This past month of publishing one post per day far exceeded my expectations. I was inspired to do this challenge by the co-hosts of the Office Hours Podcast, T.K. Coleman and Isaac Morehouse. They talk about the challenge a lot, so I decided to just dive in. Here are my results.
My top three posts by views
Reactions are a bit weird on this site and I don't really think they consistently express the success of a post. For the following three posts, these are the view counts at the time of this writing: 4595, 2331, & 1623.
My total reaction and view counts
My view count is beyond what I could have guessed it would be. There are a few things I think helped a lot with this:
- The DEV Community admins are really supportive on Twitter
- A lot of devs read and share posts from this site on Twitter
- I posted every single day (except once, I was sick)โthat's a lot
My follower counts
Publishing here and sharing my posts on Twitter really spiked my follower counts for both sites. I have 2061 on DEV and 238 on Twitter. I can't remember exactly how many followers I had on Twitter when my challenge started, but it wasn't too many. I started the account sometime in mid-April.
The unexpected side effects
I joined Twitter mainly for networking. I felt like I was missing out on knowing devs in my area, and Twitter seemed like an easy way to see what events were happening as well. Turns out, a lot of really cool and inspiring devs are over there. I think one of the coolest things I've seen on Twitter is the #100daysofcode hashtag. I'm so proud of the tech community and the educational environment over there.
Twitter for networking was a great idea. Interacting in various discussion threads, reading wisdom from experienced devs, and e-meeting all kinds of cool people has literally changed my life.
- I discovered my love for web accessibility advocacy
- This summer, I'm attending my first conference in years
- I released textua11y, my first React app
- I've found a ton of meetup opportunities in my area
Overall, this blogging challenge has been one of the best decisions I've ever made. If you're an aspiring writer, my best advice is to just do the damn thing. I don't know if I'll be posting on the DEV site every single day, but I plan to continue posting daily on my personal blog site to get out of the tech headspace sometimes.
Finally, thanks for being here. You've helped make this a helluva ride. Hope you'll stick around for more! I have massive dreams. ๐
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Top comments (7)
A post a day is hard work! Well done getting through that.
I love the things you discovered out of this that you weren't expecting though. It's not about the follower counts and traffic, but the people, the interests and the opportunities that surface.
Now I'm going to check out textua11y!
This is soo true
Congo ๐๐ฆ๐๐
Congrats Ashlee, itโs an amazing achievement! I wish you continued success in your development and writing careers!
Thanks a ton! This phase has really reinforced my love for writing. I expect a fun next few months! :)
This is awesome, congratulations and keep up the great work.
I related to some of those as I've started on this platform not long ago and the results are incredible ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ
Congrats Ashlee! I literally followed all your posts and you did such a great job. โค๏ธ
This is an awesome idea, you've inspired me! Well done!