Why do you write on DEV?

What's your reason for constantly writing on DEV, sometimes spending even hours or days on a single post?

• Are you seeking attention, want to get lots of reactions?
• Do you want to share your experiences/ideas?
• Want to help others with your posts?
• Maybe for future references?
• Or something completely else?

Let's discuss, tell us why you write here 😄

Comments

[Suzanne Aitchison]

I think there was a post on DEV a while back that said something along the lines of "write for your past self" by creating content you would have liked to had access to when you were learning about X, and "write for your future self" by distilling your learnings into a post and having it there to refer back to.

I can't remember what the post was/who by so sorry if I am mangling it 😂 Anyway, it resonated and I think it sums up pretty well why I post on DEV.

[Pacharapol Withayasakpunt]

Mostly, to document the journey; but also to make use there are some readers.

I would be more pleased if there are comments, but it is hard to get one. -- As I can learn more from comments than likes.

I also posted with #help before, but there aren't comments -- only likes and bookmarks.

[Gab]

I have started to write as a way to record techniques that I learnt on the job in a way that can help others as well. Also, as someone who works on proprietary software, I am afraid that all of the tricks and techniques that I've learnt will be lost if I ever leave my current employer. I am someone who relies heavily on notes because I deal with many different technology stacks and my worst nightmare is losing my notes.

[Ryan Smith]

I want to participate in the community, share my experiences, and discuss them with others. I hope that others can benefit from my posts.

I also feel that lists of tutorial links get a lot of attention here, but aren't the most useful and is not original content. I want to "be the change you want to see in the world" by posting original content.

It is also helpful to take the knowledge that you have or a topic you want to learn and organize it into a post. It helps reinforce that topic and allows you to better discuss it.

Overall, I think it is a rewarding experience.

[Patrik Kiss]

I also feel that lists of tutorial links get a lot of attention here, but aren't the most useful and is not original content. I want to "be the change you want to see in the world" by posting original content.

I can relate to that. Honestly whenever I see a post which is barely organized, with probably 10 minutes of work in it, consists of just some copy pasted links and a very few details that are not even really useful or informative getting hundreds of reactions, I kind of feel a bit upset.

I see much much better posts than those that barely get any attention.

I'm also trying to create articles about topics that haven't really been covered yet, and can be useful to many people.

Unfortunately, JS completely dominates this site, especially React. If you make an article about JS, attention is pretty much guaranteed. But if it's about PHP for example, people don't really care about it.

[Zaynaib (Ola) Giwa]

1.) To get out of my comfort zone. I absolutely hate writing but, it's a necessary skill. Learning how to communicate with others can get you far in life.

2.) If I can teach/explain a concept clearly to someone else I'm one step closer to mastery.

3.) To document want I've learned so far. Being mostly self taught dev can be daunting. Writing about what I've learned helps me to see the progress that I've made.

[Max Ong Zong Bao]

1) Side hustle
2) Personal branding for people to come to me to do work on my niche.
3) Documenting my journey as I learn more things.

[Gab]

So much this.

I was hesitant to write anything because I don't fit that mould but decided to throw caution to the wind and do it anyway. I've barely had any traffic to my post, but I don't care because I'm sure that at least one person will find it useful!

[Paul Ryan]

For me it's definitely about learning something then explaining so in the future when I inevitably forget, I have something to look back on. If I also help someone else learn then that's a bonus!

[YD]

I am newbie on Dev.to, but I hope find cool material and friend. And may be new interesting projects 😄

[Andrei Visoiu]

Well, I am quite new to both the programming and the blogging (I am still in high school and I only have 2 posts so far) and I find it to be very rewarding - I get to share knowledge, help others and help myself at the very same time, as writing can be a very powerful learning experience.