I’ve been writing about Android Development for more than 1 year now. There have been a lot of learnings along the way. It opened my mind up to a whole new domain of content generation and content marketing.
Over time I’ve come to realise that writing about Android has definitely made me a better android developer and a better software engineer overall. So, in this post, I’ll list down all the reasons as to why I believe every software engineer should write - at least once.
1. Writing Helps you stay updated with the latest in the industry.
No matter whatever you do. Android development, iOS development, javascript, backend, frontend. If you have to write regularly, you’ll need to keep yourselves updated with the latest tech.
It’s more rewarding to write about a new tech that was just introduced. Partly because there are a very few articles about it and it would help your content rank higher in the search results.
If you rank higher in search results, more and more people will get to your content and you’ll build credibility as a writer. It’ll enable you to write about topics already covered, but in your own way and be ensured that people are gonna love it.
2. Greater accountability for what you put out.
Once you start putting out content, you’ll see that people will hold you accountable for even small mistakes. So, you better be sure that you know what you are talking about.
This accountability pushes you to go that extra mile, go a bit deeper into those concepts which the average Joe would not care about. It also helps you to answer people’s comments/questions better since you know the whys and hows.
For example, when I wrote this article about ART vs DVM. I had mentioned that a Register Based model is faster and has less code than Stack Based model.
Now, I could’ve easily copied that from anywhere, there would be many articles about that. But I needed to make sure that I was ready to answer any questions that were thrown on me about that point.
Hence, I went the extra mile and learnt about CPU instructions in a Register based model and Stack based model. Although I had read about this during grad school, I definitely needed to brush up on that.
Then I included an example in my post where a simple ADD operation took 3 instructions in stack based model vs 1 instruction in register based model. Even if no one questioned me on that, it was a good feeling to have known about that. It builds your confidence as a writer and an engineer.
3. Recognition
This is probably the most obvious one. Once you start writing and putting your content out there regularly, you’ll definitely start to grow some followers. People who love your style of writing/explanation.
If you’ve built a great android library, it’s no good sitting there on github if people don’t get to use it. But first, people will have to know it exists. For this, you’ll need to put out content related to your library.
Whether it be an article, a tutorial, a demo or even a talk in events such as GDG, ADG etc. Once you gather a following it becomes relatively easier to put out content and get people to use/read it.
Since, I started writing on Medium in early 2019, I’ve gathered around 650 followers and growing.
4. A source for extra income
If you’ve ever tried freelancing on sites such as freelancer.com you’ll know how important is credibility there. As a new freelancer, you’ve got to establish some sort of credibility so that the client can trust you with their projects.
When I used to do some freelance work, I cannot stress how important my writing came in handy. I mentioned my writing in all the proposals and I got replies regardless of the project being awarded or not.
Apart from that I’ve gotten some freelance content writing opportunities (in Android Development) as well.
One of the most brilliant sources in today’s times would be writing articles on Medium. Especially for the Medium Partner Program. You can google it to learn more about how to earn through the Medium Partner Program.
5. Easier to find new opportunities
You must have noticed that many companies now use online tools such as lever to manage candidates.
Many a times I’ve seen fields included such as “What sets you apart from other candidates?/ Tell us something interesting”. Often these fields are a good place to boast about your Medium following/writing.
I don’t know if this helps or not, but I think it is a good way of letting the hiring manager know that you keep your finger at the heart of new developments in your area, while setting you apart from other candidates.
This might intrigue the hiring manager to speak to you and before you know it, you might’ve got yourselves an interview ;)
6. It’s Fun
It’s fun to learn about Content Creation, content generation, SEO, keywords and what not. It’s a separate world altogether.
It’s interesting to know about your user retention, returning users, new users, CTR and other metrics. This tells you how engaging your content is and pushes you to improve.
Conclusion
These were some reasons I believe that one should definitely try writing about their work at least once.
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