Founder building trimy.io, a link management platform. I write about the engineering problems that come up along the way; performance, reliability, and the occasional production fire.
25 articles in 3 months and still writing because you enjoy it, not for the numbers, that's the hard part actually, most people burn out chasing views way before that.
I think "Dev Opportunity Radar" is a really great concept, it's the type of series that people will definitely want to keep coming back to, you know, like every week, and even bookmark it so they don't miss out on any updates.
Question for the AMA: how do you avoid running out of ideas for a weekly series without it feeling repetitive after a while?
Hey, I'm Hema 👋
Developer, writer, and creator of Dev Opportunity Radar, a weekly series published every Friday on DEV, helping people discover opportunities they might otherwise miss.
Thanks so much, Ahmad! I'm really happy you've been enjoying Dev Opportunity Radar.
That's a great question.
I think it depends on the type of series you're writing. With Dev Opportunity Radar, the core idea stays the same because there are always new opportunities to share. What changes each week is the content, and over time I've made small improvements based on feedback from readers and my own ideas, whether that's adding a new section or making the format easier to read.
I also try to focus on quality over quantity. If I only find one opportunity that I genuinely think is worth sharing, I'd rather publish that than fill the post with things that aren't as useful.
For series where you need a brand-new idea every week, I think it's a little different. I'd definitely recommend keeping a running list of ideas whenever something comes to mind. It takes the pressure off because you're not trying to come up with your next article on publishing day, and it helps a lot when writer's block shows up.
And regardless of the type of series, I think the biggest thing is to keep enjoying it. The moment it starts feeling like something you have to do every week instead of something you want to do, it's much easier to burn out.
Founder building trimy.io, a link management platform. I write about the engineering problems that come up along the way; performance, reliability, and the occasional production fire.
That makes sense, especially the "running list" idea. I think the burnout point is the one people underestimate the most, easy to say yes to writing weekly when you're excited, harder to keep saying yes six months in. Thanks for the honest answer, hoping for you the best.
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25 articles in 3 months and still writing because you enjoy it, not for the numbers, that's the hard part actually, most people burn out chasing views way before that.
I think "Dev Opportunity Radar" is a really great concept, it's the type of series that people will definitely want to keep coming back to, you know, like every week, and even bookmark it so they don't miss out on any updates.
Question for the AMA: how do you avoid running out of ideas for a weekly series without it feeling repetitive after a while?
Thanks so much, Ahmad! I'm really happy you've been enjoying Dev Opportunity Radar.
That's a great question.
I think it depends on the type of series you're writing. With Dev Opportunity Radar, the core idea stays the same because there are always new opportunities to share. What changes each week is the content, and over time I've made small improvements based on feedback from readers and my own ideas, whether that's adding a new section or making the format easier to read.
I also try to focus on quality over quantity. If I only find one opportunity that I genuinely think is worth sharing, I'd rather publish that than fill the post with things that aren't as useful.
For series where you need a brand-new idea every week, I think it's a little different. I'd definitely recommend keeping a running list of ideas whenever something comes to mind. It takes the pressure off because you're not trying to come up with your next article on publishing day, and it helps a lot when writer's block shows up.
And regardless of the type of series, I think the biggest thing is to keep enjoying it. The moment it starts feeling like something you have to do every week instead of something you want to do, it's much easier to burn out.
That makes sense, especially the "running list" idea. I think the burnout point is the one people underestimate the most, easy to say yes to writing weekly when you're excited, harder to keep saying yes six months in. Thanks for the honest answer, hoping for you the best.