Why Blog?

I was discussing the blog I was building with my family and the topic of blogging as a concept came up. My mother wanted to know why blog? This is a reasonable question considering that a blog is a time committment and a labor of love.

What I have loved about other's blogs is that they are documenting the issues they have run into and then sharing that information with the wider world. By sharing we can all benefit from their experience and their steps to solve a problem. Many people that write posts such as these claim they are writing for their future selves and if it benefits others, all the better. This goes along with an old open source ideal of a meritocracy. A meritocracy is defined as:

government or the holding of power by people selected on the basis of their ability.

In my words, one advances their standing in a community because they have demonstrated an ability that is valuable. I have had that happen many times in the past where I know I have solved a problem and am racking my brain trying to remember what solved a given issue. I feel very frustrated in the moment because I would love to solve new problems, not spend energy trying to remember past fixes to problems. I plan on documenting things I've done here both as a way to Google myself but to also have a place where I can have things I work on be public.

Along the lines of a meritocracy being a good citizen of the internet is important. I feel that one of the greats things about the internet is dissemination of information and the best way to do so is via text. Text is excellent because it's easy to search, index and makes ideas and information easily accessible for all. Videos are maybe more entertaining or easier to consume but it's a bit harder to point to an idea right in a video or quote it. Having to watch a whole video to gather information is more of a commitment. Text on the other hand allows a reader to jump around and skim sections that are not interesting or not supportive of what they are looking for.

I have also wanted an area outside of work to share my interests in other technologies and experiments. Having somewhere to build something in public builds my ability to write and explain myself but has the added benefit of demonstrating my general interest in the craft of programming. Programming is much more than a career to me, it is something I think about everyday, even during time off. I try to work through problems I might be having at work, thinking of side project ideas or deciding which technology I might want to invest time in next. This is not unique to the field but if you discuss the idea of a doing the same work for 'fun' from other professions you may be a funny look or two 😄.