Three years from the day I finally stopped farting around and just did it - started this blog, set up my website, put myself out there. And every time I put up an anniversary post, I have to thank, of course, Catherine Ling of Caremburu, who got me started on this path. It was then or never. No point waiting till I had enough tech cred. That was how I got tech cred.
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| Take the plunge! |
I wish I could declare it's succeeded beyond my wildest dreams, but let's be real here. This is one tech blog out of millions of tech blogs out there, and it's not even a particularly good one. I'm nobody. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. And that's a good thing because that means nobody cares about what I have to say. In this day and age, caring leads to witch hunts and the end of your private life as you know it.
No, success takes many forms, and in my case, this blog succeeded not once, but twice.
The first time was back in 2016, when the owner of a software startup hired me - after viewing my posts, GitHub account and other things I had shared online.
The second time was earlier this year, when a major tech company interviewed me and commented on my blog during the interview. And then hired me.
In both cases, one could argue that I'd passed the technical interview and was therefore qualified, and my crappy little blog had nothing to do with it at all. Anyone who says that obviously does not understand the industry. Passing a technical interview is the minimum requirement. What a hiring manager looks for is that little extra. Love for your craft. Enthusiasm. And for a web developer, nothing screams enthusiasm like a tech blog, buying your own domain name and a lovingly maintained repository filled with all the code you write after work hours.
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| Coding after hours. |
You see, when hiring a developer at my level, what an employer looks for is return on investment. Let's define quality of a developer as the knowledge he possesses (x) against the entirety of technical knowledge that exists out there right now (y). Someone who loves his work is only going to get better, no matter how much he sucked when you first hired him. Conversely, if you hire someone who checks all the right boxes but fails to convince you that he loves his work enough to keep improving, his value will inevitably go down the moment you hire him. x will be at a standstill, while y is only going to increase.
Also, one could say that in this day and age, not having an online presence is weird. That goes doubly if you're a tech. Triply if you're a web tech.
It's not about the quality of the content. My posts don't boast any stunning insights about the web industry or tech news. They do, however, tell the prospective employer that I bother to keep myself informed. I think about the things I read, and I care enough to formulate an opinion and put it out there. Same for my code. It's not the greatest code in the world. You could take a look and declare that your dog could write better code. Again, it's not about the quality. It's about the amount of love you put into it.
No, I put myself out there, and in an industry where many developers can't even be bothered, that puts me ahead of the pack - a pack that includes developers three times more experienced and proficient than I am. I could be drinking myself silly at a pub after hours. I could be binge-watching TV. Engaging in internet flame wars. Or any other enjoyable but arguably time-wasting activity. Instead, I'm doing this.
Well, that goes for my yearly exercise in defending the existence of this blog...
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