At https://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/ https://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/ I distill and summarize distributed systems and database systems research paper. I rece

At https://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/ https://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/ I distill and summarize distributed systems and database systems research paper. I recently got over 600 posts. The main benefit of the blog for me was to crystallize my understanding. Having forced myself to post in public, I try to write a simple and accessible summary. This leads me to realize the gaps in my understanding, and fill them. This also strengthens my understanding, because by explaining the work in my own words, I internalize the concepts better. When I revisit a paper I have read before, the difference between a paper I wrote a post about and one I just read for myself is clear as day and night. I have a much better recall about the paper I posted. For a paper I wrote a summary, I just go to my summary and am able to cache back in all my understanding of the paper to my brain with a quick re-read of my summary. This being said, I also benefited in terms of networking and collaboration. Through the blog post discussions on Twitter, I made many friends who work on distributed systems and databases. I think the blog was also useful for getting me a sabbatical at Microsoft Azure CosmosDB in 2018. Finally, it feels really good to share my learnings, and put my rough ideas in the open. I learn from other blogs, and it feels good to give back. Every couple months I would get an email, thanking me for my blog, and that means the world to me.