No One Will Read This, but I Don't Care
18 Sep 2017
I’m starting a new milestone in my life (more on this in a future post), and I have decided it is time for me to start blogging on my website regularly. Foremost it will help me become a better, more frequent writer, and perhaps it will help anyone who may come across my posts via Google Search or some other means.
I reached this conclusion when I came across Jeff Atwood’s Coding Horror blog, and decided to see if I could glean any useful information from him. His About Me page was very specific as to what gave him his successes: blogging. His repeated, relentless, and motivated approach led him to write about interesting, technical, and useful topics for the rest of the world to see. He didn’t care that nobody reads his blogs, because he knew that users don’t care about you. People come and read blogs for the content, and almost never for the person alone. Without recognition that you are a competent (talented, even) writer with something worth reading, no one will go out and seek you specifically. But Jeff wrote anyways, because it really wasn’t about achieving fame or glory, but about getting better at communicating ideas effectively. He wrote piece after piece for years before he gained a large following, and he likened it to throwing punches, jabs, and haymakers. After reading this, I realized that this is something that I should be doing. My years at the university studying computer science have resulted in me accumulating a plethora of interesting details that I could share. I’ve been harboring a rich expanse of information; if only it could exit my fingertips. I seek neither glory nor fame, but instead I want to compile pieces that can be helpful for a future me, whether they be me in the flesh or someone in my shoes.
I don’t expect anyone to read this post (and if you are reading this post, thanks for your time). But that will not stop me. The act of explaining a topic is a wholesome skill unto itself, and can only get better with practice. This is a kind of practice I want to closely resemble the Feynman Technique, in which the complex topics I learn are distilled into simple language that a person who is less familiarized could understand. It will be a learning experience for myself that I will enjoy doing, just as much as will be a helpful resource for someone who stumbles upon this website. The benefits of personal growth are too tantalizing to ignore.