Writing a blog

I’ve been in two minds about writing a blog for several years now, unsure if I have enough experience to truly know what I’m talking about. I’ve come across advice from other bloggers who emphasise that your current level of expertise on a topic isn’t the important factor. In fact, it might be even more beneficial if you’re in the early stages of learning, as writing about your experiences can help reinforce and solidify your understanding of the subject.

But to me, this never felt like a good motive. I don’t want to write about something I don’t know much about. And really, what I value in the blogs I read is the deep, expert knowledge the writer has and their ability to break this down in an understandable, empathetic way. With that in mind, it was my conclusion I’d start to write when I too, had value to give, and that value would be when I was an expert.

When are you an expert?

The more you know, the more you don’t know

It’s the Dunning Kruger effect. And perhaps that’s why you should write early while you’re at your peak confidence. Because now, having been a software developer for over 5 years, I find myself even less willing to nail my colours to the mast.

The thing is, as a developer, you’re never finished learning. And it doesn’t feel like my rate of learning is on the decline, just my willingness to write about it. The concepts that seemed challenging at the beginning now feel obvious, and it’s hard to determine whether they’re still worth writing about, remain relevant, or are already well-covered by other writers. How do you know you’re adding value? Moreover, how can you know you’re actually doing things well in the first place?

Take for example, my experience as a backend developer working in a startup. I’ve continued to develop a deeper understanding of Python and have settled on some patterns and approaches that I believe to be pretty useful. I’d love to write about them! But I fully expect there are better methods out there. Now, that in itself isn’t a problem, but it could become an issue if my techniques are fundamentally flawed. While there’s something to be said for the notion that sharing may be the quickest way for me to grow, I’m still writing code for a company codebase. Is that good for my reputation, or theirs?

I guess we’ll see.

What do you start writing about?

In the end, what motivated me to start wasn’t confidence in my code but frustration with my tools. Specifically, Git. Git is difficult, and I don’t like it. I’ve been using it since 2016, and I still get things wrong. I still don’t understand why what I’m doing is incorrect, and the only thing that’s really changed is I’m no longer certain I’m the problem. Let me be clear, version control is great and being able to merge and manage code is a wonderful thing that I’m grateful we figured out before I started my career as a developer. It’s just that now, being some way into that career, I increasingly have some questions about the interface. And now that GitHub and Git are under Microsoft’s stewardship, I’m skeptical it’ll change. Git is here to stay and it’s reached it’s final form.

This has led me to conclude that the next best time to start a blog is when you find yourself blaming your tools more than your own abilities. After struggling for so many years, I can’t be the only one. While I may not be confident in my own competency, I am confident that a majority of others are equally non-competent. I’m not sure if there’s a term for this inflection point, but if there isn’t, I’m coining it the Krunning-Duger effect. You heard it here first.

What I find interesting about the Krunning-Duger effect is it sort of tracks. In the beginning, everything was difficult in equal, frustrating measure. Environments were difficult. IDE’s were difficult. Python, APIs, Databases, Cloud resources, colleagues, why I needed Windows. But with experience comes clarity, I see more patterns, I can command better choice of hardware. I’ve read alot of documentation. I’ve written a fair amount of code. Now, I know enough to realize that when I’m still lost in a massive git cloud of confusion. It’s not entirely my fault.

So, to begin with, I’m going to start learning Git properly and write about it! While I’m confident that my rant-driven dissections of Git could fuel this blog for the rest of my life, or Microsoft’s, to keep it balanced, I’ll aim to throw in some ‘valuable’ critiques of other tools. Eventually, I see myself building enough confidence to share my own (more positive) thoughts and insights on Python, Backend Development, and beyond.

Welcome to Ollie Bytes!