Blogging is not just a stay-at-home profession for writers. Self-publishing content gives technical professionals a chance to build authority and credibility, and is a legitimate tool for career advancement.
A blog is a great platform for showing your passion for the industry and its products. Also, employers covet the ability to communicate effectively. If a candidate’s writing shows that he or she is able to think with a reader-first mentality, that translates into the ability to design with the customer in mind.
As we learned recently from talking to Sony, these are traits the company uses to separate standout candidates from the droves of applications they receive. That’s why giving hiring managers a one-stop location where you can show your stuff makes sense.
What should you write about?
When blogging for career advancement you should usually tie your industry expertise into the subject matter. This can be done with a broad or narrow focus—the important part is that you write with a clear and coherent voice that engages the reader, and whenever possible, offer a unique insight for the topic at hand.
Here are a few examples of programmers with good blogs:
- Kellen Elliott-McCrea (Etsy, Flickr) writes LaughingMeme.org, and publishes content about how programming and code relates to commerce, and sometimes coffee.
- Stoyan Stefanov is a Facebook engineer who writes PHPied.com, where he provides technical tips and tricks for several programming languages.
- Nicholas C. Zakas (Box, Yahoo!) maintains his portfolio and blogs on NCZOnline.net.
- Guiseppe Maxia is a MySQL specialist that writes the Data Charmer, a prolific blog on his database programming best practices and how he goes about problem solving.
How often should you publish content?
Generally, you should opt for quality over quantity. Whatever that means for your content will dictate how often you post. Go for consistency over frequency. Whether that means posting biweekly, once every two weeks, or one per month, seeing a deliberate pattern of posts looks good to a reader. It is important to keep blogging once you start—a dead blog with your name on it can look unbecoming.
What else should your blog have besides posts?
A good programming blog does not require an intricate design. It may consist of only a few pages. One of these pages should include biographical and career information and perhaps a short mission statement about why you’ve put the blog together. More importantly, it should include information about how to get in touch, links to your profiles on social media, and perhaps a dedicated resume page. Many professional blogs include a caveat that the content does not express the views of the company(s) that employ the author.
What’s the best way to get started?
Starting a blog is as simple as visiting a blog platform like
WordPress.com,
SquareSpace.com,
Tumblr.com, or others where you can start publishing your own content for free. You can be up and writing in under an hour.
Another popular strategy among professionals who want to build authority in their field is to blog on Medium.com, a newer publishing platform that has a growing following among programmers. Additionally, you can blog with your LinkedIn profile by using the LinkedIn Pulse content management system in your account.
If you choose these routes, a popular technique employed by professional writers is to create a post on your personal site whenever your content is published elsewhere. Programmers can definitely do this as well. That maximizes the mileage from your time spent writing, and ensures your blog contains links to content that articulates your passion and communication skills to prospective employers.
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Adam Lovinus is a technology and business communications professional based in Orange County, California.
