My own short story stolen from a co-worker: they had written an article on basic vagrant setup of popular open-source online school software (think edX, Canvas, etc.). This had eventually resulted in a contact by an agency doing work on that platform, who needed contract hours. I was always struck by how relatively "cheap" an ad this article was, and liked that it did provide value in the dev community.
Ask HN: Blogging to get contracting/job leads?
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Re: Ask HN: Blogging to get contracting/job leads?
#2I will say, however, that writing is one of those things that works better if you do it a whole lot rather than once in a while. Stay in practice. And be willing to syndicate your thoughts beyond your own website. Your goal is to spread ideas—spread them wide.
Re: Ask HN: Blogging to get contracting/job leads?
#3All in all, blogging is a win-win. You write, first and foremost, for you and for your growth. If it helps others or gets you leads, all the better.
Re: Ask HN: Blogging to get contracting/job leads?
#4One lifetime ago, I was working at Google Zürich. I was at my fourth year there and I was not really looking for a new opportunity. But a recruiter from Improbable [2] found me thanks to these articles, because client-side prediction knowledge is very relevant to a company making a massively multiplayer, massive-scale simulation platform. He somehow convinced me to leave the comfort of Google Zürich for the crazy adventure of Improbable in London, at a time that we were ~30 people, had no investors, and no product, only some really cool tech.
I made the jump and never looked back. And my bet has paid off [3] immensely [4] :) All thanks to these four blog posts.
[0] http://www.mysterystudio.com
[1] http://www.gabrielgambetta.com/client-server-game-architectu...
[3] https://www.uktech.news/need-to-know-2/everything-you-need-t...
[4] https://www.mcvuk.com/business/netease-signs-partnership-wit...
Re: Ask HN: Blogging to get contracting/job leads?
#5If you enjoy writing and sharing ideas, it couldn't hurt to put yourself out there not only on a personal site but as u/shortformblog pointed out, spread them to other online communities as well.
Re: Ask HN: Blogging to get contracting/job leads?
#6Re: Ask HN: Blogging to get contracting/job leads?
#7http://www.smashcompany.com/business/one-on-one-meetings-are...
I think this kind of writing is important. It helps to communicate to the world who are, and what you focus on. Even when such writing doesn’t directly lead to a gig, I think it helps build your reputation in the long run.
Re: Ask HN: Blogging to get contracting/job leads?
#8The one thing I will say is that there are stories out there like your co-worker's or some others here are those that write articles and strike it off super rich with new job opportunities or contract work. Plenty, the vast majority, don't make it that far. So before you start writing articles, make sure you want to do that because you like the topics and projects rather than only trying to put yourself out there.
Re: Ask HN: Blogging to get contracting/job leads?
#9Re: Ask HN: Blogging to get contracting/job leads?
#10Consider the company tech blog. Some are very forthright that the blog is a recruiting tool, like cloudflare. Some are more subtle about it, like gocardless.
Just be careful that you don't become one of the folks that blogs because you like the sound of your own voice.