So it’s been a couple months since I started this blog. This is almost no time at all, and immediately, I started seeing results. I started getting different sorts of jobs and offers.
And it’s not just me. There’s a pretty strong correlation between the most respected developers and them having a blog.
Simple Programmer emphasises heavily on how important it is for every developer to have a blog. In fact, now would be a good time for me to say that Soft Skills
Now, let me try and convince you why you don’t just want a blog, but why you need one.
It’s a consistent way to provide value to others
One of the most important aspects of marketing (continued below) is to provide value to others. Sure, you can stick to answering questions on Quora, or help solve others’ problems on StackOverflow (By no means should you stop doing it. That’s great stuff!), but often, this limits the knowledge and value you can give to the topic you’re addressing.
Writing your content in a blog will give you a more free and structured way to provide valuable content to others. You can write about common problems people run into, or write tutorials for new and old technologies. Maybe show people how to use that library nobody seems to be able to get their head around. The freedom is yours!
It serves as a platform to market yourself
You can build reputation in a number of places. You can be that ListView guy everybody knows on StackOverflow, or that ReactX guy everybody recognizes on Reddit (Specialisation is important. Watch Simple Programmer talk about it). Although you could be doing this, you’re not maximising your potential unless you give them a place to keep coming back to for your content.
Writing blog posts regularly and giving valuable content to your readers will keep them coming back, wanting more from you. Undoubtedly, this will make them want to buy your procucts and services as well.
John Sonmez (Simple Programmer), before he got famous, one time he walked into an interview for a job he was applying for. By this time, he had his blog up and was consistently writing new content. When the interview started, his employers mentioned “Hey, I recognise you. I’ve read your blog” and he passed without much of an interview at all.
It keeps your knowledge fresh and structured
By no means is it a daunting task to write a blog post every week, but it does take some level of commitment. As you commit to it, you’ll find that many of the things you write about show you gaps in your knowledge of say, how to keep your cloud database secure. Teaching is one of the best ways to learn.
Not only will this make you much more efficient while you’re programming different solutions, but you’ll be able to give confident, stutterless answers when people ask you face-to-face about certain technologies and implementations.
What are you doing? Get started now!
I don’t see any justified reason not to. It barely takes an hour every week to keep up with a blog post each week. If some of the busiest people can commit, so can you!
If you’re not sure on how to get started, Simple Programmer does a free blogging course that’s nothing short of amazing. Not to mention, there’s a pretty sweet reward at the end of it, and it’s free!