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Personal blogs are back, should niche blogs be next?

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Re: Personal blogs are back, should niche blogs be next?

#341

Post by rustystump »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #229
simonw wrote: post #88

Here are some reasons to start a personal blog: 1. It's a great way to learn. Teaching something to someone else has always been the best learning tool, and writing about something with an audience in mind is an effective way to capture some of that value. 2. It can be a big boost in job hunting. As a hiring manager two of the most important questions I have about a potential candidate are: Can they code? Can they co…

About point 2: I have yet to have a job interview, in which the interviewer has even taken a look at my website. Well, actually I don't know that, of course, but what I want to say is, that none so far showed any sign or indication of having taken a look, and as a consequence also no sign or indication of knowing anything about any of my showcased projects. In 95% of the cases it was just that they want to do their o…

You likely are interviewing at big companies. I have worked across the industry and the smaller the team the more they look at my website work etc. some even asked about game reviews on my blog during the interview.

However, even at big companies it can be useful depending on context but you have to bring it up in relation to why you are a fit for the job. Genuine enthusiasm goes a long way especially in the dry corporate world.

Re: Personal blogs are back, should niche blogs be next?

#342

Post by bluebarbet »

HeinzStuckeIt wrote: post #286
ghaff wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think a lot of what used to go onto blogs now goes elsewhere That's been true of me. A paragraph or three that I would once have done as a blog now slip neatly and easily into social media of various sorts. Going to try to do something about that next year but this year ended up crazy for various reasons.

Social media might be getting less attractive for that, though. Compare Reddit now to ten years ago, and you can see that even on more serious subreddits, everyone’s comments have become very short, often little more than a single line. If one posts a couple of solid paragraphs as a reply, one looks like an autistic weirdo info-bombing.

>If one posts a couple of solid paragraphs as a reply, one looks like an autistic weirdo info-bombing.

As one should. The rando who spams a discussion thread with an impenetrable wall of text is like that guy who uses their "question" at the end of an in-person panel discussion to ramble incoherently for three minutes. Yes, here we can scroll past it, but it's still presumptious and annoying. This is not primary content (that's at the top). Here we're all nobodies to everyone else. For my part I try to remember that fact - and get to the point.

Re: Personal blogs are back, should niche blogs be next?

#343

Post by deadbabe »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #322
flpm wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also a hiring manager. I always do. For me a good personal site is a huge step towards a phone interview. I look for things people do not because anyone told them to do (college projects, internships, work), but because they were excited about it. That initiative and excitement is what will set you apart from the other 100 resumes that look exactly like yours.

I hope you can "infect" others with this kind of view, so that more people adopt it. My CV currently also includes a link to my repositories and a page briefly describing some projects that got anywhere. Far from all of my 100 or so personal free time projects get finished, but some do, and those are described and linked in my CV and on my website. At least I do get interviews, which must mean at least something, and…

Please no, I don’t want people making blogs just because they want to get a job from it at some point, they should be making blogs because they love to blog.

Imagine everyone having some cookie cutter blog, just a standard part of a resume.

Re: Personal blogs are back, should niche blogs be next?

#344

Post by fabianholzer »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #229
simonw wrote: post #88

Here are some reasons to start a personal blog: 1. It's a great way to learn. Teaching something to someone else has always been the best learning tool, and writing about something with an audience in mind is an effective way to capture some of that value. 2. It can be a big boost in job hunting. As a hiring manager two of the most important questions I have about a potential candidate are: Can they code? Can they co…

About point 2: I have yet to have a job interview, in which the interviewer has even taken a look at my website. Well, actually I don't know that, of course, but what I want to say is, that none so far showed any sign or indication of having taken a look, and as a consequence also no sign or indication of knowing anything about any of my showcased projects. In 95% of the cases it was just that they want to do their o…

I'm involved in screening CVs and interviewing candidates. If there is so much as a email adress that indicates a personal domain, I look it up to see whether behind it there might be something like a personal website. When the CV is good and Github repositories etc. are mentioned I also take a brief glance there. But indeed, it is very rather rare that I make the content a part of the interview.

Re: Personal blogs are back, should niche blogs be next?

#345

Post by yoz-y »

zingar wrote: post #217
yoz-y wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just follow people on Mastodon and read stuff they link.

What are your servers and or people to follow? My mastodon timeline is a wasteland

I’m on a small boutique instance. I guess the trick is to follow somebody who reposts stuff from people around.

Re: Personal blogs are back, should niche blogs be next?

#346

Post by greyman »

stevoski wrote: post #187

The premise of this article is 100% incorrect. Personal blogs are not "back". The article has zero evidence for this. Ironically, Darren Rowse (the "problogger" person cited in the article) hasn't published a new blog post since 2024-07-24, more than a year ago.

Yes indeed, and also the title promise - I looked forward to read how the personal blogs are back, only to discover the author didnt provide any evidence, but not even examples. Maybe they are indeed back, if we count Substack newsletter archive as a "personal blog".

Re: Personal blogs are back, should niche blogs be next?

#347

Post by bccdee »

bluebarbet wrote: post #342
HeinzStuckeIt wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social media might be getting less attractive for that, though. Compare Reddit now to ten years ago, and you can see that even on more serious subreddits, everyone’s comments have become very short, often little more than a single line. If one posts a couple of solid paragraphs as a reply, one looks like an autistic weirdo info-bombing.

>If one posts a couple of solid paragraphs as a reply, one looks like an autistic weirdo info-bombing. As one should. The rando who spams a discussion thread with an impenetrable wall of text is like that guy who uses their "question" at the end of an in-person panel discussion to ramble incoherently for three minutes. Yes, here we can scroll past it, but it's still presumptious and annoying. This is not primary cont…

> This is not primary content

In a forum, the discussion IS primary content. That's the problem: Reddit has shifted away from being a discussion forum toward an endless-scroll content feed.

> Here we're all nobodies to everyone else. For my part I try to remember that fact - and get to the point.

Kind of an odd turn of logic. If being a nobody devalues your anecdotes or tangents, then it equally devalues your point. If, conversely, your point can be valuable in and of itself, then your anecdotes and tangents can be valuable in and of themselves too.

> Yes, here we can scroll past it, but [...] This is not primary content (that's at the top).

Incidentally, you don't have to scroll past anything to reach the content at the top of the page. It's at the top of the page.

Re: Personal blogs are back, should niche blogs be next?

#348

Post by kyawzazaw »

flpm wrote: post #256
zelphirkalt wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About point 2: I have yet to have a job interview, in which the interviewer has even taken a look at my website. Well, actually I don't know that, of course, but what I want to say is, that none so far showed any sign or indication of having taken a look, and as a consequence also no sign or indication of knowing anything about any of my showcased projects. In 95% of the cases it was just that they want to do their o…

Also a hiring manager. I always do. For me a good personal site is a huge step towards a phone interview. I look for things people do not because anyone told them to do (college projects, internships, work), but because they were excited about it. That initiative and excitement is what will set you apart from the other 100 resumes that look exactly like yours.

what kind of companies do you work for?

Re: Personal blogs are back, should niche blogs be next?

#349

Post by ozim »

deadbabe wrote: post #343
zelphirkalt wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you can "infect" others with this kind of view, so that more people adopt it. My CV currently also includes a link to my repositories and a page briefly describing some projects that got anywhere. Far from all of my 100 or so personal free time projects get finished, but some do, and those are described and linked in my CV and on my website. At least I do get interviews, which must mean at least something, and…

Please no, I don’t want people making blogs just because they want to get a job from it at some point, they should be making blogs because they love to blog. Imagine everyone having some cookie cutter blog, just a standard part of a resume.

Just look how it goes with GitHub everyone has some BS repos and then also they spam projects to get contributions for CVs.

Hacktober was the worst but I think it went away because of BS spam contributions.

CVE and in general security issues reporting has this issue nowadays where everyone wants to get CVE on their name to have it for CV. It is worst stuff ever.

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