Why do I blog?

Since today is Thanksgiving I thought I would take a break from the geek posts and answer a question that I have been asked several times. Why do you blog? It seems like a simple question, but after I started to think about it more it became clear that a simple answer wouldn’t do. The simple answer is because I’m a geek and I want to share information. Which is true, but there are many layers to that answer.

  • I want to share information because I use Google to find answers to things I don’t know, and I’m sure that others do the same thing. But there wouldn’t be answers for Google to index if bloggers and forums didn’t share that information.
  • I want feedback. Some of the ideas that I get are plain stupid, others not so much. But without outside feedback how would I stay on the right track.
  • Confidence. This relates a lot to feedback, but as I see my site’s traffic grow and comments come in, they reassure me that I must be on the right track… otherwise I would hope that someone would speak up and correct my posts so that I can learn as well as share my knowledge.
  • Career security / advancement. Don’t get me wrong.. I’m not looking for a job, but in an economy that is unstable ( I wont say bad, because the company I work for is thriving, but I understand that other markets aren’t) and because I’m a husband and soon to be father I must take whatever steps I can to make sure that I remain a valuable part of the company I’m with. Anyhow I was reading some other blog posts the other day when I came across this post: 10 Essential Steps to Take BEFORE You’re Laid Off from the Get Rich Slowly blog. I thought that it had a very valuable message which I would like to share, but the bottom line is that a blog is your LIVING resume:
“…Start a blog that contains at least 50% professional material. If you don’t already have a blog, stop reading this one and go start one right this minute. It’s essential. Your blog is your living resume. It shows how you think. It shows how you write. It shows what’s important to you. While it is fine to blog about personal topics, devote half of your posts to professional content. What is that you do by trade? Mentor us through your blog. We employers love hiring mentors — they raise everybody’s performance.

If I’m an employer and you show me your blog and it is at least 50% professional it goes a long way in boosting your stocks with me. Why? Firstly, you’ve taken the time to create and maintain a blog (that’s why regular entries are critical). Next, it shows me you are keeping up with the times and utilizing social networking. Next, it helps you stand above your peers who couldn’t be bothered blogging. It also shows that you have the confidence to promote your thoughts, musings, discoveries, etc for free. Only the paranoid try to hold every piece of information they come across. It also indicates to me that you are a good communicator and you have the ability to work with the written word. And that’s just for a start.

There’s no way that you could ever get that across in a resume. A blog is a far better indicator to me of your skills, personality and dedication….”

I suppose there are some other reasons that I have a blog site as well… it gives me a reason to have all the lab gear that I do. I really like setting up infrastructure that just doesn’t sit there and suck up power until I have a brain fart that needs testing. Seems to me that having it actually doing something like hosting some VM’s is a much better purpose. Plus without this site and a few others that I host I would not have had a chance to get familiar with servers, and ip addressing and other stuff nearly as early as  I did.

Have a great Thanksgiving, and remember to stop and give thanks for what you have in your life, and what you have to share with others on your blog site 😉

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