Start writing now! Seriously!
I am an enthusiastic developer since my childhood. I have started with Plus 4 and C 16 machines programming in Basic. I still remember when we were jumping on the bed with my brother, and accidentally saw the Commodore 64 computer on the top of the wardrobe, which was planned to be a Christmas gift for us. I don't have to tell you that we couldn't wait till then. :) I will never forget this memory. Of course in the beginning we only played on the computer, but later I became interested in how can I make my own programs. I have to tell when I first faced the binary number system I did not understand it, but I was still able to draw some sprites on the screen. :)
I continued learning software development during grammar school. I got my Masters degree at the Budapest University of Economics and Technology where I learnt many languages and also learnt a lot about general software development theory and practice.
I have started my professional career as a C++/C# developer, but I switched to Java after a few years. I've visited many meetups and Code Retreats during this time and I've learnt and introduced Agile methodologies in our company. During the years I lead the development team in close cooperation with the product management and testing department.
In 2020 I felt I need something new and I turned towards test automation both API and UI. I did not regret my decision. Since then I tried many frameworks like RestArrured, Selenium, Protractor, Appium, Selenide and Karate.
At the moment I am working as a Senior Software Developer in Test using Selenium and Selenide for UI testing and Karate for API testing.
I believe knowledge sharing is very important, so apart from helping my colleagues work I started my technical blog recently: https://mszeles.com Sharing your knowledge provides many ways for your own development. Whenever I write an article many questions come into my mind which might be interesting for the readers, so I try to answer all of them in my posts. Doing this I learn a lot about the subject. In additionally sharing your knowledge gives a good opportunity for feedback based on which you can further improve.
Reading the title might raise the following question in you: "No offence, but why the hell should I start writing?". It is a good question so let me answer it in detail. However some of the below-mentioned points are tailored towards technical writing, most of the topics are relevant to writing independently from the subject.
Why should I start writing articles?
Knowledge sharing is important Do not be the professional who knows everything but shares nothing. That would be a very sad life. Helping fellow colleagues with your knowledge is a great thing, but why would you stop there? Go one step further, share it with a wider audience. With your team, your company, your LinkedIn connections and last but not least share it with everyone.
You can become an expert
You do not have to be a rock-solid expert to write an article. Have you learnt something new recently? Is there a specific topic on your mind? Write an article about it.
In case you would like to write a good article, most probably you will research many sites, publications before/during doing that. By doing the research, formulating your own thoughts, questions about the topic you can learn new things and you can make your knowledge more solid. Based on my experience that is one of the best ways for self-improvement.
Writing is fun
I really enjoy writing, helping others makes me happy. Of course, the best is the case when you have internal motivation, not an external one. It is very easy to get addicted to writing. First I experienced it while I was writing my personal blog back then, and now I also started to feel it. I can't wait to get back to writing articles again and again.
It can start communication
In larger companies, it is quite usual that developer teams work completely separated not even knowing what technologies are used by other teams for the exact same purpose. However smoking did help a lot to talk with people from other teams and learn about technologies they use, I do not recommend starting smoking just because of that. 😊
A better solution is to write about the technologies you use, the daily struggles you face with. Seeing you are sharing your knowledge might inspire other teams to do the same. Or at least they can contact you to talk more about the topic.
You can get feedback
Feedback is everything. I remember the time when I was afraid of speaking in English as I was worried about making mistakes and embarrassing myself. But as soon as I persuaded myself to start speaking, I suddenly started to improve, way faster than before.
In case you show how you are doing stuff (like what test automation frameworks you use, how do you use them), you can get feedback on that, from which you can learn. In case you are sitting in your ivory tower you won't improve after a while. It is like only running an AI against itself, in order to improve it in playing a game. It is useful, but in case you do not run against other players in order to improve, it will miserably fail.
You can build new connections
Seeing you are interested in a topic will attract others having the same interests. Having a common interest is a good base for starting a professional relationship (or who knows in the end you might get new friends too).
You can showcase your expertise
Posting the certificate after you finished a course is great, but posting your own articles on the topic is even better. You can showcase your expertise to your current and future employers or clients. As the no.1 platform for professional connection building is LinkedIn, I highly recommend posting your articles on LinkedIn too (I will write on where and how to publish in an upcoming post).
You can find new colleagues
Showing your team has an up to date tech-stack and you are using cool frameworks (even if they are not mainstream), might inspire others to work in your team. I guess I do not have to explain why it is better to interview people who would like to work in your team, instead of random candidates. In addition, by writing tutorials about the used frameworks, it is more likely that the applicants will already have relevant knowledge.
Closing thoughts
I am pretty sure there are many other benefits of posting your own article, so in case you are an expert on the topic, please share the benefits missing from the list.
In case you started to play with the thought of writing your own article, you should read my advice about writing a good article in my upcoming piece.
Before leaving, I give you some homework:
📚Think about what is the topic closest to your soul that makes your heart pump faster even by thinking about it? If you find it, I am pretty sure you cannot fail with writing an article about it. Share it with us in the comment section. 🧡
P.S.: Show your support by sharing this article in case you like it. 👍
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