In this milestone event article, I share how starting a blog has led me to career-advancing opportunities and how I believe you can achieve similar success as a web developer by creating a blog, too!
Celebrating milestone achievements
This article celebrates the 100th entry in my "Self-Taught: The X Generation" blog!
As a self-taught web developer, establishing this blog and publishing articles on a "somewhat frequent schedule" has opened doors to career-advancing opportunities for me! Although I haven't finished learning front-end web development, I already earn a side income by writing articles and providing code reviews.
In this article, I'd like to share my insights with you, as I believe you can achieve similar success in elevating your career by starting your own blog!
Writing articles advanced my career by:
Reinforcing what I learn
Becoming a better developer by teaching what I learn
Helping me build my online presence
Growing my network with industry experts and fellow coders
Regularly receiving job offers
Becoming a paid freelance article writer
Becoming a part-time paid code reviewer
And becoming a freeCodeCamp contributor!
Reinforce learning
When it comes to learning web development, boy, is there a lot to learn! It's not just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript! It includes UI/UX Design, version control, working with Git repositories, algorithms & data structures, not to mention interview prep and resume enhancement. The list goes on and on!
Starting a blog and writing in-depth articles about what I'm learning helps me reinforce the topics I'm covering and acts as a valuable reference resource!
Becoming a Better Developer
It truly is surprising how difficult it is to teach programming concepts to others! Most of the time, when I am learning something new, I will get to code to work as expected. I then assume I understand my newly gained coding concepts until I try to write an article trying to teach it to others!
Writing articles intending to teach others has made me a better developer because it necessitates further research and the development of the skill of conveying complicated concepts clearly and effectively.
Building an online presence
I've realized that starting this blog has helped me create an invaluable online presence. Not only am I easily "Google searchable" for hiring managers to learn more about me, but when I participate in online events such as YouTube, LinkedIn, Discord, Twitter spaces, and more, I am often recognized by fellow participants!
Growing my network
Starting this blog has also helped me to grow my network. Not only have I connected with fellow web developers, but I have also networked with industry professionals by writing featured articles about them!
I see this scenario as a win-win-win:
I write articles covering what I learn from industry professionals, which not only reinforces my knowledge but also helps grow my online presence.
It highlights industry professionals with a well-deserved spotlight, which helps spread the word about them to other developers.
I expand my network by connecting with developers who read these articles and occasionally with the industry professionals themselves!
Regularly receiving job offers
As part of my mentioned coverage articles, I've learned a lot about LinkedIn optimization which has resulted in a constant flow of opportunities by direct messages. I receive offers from hiring managers, recruiters, online coding schools, and even tech industry celebrities, which has directly led to my becoming a paid code reviewer and article writer.
I wrote the following in-depth freeCodeCamp exclusive article that you might find helpful: LinkedIn Profile Optimization – A Web Developer's Guide to Attract Opportunity
Becoming a freeCodeCamp contributor
But what I am most excited about is my recent opportunity to become a freeCodeCamp contributor!
For the freeCodeCamp application, they ask you to submit the three articles you are most proud of. So, for my best chance of being accepted, I strategically chose an article I published on Scrimba (to show I'm already published on another reputable website), an in-depth instructional article teaching how to create Scrimba screencasts (to display my technical writing capabilities), and finally, an article that was featured on Hashnode teaching how to create a local React environment with Vite (to showcase a badge of recognition I have earned).
I have also increased my chances of being accepted as a freeCodeCamp contributor by previously writing about freeCodeCamp on my blog, 'Self-Taught: The X Generation.' This captured the attention of Quincy Larson, the founder of freeCodeCamp, so he had already heard of me when I applied!
My article links as an author on other websites
As I am now an author on multiple websites, although I continue to write articles weekly, it's not exclusively on this website. I do advertise every article on both LinkedIn and Twitter, so if you are interested in reading my latest articles as I post them, I'd be glad to connect with you there!
Below are links to my author pages on other websites:
Author - HTML All The Things (No author page, but five articles to date)
2. How to Transition from JR Dev to an In-Demand Developer: Your Path to Getting Hired
3. Mastering JavaScript Fundamentals: Unleashing Your Framework Readiness
4. From JavaScript to TypeScript: Enhance Your Skills and Your Web Development Career
5. Mastering CSS Fundamentals: Knowing When To Transition from Basics to Frameworks
Conclusion
Blogging has helped me reinforce my learning, become a better developer, create an online presence, and grow my professional network. As a result, I continually receive job offers and already earn side income as a freelance writer and code reviewer.
I believe if you start blogging now, you will also achieve similar results! So, I encourage YOU to consider starting to blog today to elevate your career!
I am currently working on an exclusive article for freeCodeCamp that delves deeply into the reasons and methods behind starting a blog, as well as offering valuable resources. This article will serve as a complementary piece to my LinkedIn profile optimization to help YOU by sharing everything that has contributed to my success! So be sure to check out my freeCodeCamp author page for the release!
Let's connect! I'm active on LinkedIn and Twitter.