It’s already been a year!
Looking back on a year of writing: the format that has emerged, the feedback I’ve received, and the deep motivation behind these posts.
One year, 52 weeks, one orbit of the Earth around the Sun, a first spring, call it what you will: it’s a first anniversary 🥳
An anniversary, and an opportunity to take a look back. What strikes me first and foremost is qualitative. It’s all the spontaneous comments from people who know me, whether professionally or personally. Comments like “I don’t understand everything, but I really enjoy reading your posts” make me especially happy.
As you might expect, the most divisive topics are the ones that get the most views. That doesn’t mean I’d make it a strategy, though. On the other hand, highly technical articles get very few views. But I’ve noticed that my peers read them, comment on them, and share them. Paradoxically, in fact, the most popular articles help raise the profile of their more timid counterparts by attracting new readers.
This year of writing has been an opportunity for many experiments: explaining technical concepts in layman’s terms, developer profiles, rants, and also analyzing articles written by my peers. Ultimately, I believe I’ve found a voice and a writing style that work for both me and my readers.
Starting with the format: keep it short! Thank you. We’re all victims of information overload. That stack of articles and books waiting to be read that I keep glancing at out of the corner of my eye adds far too much to my mental load… I hate those “reading time: 20 min” articles (yeah, right!) whose main point can ultimately be summed up in a single paragraph. My articles need to convey an idea in under 3 minutes.
Now, regarding frequency: I post once a week and wouldn’t be able to do more. I simply wouldn’t have enough material and would end up falling into the universal trap of LinkedIn copywriters: “This morning, I ate an apple.” Spouting empty platitudes and feeding my ego with the views generated by my posts.
My thinking is gradually shaped by the code I write and by exchanges with my peers, including my students. Sometimes I give form to a long-held idea; other times it’s a faint signal that writing helps me put into words. Ultimately, writing is like breathing, a fruitful back-and-forth between action and thought. I couldn’t write twice a day without compromising quality. What would be the point, anyway?
The goal that drives my editorial direction is client acquisition. This requires visibility: demonstrating expertise and getting the word out, so I’m recognized as an expert in software quality. As a freelancer focused on short-term, high-value-added consulting engagements, I can’t just wait for the market to come to me: it won’t. These are projects we initiate and create through the exchange of ideas, months or even years in advance. It’s like planting a seed that, one day, perhaps, will sprout 🌱 So far, this strategy has worked pretty well.
But even before that, I’ve taken, and still take, great pleasure, week after week, in writing these few lines. They stimulate my thinking, confirm one idea, disprove another, point out my own inconsistencies, and allow me to correct them. It’s also the search for the right word, the one that hits the mark and says more than a hundred others.
Thank you, then, for your loyalty 🙏