A colleague asked me recently why I write and how I got started. When I started this blog 11 years ago, I wrote for an audience of maybe one: me in the future. I thought maybe someone else could eventually come along and read it. Mostly, though, I put thoughts down to help myself think through problems.
That changed when a new teammate joined us at a startup. I wanted to write something short to share with them about how we did code reviews, which became my Code Reviews Best Practices post. On a whim, I posted it to Hacker News, and to my surprise it landed on the front page.
The post got something like 50K views that first weekend. Going from zero to thousands of readers felt overwhelming. It also felt good to be recognized by the Hacker News community, which influenced my career transition from film to tech. Being helped by other people’s writing made me want to do the same for others.
That briefly viral post taught me two things. Chasing popularity messes with your head - it’s a high you can’t reliably recreate. I kept trying to write things that would hit the same way, but those posts felt forced. And writing for validation leads to disappointment, while writing because you have something to say feels sustainable and more honest.
Since then, I’ve written when I feel like I have something to share, or when I have the same conversation with multiple people. If I discuss something with 2-3 different folks, it’s probably worth writing about. Here’s why that practice has been valuable:
What I’ve gained
Personal learning. Writing helps solidify how you think about a topic. Even if no one reads it, you benefit. I’ve written posts to work through confusion about technical concepts, and explaining them clearly helped me understand them better.
Communication practice. Writing makes you better at expressing yourself in everything from emails to presentations. I’ve noticed that the more I write, the easier it becomes to organize my thoughts in meetings or explain complex ideas simply.
Professional opportunities. This only happened once for me. I got a reach-out from a big tech company that led to a job offer. Writing can help you stand out, especially early in your career.
Creating a presence. A few years ago, my undergrad college invited me to a CS panel. What did I have to offer students 10+ years after graduating? I told them to start thinking about how they want to be seen professionally. It takes time to build something meaningful! Start writing about what you’re learning, even if it feels obvious. Future you will thank you.
A pre-AI artifact. How will AI learn what kind of person you are? Through social media posts, or through something more thoughtful? Gwern mentioned something compelling on the Dwarkesh podcast: “By writing, you are voting on the future… If there are values you have which are not expressed yet in text, then to the AI they don’t exist.” Worth considering what kind of vote you want to cast.
Having a persistent record. You’ll build things you think are cool throughout your career. Unless they gain traction, probably no one else will know about them. Design documents? Even your best ones might not stick around. But writing on your own platform? That persists.
Connection. Writing creates opportunities for deeper conversations. When I published the AI prisoner’s dilemma post, several people shared perspectives I wouldn’t have heard otherwise. People occasionally reach out to say a post helped them with something, and sometimes I get requests for feedback on others’ writing, both of which feel rewarding.
These benefits compound over time. They all start with the same simple act: putting your thoughts into words and sharing them.
The real reason
Looking back, I think there was something deeper driving me to write than the practical benefits above.
A few years before I started this blog (almost 15 years ago!) I wrote in my journal: “What do you do when you realize you haven’t actually made anything for most of your life?”
At the time, I was considering film school but had no works to my name, no portfolio, no record of who I was beyond what was in my head. I felt strong at analyzing and helping others solve problems, yet felt like I wasn’t creating anything.
Each post became something I made, something tangible I could point to. I went from someone who consumed and analyzed to someone who puts ideas out there.
Maybe that’s the real answer to my colleague’s question. I write because it transformed me from someone who thinks about things to someone who makes things. Writing creates a record of growth I can actually track. I’m no longer the same person who wrote that journal entry.
Getting started
If you’re thinking about writing, write for you-from-two-weeks-ago: the version of you who was trying to figure out some problem or understand something new.
Don’t worry about having a perfect platform or big idea. Write about something you’ve learned recently, a problem you’ve solved, a book that changed how you think and why, or document a debugging session that took hours.
The goal isn’t to go viral or build an audience immediately. The goal is to start turning your thoughts into something tangible.
I find it humbling that people choose to read what I write at all (thank you for being here with me!).
If you’re not writing yet, give it a shot. Start with something small, write for yourself. You might be surprised by what happens!