As a programmer, you’ve probably been told that writing tech blogs can offer a range of benefits. There's no shortage of articles encouraging you to start writing, and this post, this post adds to that chorus. But while the advice is solid, what’s often missing is how to begin the journey of writing tech blogs. Based on my 10+ years of experience, I’d like to share some thoughts to help you get started.

From what I've seen, the reason many programmers don’t write tech blogs isn’t that they don’t want to—it's that they don’t know how to answer the following questions:

• What should I write about?
• How do I structure my content?
• How often should I write?
• Will anyone even read my posts?
• ...

Let’s tackle these questions one by one, and by the end, I hope you’ll feel inspired to give blogging a try.

What Should I Write About?

Many of my fellow programmers struggle with the question, "What should I write about?" The answer is simple: write about what you do every day. As a developer, your time is spent coding, debugging, testing, and researching—all of which can serve as great material for blog posts. Here are some ideas:

• A guide to install ...: Whether you're installing Git, Go, Rust, or any other tool, documenting the installation steps can be incredibly helpful to others. Especially in cases where you find it's not that trivial to install something or something installation is not that easy to find on Google.
• Fix one issue for ...: Debugging is a big part of any programmer’s life. If you’ve spent hours or days solving a tricky issue, write about it. Reflect on what went wrong, how you diagnosed the problem, and how you fixed it. This is not only useful for others but can also serve as a personal reference.
• How does ... work: Maybe you're researching how JWT works or how Base64 encoding plays a role in your project or how does charset in database configuration may affect what you see while fetching data containing Chinese. Summarizing your understanding of these topics can make for an informative post.

You don’t need to write about groundbreaking ideas. Writing about what you encounter daily can be just as valuable, and who knows—something that seems trivial to you could be a lifesaver for someone else. You may not write breaking news, you may write something breaking things though, that's okay, maybe one day you would turn those breaking things into breaking news.

How Do I Write?

Once you’ve identified a topic, the next question is how to present it. You don’t need to write a comprehensive essay or produce something perfect. Start small.

For example, if you’ve installed multiple versions of Go on your machine, simply document the steps. Add screenshots if needed, but don’t stress over writing flawless paragraphs.

Another example: let’s say you encountered a goroutine leak in production and spent days debugging it with pprof. After finding that the issue was due to a channel not being written to because the reader had exited early, you could write about how pprof helped you identify the blocking goroutines.

The hardest part of blogging is often just starting. Begin with small, manageable posts, and as you gain confidence, you can tackle more complex topics that involve deeper insights and analysis.

How Often Should I Write?

Don’t turn blogging into a chore. Make it a hobby. You don’t need a KPI of writing every day or every week. Write when you’re inspired or have something you think is worth sharing.

Also, don’t feel pressured to finish a post in one sitting. Sometimes, a post can take days or even weeks to complete. Start by jotting down your thoughts, then organize and polish them later.

Will Anyone Read My Posts?

Don’t worry too much about this. Your first goal should be to write for yourself—to document your own learning and experiences. If your content is valuable to you, chances are it will be valuable to someone else too, and you’ll gradually build an audience.

As someone who has interviewed hundreds of candidates, I find that including your blog on your resume can be more impactful than listing your GitHub profile. A blog showcases your ability to communicate and share knowledge, which can be highly appealing to potential employers.

Everyone can write tech blogs, and the benefits are numerous. Whether it's for your own reference, to help others, or to showcase your knowledge to future employers, there’s no reason not to start. Why not give it a try?