<\/p>\n You might pass on this sort of thing at first or just do it here and there as a moonlighting project.\u00a0 But the more you blog, the more this starts to happen.<\/p>\n Even if you’re perfectly happy at a 9-5 job, these opportunities will come along.\u00a0 And having the option is certainly nice.<\/p>\n So convinced now, are you?\u00a0 If I ask you, “should programmers blog,” you would happily say yes?\u00a0 Good deal\u2014you should go for it! So how then do you start your programming blog?\u00a0 Well, that could make an entire post in and of itself.\u00a0 But I can also tell you in just a few words.<\/p>\n Go to WordPress.com<\/a> and click “get started.”<\/p>\n “Wait, that’s it,” you’re wondering?\u00a0 Yep, that’s it.<\/p>\n Look, there are all sorts of options and decisions you could agonize over.\u00a0 WordPress or blogger.com?\u00a0 Should you host the site or use a service?\u00a0 Static site generator or CMS?\u00a0 I’m getting a headache just thinking about it and I earn a living<\/em> around blogging.<\/p>\n And that’s the point.<\/p>\n All of those decisions are just forms of procrastination.\u00a0 You can always migrate your blog later or revisit decisions like that.\u00a0 What you can’t do is go back in time and have started your blog six months or six years ago.<\/p>\n So don’t overthink it.\u00a0 Just get started<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I’ll close by offering some examples for you to follow.\u00a0 These are folks with a long history of writing about software, some of whom even have blog posts talking about how their blogs have contributed to their success.<\/p>\n So as you embark on your journey, look here for inspiration and further examples.<\/p>\n1. Blogging About Programming Makes You a Better Programmer<\/h2>\n
2. Programming Jobs Are About More Than Programming.\u00a0 Communication is Important<\/h2>\n
3. You’ll Grow Your Network and Meet Interesting People in a Low-Pressure Way<\/h2>\n
4. Having a Blog Will Help You Land Better Jobs<\/h2>\n
5. It Will Give You Career Options Beyond Just 9-5 Jobs<\/h2>\n
How to Start a Programming Blog<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nWhat Are Some of the Best Programming Blogs to Use as Examples?<\/h3>\n
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