Engineers Should Blog
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Engineers Should Blog
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Re: Engineers Should Blog
#2I think this misses another equally important reason, which is to do your part to help build the gift economy upon which we all rely in our day to day work. Near every common solution and recipe has been written up by someone, somewhere, and we all make use of these gifts.
When you learn to do something useful that other people will likely also have to accomplish at some point in time, write it up. Not only will it benefit people out there in the world, but it is also a great way to ensure that you yourself don't have to reinvent the wheel a few years down the line. Who remembers the details after that long? So write it down, and if you write it down, you may as well publish it.
Re: Engineers Should Blog
#3When I read ,,the only thing you need is an editor'', I thought how cool it would be if what I write would be reviewed by some people before going public...it would make me less shy about it.
Then I realized he means a text editor (though he's an editor himself)
Re: Engineers Should Blog
#4When I read ,,the only thing you need is an editor'', I thought how cool it would be if what I write would be reviewed by some people before going public...it would make me less shy about it. Then I realized he means a text editor (though he's an editor himself)
That's my biggest problem, how do you improve your written communication without an editor? You can do the same thing over and over and call it practice, but without a reviewer how will you magically improve this skill?
Re: Engineers Should Blog
#5When I read ,,the only thing you need is an editor'', I thought how cool it would be if what I write would be reviewed by some people before going public...it would make me less shy about it. Then I realized he means a text editor (though he's an editor himself)
I'd be happy to take a look at your posts before you publish them if you'd like. That goes for anyone, feel free to email me. In return I might send you some of my own.
Re: Engineers Should Blog
#6When I read ,,the only thing you need is an editor'', I thought how cool it would be if what I write would be reviewed by some people before going public...it would make me less shy about it. Then I realized he means a text editor (though he's an editor himself)
That's my biggest problem, how do you improve your written communication without an editor? You can do the same thing over and over and call it practice, but without a reviewer how will you magically improve this skill?
Same way you acquire any other service. Pay for it, or know somebody.
Re: Engineers Should Blog
#7Thanks to Beeminder I stuck to blogging for a while (my results, such as they are, can be found on my website) even though I wasn't happy, and they are all full of horrible grammar.
The only thing I learned from the project is that I really don't like blogging, I want to build stuff.
Re: Engineers Should Blog
#8I think this misses another equally important reason, which is to do your part to help build the gift economy upon which we all rely in our day to day work. Near every common solution and recipe has been written up by someone, somewhere, and we all make use of these gifts. When you learn to do something useful that other people will likely also have to accomplish at some point in time, write it up. Not only will it b…
While I agree generally with what you've written here, my only issue with it is that writing it up takes about as long as building the thing, and I'm pretty lazy.
Also, if someone, somewhere, has written up nearly ever common solution, how do I know which ones are novel enough to put the effort in to publishing. Most of things I build aren't novel or new in any way, I'm fairly sure.
Re: Engineers Should Blog
#9[deleted]
Re: Engineers Should Blog
#10When I read ,,the only thing you need is an editor'', I thought how cool it would be if what I write would be reviewed by some people before going public...it would make me less shy about it. Then I realized he means a text editor (though he's an editor himself)
That's my biggest problem, how do you improve your written communication without an editor? You can do the same thing over and over and call it practice, but without a reviewer how will you magically improve this skill?
1. Post stuff for people to view. Pay attention to what is popular, and what isn't
2. Read stuff aloud before posting
3. Read widely, and pay attention to writing you like.
I've built a business off of writing: https://lsathacks.com/explanations/
I got started by writing a travel blog during a yearlong trip. I posted each entry to Facebook. When an entry got a lot of comments/views, I could tell it was better. I also got confidence that I was writing well.
As I kept writing, I always made sure to show my work. And I found that reading aloud helped me find awkwards parts.
Finally, I got started during a time when I was reading lots of blogs and novels. Good reading will help your writing.
That's about it. Practice, tempered by feedback and observing the work of others.