5 ms·

I can write but I'm afraid of exposing lack of technical excellence. It seems like I should be a true expert if I'm going to write a technical blog, and I'm not

• japhyr 6y ago
  I can relate to this fear; it's closely related to imposter syndrome. But I think when we read established blogs we accept that they're probably accurate, and we readily forgive mistakes and slight inaccuracies. We don't afford ourselves that same forgiveness. Writing a blog post, or any form of technical writing, is an exercise in laying out what we know, and watching the conversation that follows. A willingness to revise what we've written goes a long way toward addressing this fear. I view public technical writing as a way to fill in my knowledge gaps; when people point out my mistakes, it's like working on a larger team, where there are more people to offer feedback. That said, you do have to do your own research. There's a big difference between writing a post that misses a couple nuanced points, and writing a post that's entirely misdirected. Few people will criticize you for the first, but if you make regular posts that are way off base you won't do anything good for your reputation.