4 Reasons Why Every Web Developer Should Start A Blog

What do you do when you get stumped on a coding predicament? Most of us jump to Google. And what comes up in the search results? Blogs!

Blogs showing off new code. Blogs aimed on marketing the blogger. Blogs full of new experimentation. And blogs that aim to bring value back to the coding community.

Thus, every Web Developer should start a blog.

We need each other.

Starting a blog today is very easy. It's even easier, obviously, if you are a web developer, as you are familiar with everything already.

You have knowledge to share and value to give, and you need a place to gather your thoughts and demonstrate your skill.

4 Reasons Every Web Developer Should Start A Blog

That being said, here are 4 reasons why I think every web developer should start a blog…and start one today!

1. Show off that code

We are coders. We are building things, tweaking things, breaking things, and writing code…and this excites us. Why not share that beautiful code and let us see what you are learning? Let us learn from you!

I see it posted on social media….someone refactors 80 lines of code into 10, or someone creates some timesaving SASS.

Why not share this somewhere more permanent?

Showing off your code on your blog also creates a means by which you can rethink the code that you are writing, and allow others to glean from or even critique it.

Remember, critique from others is always a good thing regardless of how it may make us feel.

I recommend the Crayon Syntax Highlighter plugin for this. Lots of options and customizations available to decorate your code with.

2. Market yourself

Unless its just a side hobby, you want to make money doing this, especially if you are an aspiring freelancer.

It may not be the best way to say it, but essentially you are marketing yourself. You have a skillset and can meet the needs of those looking for your expertise.

Having a blog gives you the ability to tell people why they should hire you, and the ability to demonstrate the value that you bring.

Even it you have a 9-to-5 coding job already, that isn't the end all. You surely have your own personal projects and side pursuits. In addition, you more than likely want to advance to a more specific or higher level job in the future.

Use your blog or website to do this. Use it to market yourself.

Here is an excellent resource by John Sonmez regarding this topic.

3. Your own playground

You are a developer. You are always trying new things, new code, and you cannot do this on a client's site or at your workplace.

Thus, make your own website your coding playground!

Make that calculator for your client to add up your services.
Make those elements grow when hovered or change color when clicked
Use CSS or Greensock animation to make your site "fun" and enjoyable.
Are you into Angular (if so check this site out!!)? PHP? jQuery? All of this can be setup and utilized on your own site.

Again, your blog is your own unique place. It is your playground and another great reason why every web developer should start a blog. Which leads us to…

4. To share what you learn

This is the heart of coding…sharing what we learn with each other, right?

You do this by showing off your beautiful new code, the case study of some experimentation that you formulated on your website playground (or in any other setting), and by doing this you are creating value for others. Others will receive that value, and then create more value, and this is how technology advances.

Again, I think it is wise that every web developer should start a blog

Conclusion

So, if you don't have a blog, a website, a playground,….a place to show off your code and share your knowledge, get it set up.

Don't waste time with Blogger or WordPress.com. I've had a Jekyll site before and hosted it on Github, but when you go to grow things, and you realize you only have so many hours in the day, WordPress is a much more efficient choice.

And, it can be set up in a matter of minutes.

In fact, here is my step-by-step tutorial by which you can begin today on your own self-hosted WordPress blog: