I’ve always been enthusiastic about writing about code and anything under the sun that involves programming languages. I have written an independent article on Golang frameworks that has surprisingly garnered a good amount of claps over the year. However, I have decided it would be best for me to hit the brake on writing about programming for the following reasons:
It takes time
Writing takes time. Writing well takes even more. Although I’m relatively better in english than some of the my foreigner peers, english is not my native language. That makes it twice as time-consuming.
It creates a false sense of security
Often people write because it is relaxing, but more often because writing gives them satisfaction and relief. It creates a world only the author can access — an escape from reality, if you will. For me, writing about programming creates the kind of world I no longer want to be in. It’s given me the false sense of comfort that is potentially dangerous to my continuous learning.
Programming is a tool
and writing about a tool, while fun, is not something I want to spend time doing. This is especially true when there are already countless writers who are better at language X. I’d rather talk or write about concepts and principles which impact what I care most, tech-related or not.
It is a publisher’s game
Medium has arguably become one of the most successful blogging platforms slash social networks. In my opinion, the publication-oriented feature is great and it is supposed to promote the publishing freedom (as in anyone can create a publication and manage it). However, the reality is it feels like a big publisher’s game. Most writers would eventually write for publications that already have many followers to gain more claps, and writing and reading has become second-class to social appreciations.
I had finished Paul Graham’s blog post in one sitting regardless of the very minimal styling the blog adopts because it was his own post, distilled from his experience as a Lisper, and a startup founder. However, it’s been a while since I’ve finished even a trivially short technical post on Medium. The hundreds of claps just didn’t justify the quality of the writing, and in a way they seemed to have put me off.
I’m not winning anything
Let’s admit it. When we do something, deep down we expect something in return, however small it is. For me, spending time writing about code just doesn’t yield anything meaningful. There’s no meaningful discussions from readers, and for what I know most people would rather stay with what they are using or good at than to explore outside of their comfort zone.
It doesn’t pay forward
All in all, I’d rather spend more time reading, studying, and experimenting on something that will make the world a better place or at least contribute to that future. That means writing about something that directly moves me and other people is more powerful than writing about tools because it has the potential to drive forward.
Most of all, I’d rather stay in the presence and making sure the most important people and things in my life have my priorities. Because if I don’t, nobody will.
