Ask HN: Why should programmers/developers should blog?

[dmn]

I was having a talk with one of my good buddies and he was adamant that if you (aka myself) plan on having any part in tech (I'm studying CS) that you should blog, use Twitter and it seemed like he mentioned ever other social networking device.

My Questions: -Is doing so a definite must? and why -If so what social "channels" are "best"

Thanks!

[bootload]

"... if you (aka myself) plan on having any part in tech (I'm studying CS) that you should blog ..."

Thinking about things isn't enough. Putting ideas into words lets you develop new ideas. Making something and writing about tells others about your new ideas. There is also another reason: you get to define yourself online. Nature might "abhor a vacuum" but google doesn't care. [0] It will associate something to a search term against your name. Better it be something you have written.

[0] Idomatic use of the phrase "horror vacui" described by aristotle ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_thermodynamics

[yan]

"definite must"? If I find a successful developer, for some value of successful, that doesn't blog, would that prove your friend wrong?

You need to decide what your goals are. Are you striving to optimize your career for followers/notoriety? Than yeah, having a blogging/twitter/social media presence is a must. If you're striving to optimize your life for maximum profits and earnings, than having an online presence can help, but is probably not a must. If you're striving to become a great developer/programmer and are doing it for the love of the craft, then spending time blogging/twittering/etc will probably get in your way.

[mbrubeck]

I agree, it's not a "must." But if you do it, I think you'll find it has deeper benefits than just fame and career advancement. My own blogging is about fun hacks that are educational for me but unrelated for my work. Blogging helps me learn better, because:

- Explaining things forces me to understand them better.

- Wanting to share what I've done motivates me to finish it.

- Comments from others teach me things I didn't know to look for myself.

[jim_lawless]

I agree 100% with the above. In addition, I find that a blog permits me to document some of my programming beliefs with example code. I can then cite these entries when in discussion with fellow programmers.

It's very easy to show someone an XSLT script that recursively generates primes as an example of why I believe XSL transforms are very close to Functional Programming.

[dmn]

Good way to put it in perspective, thanks.

[tom_pinckney]

If you're interested in building consumer products, using popular consumer products like Twitter is a must. It's just sort of expected that you have this background when you go talk to other consumer internet people. Plus your products will be better if you're inspired by all the other interesting things other people are already building.

[samaparicio]

The #1 reason for blogging for a programmer should be altruism, since there is so much that programmers learn from blogs.

If you only read books, then don't blog.

If you ever saved time or got a tip or some code from a blog, then you owe the rest of the programmer community.

I think that's the right spirit.

[audidude]

keep a journal. whether or not you post that online is up to you.

[anonjon]

It is a definite must if you want to be a really famous developer.

I think if you want to be a really great developer you should write code.