My writing journey & how writing helped me

As per my blogging platform, this is my 100th blog post. In this post, I would like to reflect on my writing journey and pen down my thoughts on writing. While the scope of impact of writing goes beyond one's professional career, I will try to limit it to the professional part of life for this post.

Communication through writing

Writing is a form of communication with others (our peers in the profession, our clients, etc.). Like other forms of communication, writing has its benefits and challenges. Since the communication mode is asynchronous, it has the apparent trade-offs of the mode. You get to iterate over your writing and improve it before the readers can read your content. On the other hand, it is hard to have the same impact on every reader as there are fewer opportunities to ask questions and get clarification.

My writing journey

While I was in college, I attempted to write. However, I could not make significant progress. Later, As a student, I thought of starting a blog. I named it Technology from a Developer's Eye. The blog didn't move beyond the first post. However, in that sole post, I expressed why I am in this profession of software development. I was clear that my motto was to apply the right technology for the right purpose at the right time and in the right way. More than a year later, when I shared this with a friend, he suggested adding "With the right people" to my statement. Almost two decades later, I am here focusing on helping professionals embark on the journey I had envisioned for the role of a software developer.

There were more blogging efforts in the later years. They are SE Life, Naresha's Blog, Java without Java, and Naresha's Blog. Fortunately, after a long time, I managed to settle with the current site.

Before starting this blog site, I had an enjoyable experience writing for a magazine called "Healthy Code". Though I didn't have any track record of writing, Siva, the magazine's publisher, was kind enough to offer me an opportunity to write. Soon, I started writing a regular column on the Groovy ecosystem for the magazine. Today, when I reflect on my writing journey, writing for "Healthy Code" magazine was the moment that inspired me to write and get habituated to writing. I am incredibly grateful to Siva for that fantastic opportunity.

Impact of writing

In my observation, writing significantly impacts how you organise your thoughts. This, in turn, will influence how well you communicate your ideas during oral communication. Over a while, I observed that thoughts might have a better impact when expressed in a specific order. You might have heard the saying that you don't know something unless you have taught that topic. I have experienced that effect as a result of my writing. Rubber Ducking is another technique that can have a similar impact, though one may lose some thoughts if the exercise spans multiple sessions. However, since you have access to what you have written previously, there is no risk of losing any thoughts.

Another impact of writing, in my experience, is that when I write about a topic, I am able to discover certain related topics or aspects, especially the connection between them.

Also, when I write a post, several questions come to mind, which in turn help me research and expand my knowledge on the topic. For example, as I write this blog post, I am intrigued by the following question. If writing articles or blog posts can have the benefits I mentioned above, does writing code similarly impact the developers? I will express my thoughts on this question in an upcoming post.

Writing can be highly engaging. Many times, I realise I get into a deep work mode, which can have a positive impact on the quality of my work and make me feel more energetic.

If you have not already attempted writing or blogging, I highly recommend you try it. You never know what gems of qualities within you will end up discovering.