FTFY: "Developers should start a blog if they want to, and not blog if they have better things to do with their time".
Few people are good writers, and can engage an audience. If you want to write, do so, but otherwise don't worry about blogging. There really is nothing worse than a blog written because somebody feels like they should 'put something out there', and not because they're passionate and enthusiastic about actual writing.
And having done a lot of hiring for a large and prominent tech finance dept, I can tell you that not once has anyone been hired because of their blog, and nobody has ever been rejected because they don't have one. The same goes for having a github repo, if you were wondering. 😉
True, if someone has no love for writing they won't get much benefit out of it. But my personal experience has been that hiring managers (the two who became my bosses) said it was my technical communication and focus in soft skills that made them choose me over the other candidates.
My intention is to encourage those who may want to write, but fear they have nothing to share because they are not experts in the field. I imagined that people who aren't interested probably wouldn't even click this in the first place. ;)
True. Writing a blog certainly won't do any harm. I'm just cautious because there's this toxic myth in our industry that to be successful you have to have 6 OSS projects on the go, be contributing to another 20, writing at least one tech blog, engaging on twitter, and learning a bazillion new technologies in your evenings and weekends. 😁
While you may not have seen it in your industry, I've seen a TON of cases where people have been hired for their blog.
I cannot recommend blogging enough as a career strategy, or at least as a tool in your career toolbox.
To be more accurate, it's not really about the blog itself. It's about showing initiative, expertise, and ability to communicate. That puts you miles ahead.
The blog doesn't have to be "good", it can be just a random collection of thoughts, and that's still a valuable and powerful addition to your online presence.
Having a bad blog is 1000 times worse than having no blog. If you can't write, don't. I haven't heard of people failing interviews because of a lack of OSS or blogging, but I've certainly seen CVs rejected after their blog was linked and the content deemed to have demonstrated that the person isn't great. The same goes for old blogs: if you haven't added to your site for years and all the content is about old tech that's no longer relevant, don't link it in your CV.
FTFY: "Developers should start a blog if they want to, and not blog if they have better things to do with their time".
Few people are good writers, and can engage an audience. If you want to write, do so, but otherwise don't worry about blogging. There really is nothing worse than a blog written because somebody feels like they should 'put something out there', and not because they're passionate and enthusiastic about actual writing.
And having done a lot of hiring for a large and prominent tech finance dept, I can tell you that not once has anyone been hired because of their blog, and nobody has ever been rejected because they don't have one. The same goes for having a github repo, if you were wondering. 😉
True, if someone has no love for writing they won't get much benefit out of it. But my personal experience has been that hiring managers (the two who became my bosses) said it was my technical communication and focus in soft skills that made them choose me over the other candidates.
My intention is to encourage those who may want to write, but fear they have nothing to share because they are not experts in the field. I imagined that people who aren't interested probably wouldn't even click this in the first place. ;)
True. Writing a blog certainly won't do any harm. I'm just cautious because there's this toxic myth in our industry that to be successful you have to have 6 OSS projects on the go, be contributing to another 20, writing at least one tech blog, engaging on twitter, and learning a bazillion new technologies in your evenings and weekends. 😁
While you may not have seen it in your industry, I've seen a TON of cases where people have been hired for their blog.
I cannot recommend blogging enough as a career strategy, or at least as a tool in your career toolbox.
To be more accurate, it's not really about the blog itself. It's about showing initiative, expertise, and ability to communicate. That puts you miles ahead.
The blog doesn't have to be "good", it can be just a random collection of thoughts, and that's still a valuable and powerful addition to your online presence.
Disagree with this too (well, the last point). 😉
Having a bad blog is 1000 times worse than having no blog. If you can't write, don't. I haven't heard of people failing interviews because of a lack of OSS or blogging, but I've certainly seen CVs rejected after their blog was linked and the content deemed to have demonstrated that the person isn't great. The same goes for old blogs: if you haven't added to your site for years and all the content is about old tech that's no longer relevant, don't link it in your CV.
"it can be just a random collection of thoughts" that describes me perfectly.
Well said, that's kind of the angle I was shooting for!
Indeed, well said! ☺️