CodeBetter - a new home for part of me
I started this blog about 8 years ago. It now contains 830-ish posts (this 831, I think). I have also just passed 20,000 tweets:
With my 20,000 tweets, I wanted to say a big “Thank you” to all you tweeps that I’ve learned from so much. And a shout-out to @MikaelOstberg — Marcus Hammarberg (@marcusoftnet) August 8, 2013
During this time, I have not drawn too much attention to myself, in my opinion, and by no means have become famous or well-known.
But some truly awesome things have happened during the last years that are directly related to the fact that I’ve been exposing my ideas, thoughts, and failures on the net. Most of the things that I have learned during the last years have also come from me interacting with different awesome thinkers - not seldom ONLY online (Twitter and through the blog).
A few things that stand out for me are:
- Got offered to write Kanban in Action (with @joakimsunden)
- Got a couple of truly amazing gigs - way over my head. And pulled them off in some cases
- Have spoken at conferences (ÖreDev and JFokus for example) and at numerous
- Spoke at Skillsmatter CukeUp
- Offered to blog at CodeBetter.com next to some of the heroes I’ve been learning from
In some of the cases above, I’m still convinced that they’ve got the wrong person (but I won’t tell them). In all of the cases above, I’m convinced that it has to do with my “presence” on the net.
I’m very humbled by all of this, and looking back, I truly cannot comprehend how lucky I’ve been.
CodeBetter
If you look carefully on the list above, you see CodeBetter in the list. Right out of the blue, I got contacted with the following question:
@Codebetter @marcusoftnet Would you like to blog on http://t.co/beXoswqEXt? — Brendan Tompkins (@btompkins) August 1, 2013
This was followed up with a very kind blog post that featured my tag-cloud and said that I would fit. So I jumped right in and wrote two blog posts (on Mob Programming and some experience from my current gig) that actually were quite well received. Super nervous, of course, when I first published the post (47,000+ readers via FeedReader.com), but the reception has been great, so far.
I will keep this blog, of course, but probably post the “smaller” and more personal posts here. I’ll regard CodeBetter.com more like writing for a big newspaper and write some posts there.
Advice
I started this blog when I had lost my notepad three times in a month. I wrote for me. Stuff that interested me. That evolved but I always wrote about stuff that engaged me. I think that makes for better writing.
If I would give anyone advice, it would be just that: share the stuff that engages you. You’ll be amazed what will follow from that. Sharing truly is knowledge since you’ll learn more as you share - ask any teacher.
More advice from some very prominent personalities are featured in the awesome Get Involved production of TekPub. Watch it - it’s well worth the money!