Jared Hecht’s Post

I am constantly plagued by the following questions: Am I really making progress? Or am I procrastinating the things that will really move the needle? For me, this is particularly challenging because I'm a software engineer and I love to solve my problems by writing software that helps me solve my problems. Sometimes though, I need to check myself and make sure i'm not allowing the scope of my software creation to overshadow the outcome i'm trying to achieve.   The way I accomplish this is by   - Staying true to my goals.   - Prioritizing my time. - Reflecting on my actions. My goal is to become a better writer.   I want to write and deliver actual value every day. I'm so focused on this goal that -> I am writing about writing and delivering value. I'm so focused on this goal that  -> when I'm not writing, I'm creating systems that help me be more efficient with my writing.    #consistency #contentcreation #writing #niche

How to write as a technical geek ? Learn how things work in tech and simplify your explanations,be creative in your writing and don't repeat what has been written before online ! The internet is boring with the same stuff sometimes,show your originality in your writing. Be unique and inspire people to take action in their learning journey 👨🏾💻 Writing is not a race,quality is better than quantity ! 100,500,blogs or articles without Feedback is a waste of time,you don't write for yourself you have an audience to serve. People always ask me if writing is a talent ? what i know everything requires deep practice and isolation,it's challenging and brain consuming 😃,i dedicate my time daily 2 to 3 hours. Without consistency i failed my piano and violon classes,practice makes perfect ! Another thing people neglect in the industry they want to be World-class writers without reading habits and more curiosity,great writers are readers. Do want you to be a writer ? Be a reader first ! AI,AI,AI,is the new song in the industry don't cheat use your brain to write ! Simplify your explanations and deliver top-notch content ! #devnet #developers #technicalwriters

A new Manning book that caught my attention is called Writing for Developers. https://lnkd.in/dmkPUs3W by Piotr Sarna and Cynthia Dunlop. I do think that writing is an important skill for a technical person. And it is a skill. Something you spend experience points on. Writing a blog is one of the ways to earn these experience points, this all fits my perception rather well. However, it came to me at the wrong time. I started my first blog in 2005 on LiveJournal platform, then later migrated to CodrSpace (thanks, Luke Lee, that was fun), then to Medium. In 2022 I closed my Medium account for good. I tried to reinstate a "traditional" blog on HackerNews a year later, but after six months I dropped that as well. I think I exhausted my interest in technical blogging at this point. At least in its conventional form. As you might know, I am a bit dissatisfied with traditional publishing with text and pictures. My own two most popular "blog" posts, the ones that got over 100K views were both interactive and I do think that the future of blogging is at least to some degree interactive. On the other hand, interactivity itself doesn't add much value to a publication. I once made a highly interactive tutorial on trigonometry and while I was enjoying the acclaim on social media for a few days, nobody told me that... one of the widgets was simply broken. Writing, as in doing research, managing publishing data, and creating a narrative that catches the eye, is more important than interactivity alone. So yes, if you want to start a blog, Writing for Developers will help you with that. Then again, it's only a book. It will guide you through the process, but it will not make you write well automatically. To get there, you need to write poorly for a decade or two first. #writing #publishing #blogging Manning Publications Co.

4 things I've learned after 1000s of hours writing online along with my 2023 year in review: - 41,000,000+ impressions across all platforms - Started a Substack and grew it to 40k subs - Hit the front page of Hacker News 3 times (https://lnkd.in/g94x_X5x) - Grew to 70k LinkedIn followers (thank you 🙏) - Grew to 6k Twitter/X followers  - Wrote weekly on Substack for 46 weeks in a row Simple lessons learned: 1. Consistency is king - Quantity leads to quality. Consistency builds the habit of creating content. Content performance is governed by a power law. The more content you create, the more of those top pieces of content you'll create 2. The exponential drop off of attention - Readers have a lot of content competing for their time. The content people consume grabs their attention immediately. That's why the first few lines matter exponentially more than the rest of the content 3. Deadlines are valuable - I started writing in 2022 a little bit but fell off. Writing was a "nice to have" but not mandatory. Committing to writing weekly was a great forcing function 4. Understanding distribution - On most social media, your content is distributed the more people engage with it (e.g. likes, shares, comments). This doesn't always correlate with content quality (e.g. sensational content/engagement bait). On Substack, content is distributed to your static email list. This list grows the more people see quality content that makes them subscribe If there's one thing I'd like to change this year, it's to write a little each day rather than all at once because of a deadline. I had a lot of sleepless nights this year because of procrastination and juggling writing along with all my other commitments (worth it!) As always, thank you for reading 🙏

Unlocking Developer Potential: The Power of Writing 📝 One of the biggest mistakes I made as a developer 🖥️ is that I didn't start writing earlier. 📝 Writing has immensely helped me organize my thoughts and significantly improved my research skills. I firmly believe that every developer should engage in writing 📝. The clarity and insights gained through writing are invaluable. Drop a comment below sharing one mistake you've made as a developer! 💡 #developerlife #codingjourney #writetogrow #techreflection #learntowrite

📣 New in MEAP - Save 50% today! 📣 Writing for Developers by Piotr Sarna and Cynthia Dunlop. 📚 Master the art of writing engineering blog posts and articles! Our new MEAP release "Writing for Developers" is packed with tips, tricks, and techniques to help you turn your ideas into clear and compelling content. Co-authored by an engineer and a professional writer, the book introduces seven popular formats for modern blogs, such as "The Bug Hunt," "We Rewrote It in X," and "How We Built It…", and helps you match these "design patterns" with your ideas. You’ll learn effective brainstorming, how to promote and amplify your blog posts, and even ways to use AI to support your writing and reviewing process. 🚀 Connect with your community, showcase your cutting-edge achievements, and help your peers benefit from your hard-earned lessons. Take Action Now! Use code lidunlop50 to save 50% today. Expires on May 31. 📖 Get into the book: https://mng.bz/NRG7 📹 Check out this video to find out: https://mng.bz/EZXj #TechBlogs #WritingForDevelopers #ManningBooks

Writing is for nerds. I know, I know... What you're gonna think... This is what I used to think before. I was not good at reading, just 100 words, and meh... I'm done with it. I start to have brain fog if I read more than 100 words, lol This was until I decided to try different things and writing was one of them. 6 months ago... I went crazy and made so many accounts on different social media to share what I was learning. I was writing - On Instagram On Twitter (now 𝕏) On medium. On blogs On Facebook. You can just take the name and I'll say yeah, I've written on that as well. But, I wasn't active on LinkedIn although I've made my account, I used to think that people on LinkedIn were all white-collar. I was testing everything to see what my true calling was. I had my medium account back then which I used to practice for writing. Yeah, I was writing on it and pushing my limits despite hating it. I was doing everything to discover a new career for me so I don't regret it later than I should have tried it. My thoughts for a writer were still the same as a nerd who is more brilliant-minded than a mathematician. I mean they must be geniuses who can think and portray their ideas, and stories in articles. I started to read some articles on it. I was astonished to see how amazingly beautiful those articles were written. » I was applying the same writing styles. » I was using the same voices they write in. » I was working hard to find my voice. The result of doing this was I started to feel burned out bcz I was just copying others. It's possible to feel especially if you're a beginner. After quitting from there. I found 𝕏 where I became consistent with mini-writing posts. And, I was sharing everything I was learning in the post. This helps me become a consistent writer. Oh no!... ¿Can I still call myself a writer? I started writing again on Medium and this time I have found my voice. I have got some guts to follow. You see, if you've decided to get something you'll always find a way to do it. I started writing with a mindset that writers are nerds and it's changed to loving it. I found so many awesome writers whose writing feels like speaking. I still think writing is a brilliant way to portray your thoughts and life. If you reach till here, you're a legend. Thanks for reading :) I know this was longer than the usual one but this time, I shared my story which needs more words to express. Now, don't call me a nerd if you have seen my profile cz I've graduated from mathematics, lol. ___ PS - find helpful? Follow for more.

This ode to #writing skills in software engineering applies not just to software engineers, or even to tech workers writ large. It also applies to workers of all shades, stripes, sectors, industries and professions. With some amount of remote work here to stay, folks are writing more Slack messages and emails (and having fewer spoken conversations) than ever. The result? Even as writing jobs have dried up, writing skills have arguably become more essential at work than ever, for more fields of work than ever, in ways less quantifiable than ever. For instance, take data science, a field where my journalism experience has continually come in handy. Sure, it might benefit me when I'm documenting code, datasets and workflows. But data scientists must also explain their work to others. Not only must they describe what they worked on, who they worked with, when/where they did the work and how they did it. Above all, they must explain *why* they did it: what problem are they solving, what question are they answering, what value are they bringing? If that makes you think of the proverbial "five W's of journalism" (who, what, when, where, why), then that's no coincidence. In short, communication skills — whether in writing, speaking or otherwise — are core to what data scientists do. If they can harness those skills to tell a good story about their work, then all the better. Becoming a better writer is easier said than done, of course. But, as is true for myriad other skills, a great way to get better at writing is, well, to simply start writing — about anything. Write about a topic related to your work, your interests or your hobbies. Write about something you've just started learning. Write about a movie you saw or a book you read. Write about meaningful moments from family vacations, social outings, church, weddings and other life milestones. Even if you never publish it, just try writing about it. When you encounter good writing by other folks, take notes on why you think it's good. Did the writer arrange their ideas and sentences in a certain order? Did they choose their words carefully? Did they employ specific rhetorical devices? The more you take these observations to heart, the more you'll learn from them and the more tools you'll have in your own writing toolkit. And, most important of all, the first few times down the block are always the toughest. The first things you write will likely be quite rough — the term "rough draft" exists for a reason, after all — and that's OK! Keep at it, and your writing skills will gradually blossom. You may even turn into a better conversationalist, which will aid you at work, at home, in social settings and elsewhere. Even if you don't become a Pulitzer-winning author, you'll become a better communicator — and that's no trivial thing, indeed. #datascience #datastorytelling #scicomm #storymap #storytelling #technicalwriting

📌 3 years ago, I never thought I could write on technology. Today, I can produce 2000+ words on a tech topic, in merely 2 hours. (edited 3000+: because apparently people just cannot relate to this!) 📌 A year ago, I didn't know I could write on electric mobility. Today I have produced over 10+ Blogs, Social Media Xontent and much more on the same. 📌 A month ago, I didn't think I could write on Anime. Today I have one well produced script on Dragon Ball. My point is- it is important to select a niche and stick to it, but what's more important is to never stop learning. If a niche makes you uncomfortable, ask yourself: ✅ Why does this topic scare me? ✅ How can I get started on this? ✅ Are there platforms/people that can help me learn about this? Now, how do you do it? • Read about the topic • Start writing • Fail • Fail again • Fail miserably • Read about the topic once more • Think about it • Relate to it • Start writing. If you don't start writing, how will you become a writer?

I am a developer, not a writer. Why bother? First of all, do you think a title can define your worth? Okay, let's not go to that road today (phew). Writing in general is a good habit to build. It can provide you with so much clarity you won't have otherwise. Now, as a developer, how does writing help you? ✍ writing about what you learn, solidifies your understanding. ✍ reflection via writing helps you improve your mistakes. ✍ writing forces you to organize your thoughts logically. ✍ you can express ideas clearly through writing. Until next time, do you write often while coding? 🙋♀️