Getting started in this blogging business, overcoming my fears
Tags: learninpublic, devjournal, writing
Published: 2022-06-17 04:28:12

## Why I'm starting a blog too.

Hi all, this is my first post!

It is also going to be a lengthy explanation (or mind-dump) of why I'm writing and mostly so I can remind myself and reflect back later about why I started this in the first place.
<br>
### Tl;dr
I'm writing here to become better writer and coder, and possibly grow as a person.

I also have a [bunch of links to articles at the bottom of the page](#links-for-motivation) that helped encourage me to write and may be good motivation for why you should also write (if you don't already)!
<br>
### Long-winded stuff starts here: 

I'm at a stage where I think I've finally got the basics down and I'm ready to take on the next cool-kids skill. React, next.js, three.js, gatsby, jamstack, even with my narrowed down list there's so many things to learn! Where do I even start? Will I be able to learn all of this?

One of the most common advice for learners of web development (or anything really) is to blog. Document your journey. Share what you know. Reinforce. Help others. Help yourself.

We tend to stick to a passive stance when learning, such as listening to teachers, watching videos, reading articles, following tutorials where do what is set out to do in the course. This is guided learning. You can get stuck in a "tutorial hell", and the longer you stay in this phase the harder it is to stand on your own as a new developer.

Applying this knowledge with unguided learning, whether it be teaching something you learned to a fellow learner or doing bonus challenges in coding courses, changing up something you built in your tutorials, building things from scratch, is what really counts. Thats when you can actually gauge whether you know (or don't know) something. You're forced to actively find a solution. 

[Read more about how to learn stuff in this amazing article on Josh W Comeau's blog.](https://www.joshwcomeau.com/blog/how-to-learn-stuff-quickly/)
<br>
It's been 4 years since making the change into Web Development, I attended a web design course for the first 2 and have been working my first web development job in the latter 2. In these few years I have worked on a lot of projects; for school, for work, sometimes personal ones too but not so much. My fear of standing on my own - while it has improved a lot in terms of trying out new projects and not just sticking to whats laid out in tutorials - has been one of the things holding back my growth as a dev.

Another fear has been showing myself. While many people hide in the anonymity of the internet, I mostly lurk in the comments section, limiting my voice to platforms with my privacy settings set to friends only. For me, writing a blog is effectively speaking in public, and I being someone who has never gotten over speeches and presentations throughout my 17+ years of school. Its daunting to put myself out there to be judged by anyone and everyone. Even now I have trouble writing a piece for my company blog each quarter-year when my turn comes around (never mind the fact that I have to write it in a second-language, I'd have trouble writing it in my English too). 

Writing is public. People can read it. (Not expecting anyone _will_ but they _could_!)
Writing also makes you accountable. What if what I write is worded strangely? What if it misleads them? What if I'm just plain wrong?

This is where the community matters. The community can offer feedback in the form of encouragement, or criticism. Being able to trust the community to give positive criticism and _nicely_ correct me if/when I'm wrong helps to take away that feeling of being a sitting duck. Its often said that you learn best from your mistakes.

<br>

**It's scary but a great opportunity to learn.**

I've recently been thinking a lot about the next steps career-wise, and so a few months ago I decided I would build my own portfolio/blog website. During this time, I've also done a lot of reading - and thanks to that I realized, why should I wait until my site is done when that could take months? 

Reading these blogs has encouraged me tremendously to start a blog _now_, it has convinced me [to learn in public](https://www.swyx.io/learn-in-public/), and be part of the online dev community. The dev.to (DEV) community especially feels like such a healthy and welcoming community - and therefore it feels like a safe place to start my journey. I was shocked by how easy it was to sign up and make my first post and I realized I'd unknowingly built this all up to be some massive monster of a challenge.
<br>
**With all that said, here's a guideline for myself for what I want to do here:**
* write about things I've learnt, small or big
* write often and regularly
* not be a perfectionist (I've always done badly in English class so I don't want to stress out and then not post things at all)
* learn & grow as both a developer & writer
* just write!



<br>
### Links for Motivation 
**Here's a few encouraging posts are currently motivating me:**
(Also includes links I referenced above body for those who skipped)
* [How to learn stuff quickly - Josh W Comeau](https://www.joshwcomeau.com/blog/how-to-learn-stuff-quickly/)
* [Learn in Public - Swyx](https://www.swyx.io/learn-in-public/)
* [From Junior to Mid level: My Top Five Tips on How To Make This Transition - Nadia Zhuk](https://dev.to/beetlehope/from-junior-to-mid-level-my-top-five-tips-on-how-to-make-this-transition-4jda)
* [Why you need a blog (as a software engineer) - Nadia Zhuk](https://dev.to/beetlehope/why-you-need-a-blog-as-a-software-engineer-5589)
* [I'm Moving My Blog to Dev.to](https://seangwright.medium.com/im-moving-my-blog-to-dev-to-646b842ffd61)

<br>
Thanks for making it all the way here! 
Drop a line to say hi or feel free to leave some feedback!

👋