11–20 of 60 posts
I have got several BigTech interviews as well as jobs through regular posting long form posts on LinkedIn. One of the best framings I have learned is to teach yourself by writing. Think of it as a conversation with your friends and you are learning together. Take the negative comments as a motivation to improve. Go for it.
I've gotten a little negative feedback, but that's by far in the minority. Most people on the internet are very nice and I've gotten lots of friendly emails from people I've never met. Definitely give it a try - I would suggest doing a github.io page to get started, but you can of course go the self-hosted route if you're into that sort of thing.
Slightly related to the point of negative feedback: https://social.jvns.ca/@b0rk/111687674935331566
that way you would write to yourself.
if people like your stuff - they will email you.
people who don’t like your stuff wouldn’t email you - too much effort and harder to write nasty things over email.
> I am afraid of sharing though and getting negative feedback. Then don't. Don't add a comment section. Unless you have built an extensive community around your site, having open comments just invites drive-by criticism or generally people demanding, rather than stopping by to say nice things. What I am thinking to add on my personal website, though, is a "send a reply" box at the end, where one can directly write to…
I just list my email address. FastMail's spam filters are good enough that I rarely get spam so it hasn't been a problem. Occasionally I'll get an email from a dev asking following up questions or if I can help them with their code. It's nice to know that it's not just my mom reading the site.
Write, Write, and then Write some more.
What you will find is that when writing with your heart and not trying to write what others want to read, then you will grow into a better you.
But don't ever write for fame or status. It will swallow you whole and leave you with nothing else than hollow texts that you have no attachments to.
And read more too. But don't read things that you work with. Read masterpieces. Read and use what you to your advantage ti write more.
But write. Please just write.
Putting the first few articles online was nerve-wracking though. I would recommend getting them out of the way as quickly as possible.
Also, finding the right post length can be challenging.
My blog/articles about Go dev: https://www.willem.dev
Yes, that can be a bit scary. It can be difficult to take criticism, depending on how you handle it. I know that if I submitted a post to HN and everyone was hating on it, I'd feel awful, but only because I have a lot of respect for this community's opinions. If it was a random person? Who cares.
But it's so good being able to get your thoughts out. And I don't mean just how it benefits your career, but also in personal terms. You'll meet great people who share your interests, and when someone meets you, they'll see a ton of interesting stuff about you.
That's how I feel when I look at someone's blog.
I'll also echo sph's warning not to add a comments section. But don't be afraid to publish.
> Did starting a blog lead to a new job?
Even better, I met my co-founder and got VC investment because of one of my blog posts (which got picked up and mentioned by a16z).
I started in May last year and it's been a blast so far. I find that writing about subjects makes me look at them more deeply then "just" working with them. Putting the first few articles online was nerve-wracking though. I would recommend getting them out of the way as quickly as possible. Also, finding the right post length can be challenging. My blog/articles about Go dev: https://www.willem.dev