A couple of weeks ago I got the question why I write a blog since it would be better to do a podcast or publish videos on technical content. In this post, I will explain why it is still a good idea to start blogging. I wrote my first blog post almost 18 years ago and got inspired by Robert Scoble (Scobleizer) who worked as a technical evangelist at Microsoft at that time and had a very popular blog. 1483 blog posts and almost 2 million views of these blogs I still consider it a good idea, since I think that a lot of good things have happened to me in my professional live because I decided to start my blog and share my thoughts on technology.
Starting a blog is an easy starting point for you to be active in the technical community. Sharing is caring might sound lame but it is a good credo to live by as an IT professional/consultant. In a professional context, most persons only know the people that they directly work with - colleagues or customers.
Blogging (but also Twitter and technical communities) allows you to expand that and suddenly there are people all over the world that you can learn from and they can learn from you. Suddenly you will realize there are others who face similar challenges. By sharing your experiences and offering advice to support, you can build a community of readers who value your experience. By writing good high-quality content on a regular basis, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field which in turn will help you build your personal brand and increase your visibility. Starting a blog is a lot easier than creating a video on YouTube or doing a podcast.
The most underrated skill to have in IT is the ability to communicate efficiently. Blogging is levelling that skill up. In an era where people mostly rely on PowerPoints slides for presenting a plan or a vision, it is quite refreshing to see them back it up with a well-written, solid document afterwards. I usually cringe when seeing poorly written documents or e-mails so I think that good writing skills will set you apart.
I think of a blog as a way to write notes to myself and you should too. Throughout your daily job, you are continuously solving problems: write about how you approached solving these problems and where you found helpful information. By writing your approach down, you will remember it better and it will be easier for you to find it later (and others will benefit of this as well).
The more you explain a concept or a topic to other people, the better you will get at understanding it yourself. This might sound strange but it is true, teach to learn. When you need to teach something, you are required to understand it in a deep and comprehensive way. The process of writing, will help your own understanding and requires you to think critically and find creative ways to present the topic which further enhances your understanding and retention of the information.
Even when you are learning something new, you are probably taking notes. Blog these notes, taking these notes. Rewriting them will help you understand the content much better, while it helps others too. If you think that everything is already written, do it for your own reference. If you find it useful yourself to go back to your blog, then it is OK. Don't fuzz to much about getting little visitors to your blog in the beginning.
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