Here are the steps I took in writing, speaking and how they contributed to my personal growth. By the end, I hope you'll understand that writing, speaking, contributing to open source, and putting yourself out there, present asymmetric opportunities with low downside and disproportionate upside. Engaging in these activities isn't just about expressing thoughts; done properly, it requires extensive research, reading, learning, and facing criticism. It also requires courage to put oneself out there and write on a topic. However, the rewards are worth it.
The journey begins with sharing, and effective sharing requires a broad audience. That always leads to personal growth, albeit usually delayed (which may appear disconnected). If this resonates with you, keep reading.
Share
Creating content takes time and effort. And when this content is shaped by real-world experiences, the effort goes up a notch. But why keep such valuable insights to ourselves? In the ever-changing world of IT, sharing what you know when it's most relevant can make the most difference.
Why Sharing Matters?
- Peer Enablement: as technology keeps changing, sharing clear and relevant content is a straightforward way to keep everyone updated.
- Thought Leadership: Completing a project or finding a solution feels good. But in a world filled with so much information, it's also important to share our approaches and successes in a down-to-earth way.
Creating and sharing content isn't just about telling others what we know. It's about our professional duty to help everyone else grow and believe that what we learn can benefit many.
Scale
Grow
Sharing is a way of gifting others with your experience and knowledge. Publishing is a way of scaling the distribution of knowledge. But “What’s in it for me?” you may ask yourself. I’ve asked the same question myself many times and came to the following conclusion: “The more you give, the more you share, the more you get. I have no good explanation for it, but this is how sharing works.”
How do you grow?
- Become more courageous - putting something written down in the open, with your name on it, takes courage. It is opening yourself up for other to criticize and some will take that opportunity.
- Dealing with different views - many things in IT are in the grey area rather than black and white. You will learn to take criticism and sometimes convince/influence others.
- You get new ideas - clear writing demands clear thinking, which makes it the ultimate discipline for sharpening the mind. Also while writing, you get to learn a topic well. Which in turn forces you to the next level, and you get ideas/conclusions you would otherwise have no way to get to.
- Personal brand - software engineering has elements of craftsmanship and art (otherwise, we would have been replaced by software by now). Making yourself known in an area will make your professional life pleasurable and take it to its limits.
- Career growth and visibility - it helps you stand out of the crowd and grow in your career.
Sharing will help you in ways you have not expected. If it has not, probably you have not shared enough yet.
