If your primary motivation is building a personal brand, then it’s probably not worth it to the readers.
Ask HN: Is maintaining a personal blog still worth it?
41–50 of 173 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is maintaining a personal blog still worth it?
#42Most of your questions revolve around acquiring readers and sharing content. I am not sure my reasons for blogging are the same as yours, but I will say that it has been beneficial for me, both personally and for my career. During job searches, it is helpful to have a collection of writing samples that show I am competent and indeed a real human rather than an LLM fabrication. On a personal level, it’s been very rewa…
I'm probably old, but still curious. You seem to have so many social contact routes on your website but I couldn't find an email address. Did I miss it? I try to limit my contact routes to as few as possible so I don't have to process so many interruptions. I have a twitter link on my website, so that may cater for people who don't use email any more :)
> I have a twitter link on my website, so that may cater for people who don't use email any more :)
I wouldn't consider Twitter a replacement for email, though. The one thing about email is that everyone must have one. It's the one common denominator, and I believe it is the reason why email is still a thing.
Twitter, on the other hand... I mean just the fact that you apparently refuse to use the new name says a thing or two about what you think about it, right?
Re: Ask HN: Is maintaining a personal blog still worth it?
#43Is it worth having your own real estate to do what you want? Yes.
Re: Ask HN: Is maintaining a personal blog still worth it?
#44I have a personal website exclusively so I can put it on my resume.
Re: Ask HN: Is maintaining a personal blog still worth it?
#45It's worth it as long as you are distributing blog content onto Twitter.
Re: Ask HN: Is maintaining a personal blog still worth it?
#46It's hard to form a comprehensive opinion about a subject without writing about it. My blog helps me do that because it forces me to research the stuff that I believe to be true and write concisely about it.
If the blog helps you form your ideas, it is worth it.
If the end goal is to have a readership, be prepared to do more than just writing. You can easily easily fall in the trap of writing to please your audience. And they can steer you in unexpected directions.
Re: Ask HN: Is maintaining a personal blog still worth it?
#47Yes. I like _writing_ because it's an effective way of learning (at least for me), since explaining something is very different than "just" doing something. I don't track visitors/analytics on my blog, so I don't really care how many people read it, but it forces me to dive just a little bit deeper into topics than I usually would for side projects and experiments. I also have no problem admitting if I misunderstand…
Your first comment resonated a lot for me: "I like _writing_ because it's an effective way of learning (at least for me), since explaining something is very different than "just" doing something."
I also find writing as an effective way to learn and (for me) also writing often forces me clarify my thinking and synthesize what I've learned in order to effectively communicate my thoughts in a way that makes sense outside of my own head.
Re: Ask HN: Is maintaining a personal blog still worth it?
#48Just celebrated my 10 year anniversary https://www.philipzucker.com/ten_year_blog/ actually. It has not generated new jobs for me, but I haven't been looking really. Writing is good. It's a good way to learn more. It's good to do things and have tangible results. If you don't enjoy it on some level or feel satisfaction, there are more direct ways to seek what you want.
Re: Ask HN: Is maintaining a personal blog still worth it?
#49> why do you keep writing?
I'm going to share a drastically different perspective: I blog under a name that is totally disconnected from my professional name. I do not derive any obvious fringe benefits to my career for doing so, yet I persist.
I write because it forces me to become a more deliberate thinker and more effective communicator. This makes me a more valuable employee, and it shows in how I interact with the people I work with.
Dispense with all this branding and clout crap. Why play the rat race like everyone else?
Write for you, and for people who care about the same things you do. Who knows, maybe you'll find likeminded people and build a professional network organically?
Re: Ask HN: Is maintaining a personal blog still worth it?
#50Most of your questions revolve around acquiring readers and sharing content. I am not sure my reasons for blogging are the same as yours, but I will say that it has been beneficial for me, both personally and for my career. During job searches, it is helpful to have a collection of writing samples that show I am competent and indeed a real human rather than an LLM fabrication. On a personal level, it’s been very rewa…
I'm probably old, but still curious. You seem to have so many social contact routes on your website but I couldn't find an email address. Did I miss it? I try to limit my contact routes to as few as possible so I don't have to process so many interruptions. I have a twitter link on my website, so that may cater for people who don't use email any more :)
I don’t directly link my email, but people still find it pretty easily because I’m not trying too hard to hide it. Even the folks who can’t find my email managed to get a hold of me quite easily. I am not famous enough to be at a point where people wanting to talk to me is a distraction. I even have a Calendly page if people really want to hop on a call with me. I probably get five requests a year which is not unreasonable.