I want to start writing a technical blog (related to computer science and development), but almost every topic I think of has been written upon by someone, probably better that what/how I would have written it.
Ask HN: What are some technical topics I can blog about?
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Re: Ask HN: What are some technical topics I can blog about?
#2You could always pick something you don't know much about but are interested in, then blog about your learning process. Chances are you'll present it in a way that helps someone else learn it, who either appreciates your presentation style, or couldn't find answers to issues they faced on their learning path.
Re: Ask HN: What are some technical topics I can blog about?
#3The best inspiration comes from the development work you are doing for work or a hobby project.
When you start something new or run in to an issue doing something create an article.
Detail what you are doing and what documentation your are following. Outline the steps, pitfalls/potential pitfalls and how to overcome them.
Almost everything we do whether something new or doing something new detailing the steps and providing tips to complete it or improve it is going to help someone coming down the same path after you.
So take inspiration from your own work.
If you use a framework or language that's a good topic to dump all the knowledge you come across for others following in your footsteps.
Every topic has been written about, but there is always new versions of everything so detailing the steps again and including anything missing from the docs will be helpful to people.
Re: Ask HN: What are some technical topics I can blog about?
#4Blogging should be less about immediately building an audience and more about gaining a greater individual understanding for the topics you blog about. You might also find that with each post, you learn something new about writing, style, etc and will grow embarrassed about your original posts. You will learn how to communicate better, write better and gain a greater understanding of your own opinions by blogging even if no one ever reads it.
For those interested, i wrote a blog post on this exact topic[1] about a year ago.
1: https://blog.benroux.me/untold-benefits-of-a-software-blog/
Re: Ask HN: What are some technical topics I can blog about?
#5Think of yourself going on a journey, a journey into the technical world. Where you talk about your development skills, your technical tact, your debt and how you go about them each and every day. Writing down your inner turmoil, thoughts, moments of brilliance, or moments of despair and frustration is one of the most valuable things you can share with someone. Along with tips, hacks, and tricks of course. It also forms valuable research for yourself because it enables you to capture your raw thoughts when in the moment. Digestible in bite-size pieces for yourself and the world to see.
Re: Ask HN: What are some technical topics I can blog about?
#6What do you know?
If you want to write about what you know, do it. Even if someone else has written about it, you may write about it differently. Maybe your "voice" will reach people that didn't like another blog post about the same subject.
If you decide, as saluki suggested to write about something you don't know; do as he suggest and provide details and references. This could be more interactive, if people are trying to learn along with you.
The key is to write -- both on schedule and as well as you can. Adhering to a schedule means people can easily follow along and know when you are posting. The more you write, the better you get.
Re: Ask HN: What are some technical topics I can blog about?
#7It's better to write about stuff that you've just learnt. Fixed a tricky bug, learnt about a new API, found a useful library? Write about it.
It'll cement the knowledge in your mind, and perhaps you'll have insights that others haven't had. If you're aiming to write about stuff no-one's ever written before, you'll never get around to actually writing anything.
Re: Ask HN: What are some technical topics I can blog about?
#8> I want to start writing a technical blog (related to computer science and development)
Why?
> but almost every topic I think of has been written upon by someone, probably better that what/how I would have written it.
So?
If you want to write the most authoritative blog post on some technical topic, why? Why be the best? Why that topic?
Write what you want to write about. In a year or two you can look back and revise/delete your old posts if you want. Do you think your favorite blogger's first post was amazing? Probably not.
Re: Ask HN: What are some technical topics I can blog about?
#9If you're just starting a blog/technical publication, there's nothing wrong with casting a wide focus and writing about many barely related topics. As you get some articles written/published, you'll learn more about what you're good at, what you enjoy and what brings the most useful traffic.
At this point, you'll be better served by building a publishing habit than picking the mythical perfect niche. But, if you're concerned, in my experience, all the good niches either have huge amounts of competition or they're so incredibly bleeding edge that they're risky to learn about.
Re: Ask HN: What are some technical topics I can blog about?
#10I tried going down your path and blogged only about stuff that's arcane or interesting tech wise, and it did nothing but cause me writer's block and turn me off blogging.
Learn to write for yourself first. If you set up Raspian on a Raspberry Pi over the weekend, write about it! If you popped a CentOS install disk and set up a server, write about that. It doesn't matter if there's 10000 blog posts about the same exact thing, you can turn even mundane topics interesting as long as you have a good writing style- and that's what you're going to be exercising by blogging.