> What has your experience been in starting a tech blog?
I published my first blog post about a year ago and within the last year, I've written around eight essays in total. Most of them didn't receive much interest, with only a few of my friends reading them. However, two of my blog posts managed to make it to the front pages of HN.
One problem I encountered when starting a blog was designing my site. I knew that if I aimed for a very aesthetic website, the design and development process would consume most of my time, potentially preventing me from publishing any posts and resulting in a state where I give. So, instead of aiming for the best UI and such, I initially preferred my blog to be functional and easy to maintain. This decision led me to come up with a simple blog where, initially, the only things on my blog were the posts. I have built my blog using Hugo, a very simple static site generator that provides almost all the essential tools you might need for blogging.
I believe my essay writing skills have significantly improved since I first began. If you're not a natural born writer, it's most probable that your first attempts at essay writing won't be perfect. But, the key to better writing is practice. Which means you have to be prepared to write some imperfect essays to improve.
Just remember, your progress could be hindered by perfectionism if it stops you from writing out of fear of not living up to your own high standards.
> I want to start one as a way to explore and express my interests, which currently include HTMX, Django, Python, and data engineering. I am afraid of sharing though and getting negative feedback.
I recommend that you just go for it. I would not worry about any negative feedback as long as I try to respect people's boundaries, stay humble, and avoid making baseless claims. That being said, bear in mind that some people might try to discourage you, no matter how good your work is. For those cases, just keep in mind that the problem is most likely not your work being bad but them being a negative person.
Feedback can either be helpful (providing possible improvements for your writing), or it can be unhelpful (and even contain demotivating phrases). At times, it can be both. Focus on the helpful aspects of the feedback and ignore the unhelpful ones. If someone takes the time to give feedback on your content, it's often a sign that they see the topic worthy of giving time.
> Was that something that you pushed through when starting?
It is not something that I pushed through.
I often find myself explaining topics I'm interested in to my friends. I thought it would be great to write my thoughts and experiences on some of these important topics, so I could easily share them with my friends. I also find myself writing things down primarily for myself for solidifying my thoughts and providing guidance for later.
I already had enough reasons to write before starting to write publicly, I just realized that I could easily make these writings public with just a little effort. So writing a blog is more of a hobby of mine than a task. I won't write if I don't have the time for it. It's not something that exhausts me, as long as I don't do it with big expectations.
> Did starting a blog lead to a new job?
To give it a short answer, no. At least, not yet.
It's not really a problem nor is it something I aim to achieve through blogging though. If your ultimate goal is to secure a new job, it would probably be more beneficial to explore other alternatives.