Why I Write

Today is day 3 of #blogvent, where I’m writing a blog post every day for the month of December. Shoutout to @cassidoo for the idea!

Reflecting on the why

I love December. It’s a time of reflection, where I try to think about what I have enjoyed most about the year and prepare for the year ahead. Probably so I can avoid thinking about how crappy the weather is outside, or how dark it is already at 4PM.

While brainstorming ideas for blog posts for #blogvent, I started asking myself why I’m doing this in the first place. I’m a busy lady. I have three young kids. I’m a full time software engineer at GitHub, doing what I like to think are important things! So why am I taking the time to do this?

Like the famous Ted Talk everyone has seen from Simon Sinek, “why” represents the core purpose and mission that drives everything else. Why is important.

I’m not writing to make money

One thing that was helpful to me in identifying the why is to identify reasons that aren’t my “why”.

I’m not writing to make money. I’m a software engineer for money, and I think that there is a lot of value in being a writer that operates, as coined in this excellent post by Will Larson. But writing isn’t the primary way I make money. Which frees me from choices around monetizing my content.

While I’ve had a few Amazon Affiliate links in my blog for books in the past, as of this post today I’m removing them. Instead, I’m linking to the author’s site where I can, or linking to the book on bookshop.org, so that at the very least each purchase can support local independent bookstores. Now there’s also no question of whether I’m really recommending a book because I enjoyed it or if it’s because I’m trying to make money off of your purchase of it.

I’m also choosing to never use ads on my site. I hate reading around ads, and I’m not relying on this writing to make money. So this blog will remain ad-free.

I’ve never actually made any money off of my writing, but it felt like a thing I was “supposed” to work towards. Hustle culture has taught me well. Why would I write things down if I’m not planning to monetize it?

To be clear, I appreciate that there are some folks that DO make money off of their writing. There are even a places where I pay other people for their writing, like The Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter!

However, that isn’t the reason that I write.

Reasons why I write

So, if I’m not out here trying to make money on my words, why am I writing them down anyway?

To have more options

The biggest reason why I put the effort into writing and maintaining a presence online through things like Bluesky, is to have more options.

The last time I was job searching was in 2022. It was a hot labor market, and I had multiple options available to me.

However, from folks I read regularly that are much more informed on the state of the job market, that is no longer likely to be the case.

I have three young kids, all of which are in daycare. Which, if you didn’t know, is very expensive. The idea of being out of work for a long time is daunting.

As a remote software engineer, social media and blogging are one of the best ways to meet other folks in the industry and to show prospective employers what value I can bring. A big part of the reason I write is so that the next time I go job searching, I can go to my online network and say “hey, who’s hiring?” and hopefully get a few bites.

To get better at my job

Another reason why I write is to get better at my job.

I write because it helps me to connect dots between the different things that I am reading, watching, and learning. Taking a topic and trying to form coherent sentences so that other folks can understand your thinking around it is a great way to synthesize your ideas.

In addition, as I gain seniority in my field, I’ve realized that the way to do better work as an individual contributor is to extend your reach beyond just yourself. In a remote company, that means doing things like writing and speaking to reach more people.

I write to be able to practice writing more frequently, so that I can be a better writer and engineer.

To refer back to

The final reason why I write is because it gives me artifacts to refer back to.

At work, that gives me an opportunity to link to in my reflections to say “look at this thing that I did!”.

Outside of work, I like having blog posts to share to say things like “this is how I like to use Obsidian!" or “this is what I thought about the book Atomic Habits!".

It’s also a way to see growth over time. I keep old, cringey blog posts on my site because it allows me to look back and say “sheesh, what was I thinking?”. Finding a blog post that I wrote in the past that I no longer agree with, or that I think was poorly written, is a good way for me to confirm that I’m growing.