Table of Contents
Why Writing Matters
Asking why writing matters is similar to asking why communication is important. In any part of our lives, we want to be the most efficient and effective communicators we can be in order to present our ideas across to both technical and non-technical counterparts. The truth is, the need for string writing proficiency will never diminish but will may only increase as time goes on.
"In fact, the importance of writing has perhaps increased in the last decade or so, thanks to trends in technology...In matters of business, when every second counts, strong writing makes the difference between smooth operations and clumsy footing."
huffpost
How It Benefits Your Future
Through writing about different topics, we are not only encouraged but forced to do essential research to put out the best information we can. This gives us the opportunity to learn more about these topics and get a better understanding of them. Therefore, we become a better developer by attaining a deeper knowledge base in both soft and technical skills.
During the research, we are also exposed to learning about new technologies that are upcoming. This allows us to stay updated with the current trends and new versions of existing technologies. By posting and writing about all these topics, your articles also becomes your own personal notes for every topic you want to go back to while giving back to the community and helping newer developers following in your footsteps. It's a win-win scenario!
What dev.to can help you with
Dev.to has a wonderful community of encouraging and supportive folks. They are helpful in many ways. Publishing will make our presence public online but also connect us with those outside of our local circles. Through these connections, we have the opportunity to build relationships online that let us find help in people who have such a variety of knowledge in many fields.
Plus, when you publish knowledgeable information, it validates your knowledge to you and others. Writing about what you know and your journey can also grab the attention of potential employers and clients.
How to start today
Remember to write because you want to, not because others tell you to. Write about the topics that matter to you - what do you care about, what interests you, what are you passionate about? Your interest and passion will shine through in your writing and peek interest in your readers.
Some tips:
- Explain any abbreviations and/or acronyms before using them in articles
- Write consistently (ie, set a publishing schedule)
- Use simple terms. Remove jargon and don't expect your readers to be familiar with technical terms.
- Use headers and a table of contents to divide your article into sections
- Use correct titles (not click-baits) and deliver on your topics
- Write series if your topics are more complex but don't make your readers click through to "read the rest"
Conclusion
Writing can be a lot of fun and a wonderful learning opportunity. But at the end of the day, it is your personal choice how much you want to contribute to the community or if you want to contribute at all. It can depend on your available time, what you're comfortable with, etc. In the end, do what's best for you.
Happy coding!
Top comments (32)
I think this is very counterproductive. Nobody will constantly have something of value to say, and forcing it will sooner or later lead to generating content for the sake of content.
I think there's a lot of value in knowing when to speak and when to stay quiet, and this applies just as much to writing. Knowing what topics are worth writing on and which aren't is essential to building a reputation of quality over quantity.
Also:
Absolutely not. Use correct titles, but do make them click-baity. The most amazing post can fail to gain any attention if the title doesn't manage to show off how exciting the topic is. What matters is quality. Avoiding inflationary use of words and expressions like "AMAZING" or "WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE" (in all caps, of course) in favour of more subtle techniques (like relating the topic of the article to the reader à la "How XXX can help you with YYY") will make a title "seem" a lot less click-baity, while still drawing in much more attention than something dry like "An analysis of XXX".
Delivering on the topics is, of course, a must. But not lying to the reader should be obvious without anybody pointing it out :D
Precisely the problem with today's blogging culture. Endless trash being written and rewritten and copied and paraphrased.
Write when you feel you have value to add to the community.
I offer a refinement:
Your writing need not serve anyone else.
I fully agree, if it's a personal diary and not polluting the web and search results that end up returning the same paraphrased stuff in abundance to wade through to find information 😉
Not a fan of the gatekeeping phrasing of "if it's a personal diary and not polluting the web"
How is that gate keeping? Fire better or for worse, there is no gate to keep. And even if there were, what part of expressing a preference suggests a desire to spend time and energy keeping the gate (moderating the web)?
Bottom line is though, any published writing should indeed ideally be a service to others. Therein lies one of the primary (desirable) features if you will of publication. In its absence it is often termed (disparagingly) as vanity publishing. Which is a modern phenomenon with us as the cost of publication came down.
If you are content with the freedom of vanity publishing, then I guess you have also to live with public criticism of it. Two sides of one coin.
By which measure of course you are entitled not to like the criticism too and to express that as well.
Just clarifying that gate keeping has no role to play here. Or better said, if it does then it applies equally to your criticism as to mine and to everyone's... which makes it, to my mind, a useless term.
I would reserve it for genuine situations of exclusion or conditional inclusion. Ironically while neither of these featured in my earlier comments I am a fan of them too... but that is a whole other (longer) story, and if you like I may craft an article on it some time.
The gatekeeping is specifically in reference to the value judgement of the word "polluting". I read that word as a passive gate, one that might be read as a subtle discouragement of writing.
I write because I enjoy it. I write blog posts because I enjoy it. I publish that blog because I enjoy it. A happy by product is that some of those posts others might find useful.
Sure, and I encourage you. But if all you are doing is rehashing the same stuff Google already shows without any significant value add, then polluting it is). Personally I don't imagine any dev doing that... unless they are pinned to a publication schedule or rewarded for same. Then I fear, and in fact see, the by products of that endless drive to publish.
But most people will usually want to write when they feel like they have something to say.
I'd say a better rule would be
Sure. As long as we distinguish, as I have (indirectly) noted above) between writing and publishing. Write when there's something you want to write. YES! Do it! Brilliant idea.
Publish when you feel you've written something that adds value to the community, that will help someone else, that will have an appreciative reader or readers. Equally brilliant idea!
I definitely agree on this point. I wouldn't encourage someone to write to simply write - I think that got misinterpreted. My apologizes. But building better writing skills, like any other skill, requires dedication and practice. This doesn't mean one has to do it every day or every week, but if they would like every once in a while. Practicing always helps.
I agree strongly with one aspect of what you are saying but offer a counter to it as well. Writing consistently is very important to being a good writer but knowing when to publish and only doing so when you have content worth publishing is the key.
It is important to keep yourself writing on a schedule but feeling compelled to publish everything you write or feeling like you always need to generate 'content' doesn't help anyone. As you say it causes the writer to focus on quantity over quality thus losing much of the personal value of writing and, for lack of a better word, pollutes you output with lower quality content thus losing the 'social' or 'branding' value of writing.
I think to Art & Fear: The ceramics class and quantity before quality; in which the professor split the class: half would be graded on quantity of output, the other half graded by one single piece (e.g. quality). The end result, those who focused on quantity had the best quality.
If you are writing for "branding" or "social" value, write all the more. You can't know what will "catch". Put it out there as a song sung into the wind. You may find someone echoing and responding in song or verse.
For someone intending to make writing into their profession, this is probably true, but for your average developer, it's probably more than enough to simply write whenever there is something worthwhile to write about.
Just an article or two is already a good bit of effort, and if it's about a topic that can't be googled in 5 minutes, there will probably be a good bit of writing, deleting and re-writing involved.
Combine that with other writing tasks that just come with the field, like writing documentation, and you'll already be doing a solid amount of writing practice, certainly more than many other professions.
"Remember to write because you want to, not because others tell you to." - You, in that article telling people to write.
Writing isn't for everyone. But everyone has the right to know the benefits
Mixed signals 😂
hahaha at the end of the day, we do all write in some way, shape, or form in our lives. Whether it be writing blogs or articles, it might not be for everyone - but there are definitely benefits to either side.
❤️😜
Yes The author has the right, in my country at least, to express what they feel are the benefits of writing.
But surely you see the cynicism of an article with a click bait headline saying "100% of coders should start writing!" having a bullet point about not using click bait titles. Surely you notice the Author says everyone needs to write... But not to let anyone pressure them into it.
Writing for some people is immensely stressful, doesn't come naturally, and when they are pressured into posting they feel vulnerable and exposed. Articles like this, as you said, are protected by the USA's first amendment. Doesn't mean they Aren't cynical attention grabs.
I loved this article! I recently decided to start a DevJournal of my journey in becoming a programmer due to a forced mid-life career change!
While I don't have a schedule (and I touch on that), I do plan to write once or twice a week, or more depending on time etc. I do see the value in the research aspect that goes into providing current and accurate information which is valuable to me.
Thanks for this inspirational article!
Sounds wonderful! Can't wait to see your articles in the future
I have a rather extensive blog at takeonrules.com. The tags might help you find the thread (it's an everything blog)
Thank you for writing this up and making the case for why every developer should consider writing.
I know that I learn the most when I take time to write; I expand on concepts and end up creating a boarder and stronger mental map of what I know.
This is good stuff, and it's a bit disheartening seeing people snipe at an article that's explaining the benefits of writing.
I was wondering if you've read "How to Take Smart Notes" by Sönke Ahrens? It's a fantastic read that goes into methodology, pedagogy, and philosophy of writing.
My favorite quotes from that book:
Thank you for your kind words! I have not read "How to Take Smart Notes", I will have to look into it. It sounds like a wonderful read. Thanks for the suggestion
Writing definitely is a great tool for learning.
I think writing consistency is good in the long term but it really depends on your goals. Another comment mentioned it could be counter productive to producing quality content. Which isn't necessarily true. If you're speaking about a single subject matter and just re-frame it a bunch of times then it dips in quality, for sure.
But there's so many things to write about. The quality of the writing and the perspective the author gives is more important.
And a publishing schedule doesn't necessarily mean it has to be every day or every week but it is something to strive for.
I agree :) Everyone has a great deal of knowledge to share with the community, especially since we are constantly learning every day.
can't agree more!
I can speak to this for a bit. It was not easy to communication verbally when language is a barrier, and especially when joining a new team where domain knowledge can be another barrier.
Writing down technical thoughts helped me out a lot. Of course it also depends on if my team likes to read or talk through things. Often times, writing down something will clear out the thoughts before bothering others for help. Writing gives us a pause to think deeper, which is sometimes needed at work.
Besides communicating (text message) through writing, driving project/development via documents is also a great skillset. Through covid time, this is essentially how I work for the past 2 years.
Can you go to my profile and give me few tips.
P.S.: great post
thanks :D and would be happy to!
Reasons "Why Every Developer Should Write":