Why I Started My Blog
It’s the third time I start a blog. I created my first blog about fifteen years ago, and quit it after just writing a few posts. The second attempt to begin a blogging career was three or four years ago, but I also couldn’t keep up with writing for more than a couple of articles.
Now, when I try to reflect on possible cause for quiting blogging, I realize that at the time I just didn’t have a strong enough reason to keep writing. Previously, I started blogging because everyone around me was doing it. Also, it was kind of cool to have a blog. However, those reasons failed to motivate me for longer.
I have to admit that I’ve been trying to go back to blogging since I bought this domain name more than a year ago. It took me so long to write the first post because my motivation to start a blog was probably the same as before. That all changed when I finally found, or at least I believe I found, stronger reasons why I should do it.
I want to document my journey
Last week I was looking for an old document in my email and came across an old conversation between a friend and me. It was interesting to go back to old days while reading those emails over a cup of coffee. It also brought me to the idea of why I should start writing the blog.
My idea is to use the blog to document my journey and share my thoughts. I’ve already clocked twenty years in the field, and I will probably work for another twenty. It would have been interesting to see what I was doing, what problems I was solving fifteen, ten, or five years ago, but I don’t have anything. I missed the first half of my career, but I can start now to record what will happen in the next part of it.
I want to get better and writing
Writing and communicating skills are extremely valuable for software developers, and this is where I feel I need to improve. I write code comments and commit messages every day without a struggle. But when it comes to writing longer pieces of texts like documentation, or to explain something over an email to less technical people, it takes me more time and effort to do so.
Learning to write well is a long and difficult process. The more you practice something, the better you get at it. Writing a blog can make you a better writer, but you have to stick to writing and do it regularly. That’s why I set myself a goal of writing at least one post a month this year.
Conclusion
I wrote this post because I needed a cause to motivate me writing the blog. Every time I want to give up and quit, I will open this post to remind myself why I should keep going.