I started blogging not long ago. It has been an eye opening experience for me. I have come to realize that writing a quality blog is one of the hardest endeavors. It requires strong articulation skills along with creative thinking on coming up with topics to write about. Once you have decided the topics , building content within your blog that your targeted audience will find useful is even harder. It’s a test of multiple skills and imagination. So , it’s an extremely challenging and a rewarding experience.

Blog content is a very valuable asset in the cloud which merits in itself as a compelling source of information on any subject matter.

There are a lot of people writing blogs, which is a great thing because it is creating enormous content on the web which is available to each and everyone. It is also creating a sense of community amongst different people making the world smaller and a more informed place. Blog content is a very valuable asset in the cloud which merits in itself as a compelling source of information on any subject matter. These are first hand experiences and thoughts of people; information which is more valuable a lot of times than available in books. We can definitely hope that history will be much more accurate in the decades and centuries to come because now we have all these archives from people who lived that experience for future generation to read.

This blog targets niche audience of technical people mostly in the software development world. As a tech pro, should you take up writing a blog ? Why should you write a blog ? There are several advantages of writing a blog as a technical professional , apart from giving you a visibility within your own community of professionals. The ones that jumped at me after starting a blog are :

1 ) It gives an expression to your thoughts and ideas which is a very rewarding experience intellectually.

2) You identify your strengths and weaknesses in the topic / subject matter in which you write a blog .

3) You become more detail oriented because now you care about accuracy of content that others are reading globally.

I think the second reason is the most compelling one for a technical professional where you need to constantly hone your skills in a constant dynamic environment of cutting edge technologies. I am amazed at the quality of work people are doing by reading their blogs. It gives one a perspective of where one’s short comings are with respect to the outside world. We can get so easily cocooned in our own organizational environments where our knowledge is limited enough to fool us into thinking that we know best .

It can become even a life changing experience because suddenly you have all this audience who follows you and you know you have valuable information and ideas which can benefit the community.

On the other hand the first reason gives you a lot of satisfaction when you write a great blog on your personal knowledge and ideas. It acts as as a vent for your thoughts and brings back a lot of self confidence when readers appreciate it. It can become even a life changing experience because suddenly you have all this audience who follows you and you know you have valuable information and ideas which can benefit the community.

A blog gives a chance of introspection and self evaluation.

The third reason again benefits you in your profession where sometimes most of us go only up to the detail that is needed to get our job done. Yes, the job got done and may be you got that raise or bonus you were looking for. However is that enough for your growth eventually ? Have you thought about how you measure up to your peers in the same field ? There is a good chance if you have to find a new job you will find that the depth and breadth you thought you had is not necessarily there. A blog gives a chance of introspection and self evaluation.

So if you have not started blogging yet , wait no more ; wear your thinking cap and pick up your digital pen . May be you will write a smashing post !