6 Reasons Why Every Programmer Should Have A Blog

Each programmer is used to write a code that acts like an instruction to the machine, telling it exactly what to do to output the desired result.

Sometimes the code does not work as expected or the developer does not know how to solve something, so he starts looking for help by googling.

Finally, the answer is found on a specific resource, such as stackoverflow, which is well-explained by an unknown person who has spent some time submitting and explaining the solution.

In this example we are on one side of the coin, on the other side - there are developers who offer help and support by answering questions, explaining some topics in-detail by writing articles or offering mentoring.

Most of us have never thought of standing on the other side and looking at a problem from a different angle - from the perspective of an answerer, not an asker.

The question is - why? Surely we have enough experience to describe at least one problem we have faced recently, and a solution has been found to solve it.

In this article I will try to convince you why blogging is cool and what benefits it brings (in my opinion) and why you should start blogging right away.

Pay The Debt

The first and most important reason is to "Pay the Debt". We all have a big debt to pay to less experienced developers, like those we learned from had.

Sounds weird? Let me explain.

When new people start programming journey, they need a lot of resources to learn from.

Most of the best and well-structured ones are not available for free, so you tend to skip them and look for a free solution first.

There can be different reasons for this - maybe someone does not have enough money or is not sure that programming is what he wants to do in life, so it is completely understandable.

At some point, we find free courses that explain everything we need to know about a certain topic, we learn from it and grow professionally.

The creators of these free courses receive nothing from us for the time they spent creating, structuring, polishing and publishing resources (which is not quite true, but let's assume they could have earned much more if the courses were paid).

So basically we do not owe money for this course, but a debt we have to pay to less experienced colleagues when we grow up to the level of an expert.

I like to think in the following way - if I were to learn from 100 people, I would have to teach 10 times more.

Extend Knowledge

It may seem controversial, but in reality we learn much more when we explain something rather than when we read an article or watch a video.

As the saying goes: "The best way to learn is to teach".

When you learn a particular subject, you typically gain a surface-level understanding of it, which is of course fine, but it is always nice to dig deeper into the topic and learn how things work "under the hood".

In this way you gain more expertise on the subject and are more confident whether or not the given solution should be applied under the given circumstances.

You can explain your vision to the team members with more confidence and convince them to go into in right direction if needed.

My personal feeling after more than half a year of blogging - even if the topic is simple and familiar, many new things are discovered when writing an article about it.

Build A Personal Brand

Whether you are an employee or a business owner, building a personal brand and promoting yourself is no less important if you want to be considered a professional in your field.

By providing a value, you build trust between people and yourself, which leads to becoming more competitive, getting higher paid jobs, winning better projects, working with better customers, etc.

Eventually, you will reach a point when the customers will be looking for you and not the other way around, as it usually happens.

To sum up, it helps you to stand out from the crowd.

Build A Connection Network

Publishing a good article can trigger a discussion through which you can get in touch with a large number of people with whom you can build good relationships or partnership.

If people find your blog helpful and valuable, you may get a lot of "thank you" messages that act as an indicator that you are going in the right direction.

Since I started this blog, I have received 400+ connection requests in LinkedIn and 35+ newsletter subscribers, which does not seem like a large numbers, but I am more than happy with it for now.

Increase an Income

Everyone wants a higher income in order to earn a better living and provide for the family.

How can a blog help to achieve this goal?

As it was mentioned earlier, being visible on the Internet and considered an expert in a particular field allows you to be more competitive and have a better chance of being noticed.

Apart from that, a blog is your own project, which can also be a source of income.

There are many ways to make money from blogging, like:

• Showing ads
• Selling affiliate links
• Producing and selling online courses, digital products
• Doing collaborations with other bloggers

Remember that it is a long way from the beginnings to the point where you can actually make a living from it.

Practice Consistency

Consistency is the number one skill one has to master in order to become successful in anything.

How can it be developed through blogging?

Blogging requires some effort, especially if it is not the only thing you do in life.

You need to dedicate the time, choose the topic and do some initial research before you even make a plan for your next article.

By writing articles from time to time, you learn to be consistent and do what is planned whether you feel like or not.

Set up a schedule - a new article once or twice a week and stick to it no matter what.

Summary

In summary, blogging has many more advantages than no blogging at all, especially if you are an expert in your field and have many topics to share with others.

Blogging requires a lot of effort and time, but it would definitely pay off in the future.

If you are still hesitating, try it out and see how it goes. Good luck!