Doubts To Overcome When Starting (Software) Blogging

It takes some courage but pays off in the end

I started blogging in late 2017. It started with posts that covered random things I experienced during that time. There was no plan nor focus on specific topics. In 2018 I decided I should write something about the software industry as that is something familiar to me. The start was great. I got in the Top 10 in HackerNews with my post about Markdown and got tens of thousands of views in matter of hours. But it was not completely positive experience. The feedback to blog posts can get very harsh and can escalate very quickly. It was the first time I had some doubts about writing.

First thing that can cause doubt is the exposure to public when you are writing. This means not only being open with your opinions but also sharing some personal details to people you don’t know. For some this might be too much and they quit before they event get started. I am not that scared of people knowing details about me and might even enjoy talking with strangers about things I like and do. But criticism is always harder to take. Here thing to remember is that everyone got their own opinion and while it might be different than yours, it’s still justified. It might take some time to grow skin to be able to take criticism and not get offended about it. When facing criticism, it’s good to try understand the reasons behind it. Most of the time it’s not personal and can give valid new points of view to the topic.