4 ms·

As much as I would like to blog I am not so keen about sharing my personal life stories and past on the internet. And most personal tech blogs which help people

As much as I would like to blog I am not so keen about sharing my personal life stories and past on the internet. And most personal tech blogs which help people get their next job is just that. I like my privacy and I am not very social either. But I do like to connect with people and talk tech. Any tips how I could leverage the social media and blogging without really sharing much of my personal life? Am I looking at the wrong blogs for inspiration and ideas?

jbm 3y ago
In my case I didn't blog about my personal life; I was living in Tokyo at the time and wrote a blog about seeing people at (Japanese large company) rebuilding everything from scratch and serious cases of NIH. It hit Hacker News and Slashdot Japan, and it also introduced me to a few people in the local Ruby community (which translated to other opportunities, which - many years later - culminated with my previous job at Heroku/Salesforce). I don't think social media matters as much as being seen as someone who does things when you are in a real social situation. One handshake from an interesting person, like, say, Paul McMahon (who cofounded Doorkeeper and worked on Ruby) or Patio11, felt more important to me than 10k social media likes. (I purposely picked people who had nothing to do with my work career) I don't know how applicable any of this is, especially with the invasion of nerd spaces by bullies. However, there are always people who need skilled coworkers, and finding sincere places to show these skills will always be helpful.
- vidyesh 3y ago
  Thank you for sharing some details. I guess here too quality matters over quantity. Publish less, network less but make sure its relevant and valuable. With so much noise in the field currently, its hard to know if you too are part of it and finding the right platform/places to make sure you are providing value thats appreciated.
breakpointalpha 3y ago
You don't have to blog to grow or manage your professional network. Set a reminder, once a week, to look at your LinkedIn. Ping someone you actually know, just to say hi. This keeps you fresh in their minds as someone who does X, and is still alive. Finally, if you want to expand your network, just ask these same people if they know anyone else doing X and then send them a hello. Very low-effort and direct contact is 100x more powerful than a blog post anyway!

jbm 3y ago

In my case I didn't blog about my personal life; I was living in Tokyo at the time and wrote a blog about seeing people at (Japanese large company) rebuilding everything from scratch and serious cases of NIH. It hit Hacker News and Slashdot Japan, and it also introduced me to a few people in the local Ruby community (which translated to other opportunities, which - many years later - culminated with my previous job at Heroku/Salesforce). I don't think social media matters as much as being seen as someone who does things when you are in a real social situation. One handshake from an interesting person, like, say, Paul McMahon (who cofounded Doorkeeper and worked on Ruby) or Patio11, felt more important to me than 10k social media likes. (I purposely picked people who had nothing to do with my work career) I don't know how applicable any of this is, especially with the invasion of nerd spaces by bullies. However, there are always people who need skilled coworkers, and finding sincere places to show these skills will always be helpful.

vidyesh 3y ago
Thank you for sharing some details. I guess here too quality matters over quantity. Publish less, network less but make sure its relevant and valuable. With so much noise in the field currently, its hard to know if you too are part of it and finding the right platform/places to make sure you are providing value thats appreciated.

breakpointalpha 3y ago

You don't have to blog to grow or manage your professional network. Set a reminder, once a week, to look at your LinkedIn. Ping someone you actually know, just to say hi. This keeps you fresh in their minds as someone who does X, and is still alive. Finally, if you want to expand your network, just ask these same people if they know anyone else doing X and then send them a hello. Very low-effort and direct contact is 100x more powerful than a blog post anyway!