Every Developer Should Have Their Own Blog

Writing isn’t always easy. Be it code comments, documentation or blog. For programmers, writing code is much easier than writing its documentation. It’s even taught as a best practice that your code be such self-explanatory that comments aren’t needed. Every programmer prefers to write code than to “waste” time writing documentation.

But despite this reluctance, why should you consider blogging? Here’s the thing: blogging isn’t just about documentation. It’s about something bigger.

Giving Back to the Community

Every developer becomes a good developer by standing on the shoulders of giants. Ask yourself:

• Did you build the IDE you work on?
• Did you create the framework you use?
• Did you write the language you work with?

Unless you’re a legend like Brendan Eich or Fred Schott, the answer is probably no. You learnt everything from open-source code, Stack Overflow answers, forum posts, and yes, blog posts that other devs took painful hours from their time to write and publish. Everything that you can add to this community, you must add in order for other devs to learn from. You never know your one snippet, one idea, one technique might end up fixing a problem for someone and maybe changing their life. Never underestimate the butterfly effect of sharing.

And it’s not just about helping others as blogging is a game changer for your own growth too.

Learning for Yourself (and Your Future Self)

One should write a blog as their own journey, not only to teach others but also to teach your future self.

• Solve a tricky problem? Blog it so future you can revisit when you encounter something similar.
• Want to learn something deeply? Use the Feynman technique : teach others to learn yourself. Think you’re an “expert” on something? Try writing a post on it and you’ll be surprised how many gaps you find in your own knowledge. Take a simple test right now: try writing down a post on Asynchronous programming all on your own. No ChatGPT, no reference, and then introspect; Do you really know enough?

Building Trust & Showcasing Skills

Writing a blog can also be a good source of trust and showcasing yourself. Why would a recruiter hire you? What would make someone on Upwork give you that $10,000 gig? They don’t know you nor they’ve personally worked with you.

But when you have your words, your ideas, your mind out there in public, people get to know you, your style of working, your skillset. It can be a great addition to your portfolio as well.

But if you’re starting a blog just for the sake of impressing future employers and not for the thrill of it, I’m gonna have to tell you that doesn’t go far!

Think about two devs: one learnt code for the love and magic of it, the other to get a job. Both might be equally skilled, but the outcomes are pretty different. One might get bored, overwhelmed, and even burned out. The other one, for whom every line of code is solving a mystery, could never be stopped by a few errors. Readers are smart, they can smell genuine passion right through.

Get Started Today!

So get a domain if you can, or use GitHub Pages, but start writing today . Use platforms like Dev.to or Hashnode to start right away. Don’t overthink, start small, start somewhere. Your first blog might not be perfect, just like this one. But eventually it will be. Share your insights with the community you’ve gained everything from, and your future self will thank you!