In this newsletter, I cover software development, developer advocacy, technical writing, and the latest news and trends in tech. I also share exclusive behind-the-scenes insights about my experience as a developer, advocate and content creator.
I started this newsletter issue by trying to sound smart and write a complex description of content creation. After finishing, I thought - "why waste time with definitions that can be found with a Google search" and deleted everything I wrote.
Instead, let's jump straight to the point and see the five techniques to generate unlimited content ideas.
1. Talk about what you learn
You learn something new every day in your tech job. As a result, everything you learn presents an opportunity to create content. Now, you might ask - how can I create content about something I just learnt? The answer is simple: you explain what you just learnt in your own words and voice like you'd explain to a friend.
There are multiple benefits to talking about what you learn, and they are as follows:
Conclusion: Talk about the stuff you learn.
2. Talk about the issues you solve
In jobs like software development jobs, you solve bugs and issues on a daily basis. Some of them will come back to bite you in the future. So, why not document your solutions, then?
Documenting your solutions have two significant benefits:
Each solution is an opportunity for a piece of content. You save your future self and help others too!
3. Talk about what you know
The main idea is to identify your strongest skills and talk about those things. For instance, let's say you are a front-end React developer. You could talk about front-end and React topics.
Moreover, in the process of sharing what you already know, you might find yourself learning new things too.
4. Talk about your experiences
In our life and career, we go through many experiences, such as getting a job, learning new things and overcoming emotions like the impostor syndrome, to name just a few. Every experience you go through can be the subject of a content piece.
Did you ace an interview? Talk about how you prepared.
Were you promoted at your job? Talk about the things you did to grow in your career.
Did you overcome burnout? Talk about your recovery and your prevention methods.
You get the idea. These content pieces are tremendously helpful for other people because they can learn from your experiences. Some of my most popular content pieces are around this type of subject.
5. Keyword research tool
The latest technique for finding content ideas is to use SEO tools like Ubbersuggest and Ahrefs. They help research keywords and ideas and they provide additional information such as:
and more.
You are now equipped with five techniques to ensure you always have content ideas. They are enough to help you generate ideas for content for years to come. As an exercise, get a pen and paper, go through each point and try to generate some ideas to get the ball rolling.
"The Missing Semester of Your CS Education" is a free course offered by MIT that aims to teach practical skills and concepts that are often overlooked in traditional computer science education.
It'll teach you how to master the command-line, use a powerful text editor, use fancy features of version control systems, and much more!
An opinionated list of four approaches to building web applications.
Tired of shelling money to cloud providers? This article teaches you how to self-host your websites with a Raspberry Pi (with 0 downtime).
Some people prefer changing jobs every 1-2 years, whereas others prefer staying longer in the same job. There's no universal path/answer that works for everyone. It depends on one's goals and objectives.
In this post, you can see the different perspectives and personal experiences of individuals on the subject matter.
We all know testing is vital in the software development cycle, but can tests sometimes detract value? In this post, the author discusses his disillusionment with writing unit tests.
"Never, ever, in my career has a failing unit test helped me understand that my new code is probably bad and that I shouldn't do it."
The post generated an interesting discussion about unit testing. Which side are you on - are unit tests bringing or detracting value?
There have been discussions about the Twitter algorithm being open-sourced for months now. Will this week be the week when the algorithm is finally open-sourced?
61 companies in the United Kingdom participated in a trial where the employees only worked four days a week. The trial was a success, with some participant companies adopting the four-day workweek permanently.
The trial revealed some interesting numbers:
Having worked reduced hours in the past (6 hours per day), I'm not surprised by these findings. I'm all in for changing the outdated Mon - Fri 9 - 5 outdated work schedule.
In this newsletter, I cover software development, developer advocacy, technical writing, and the latest news and trends in tech. I also share exclusive behind-the-scenes insights about my experience as a developer, advocate and content creator.
Hey, Catalin Pit here! How are you? 👋 Personally, I had a few busy and hectic last months, but in a good sense. I started a new position at @Documenso as a Software Engineer, and I've been busy settling into the new role. I really enjoy it! 💚 Anyway, I have some interesting updates for you! React Visual IDE Last week, I published an article about a React Visual IDE 👀 that can help you build React apps quicker and easier. Especially user interfaces. It was my first time using it, and I gotta...
Long time no see! Before you close the email, or worse - unsubscribe (😔), take a few minutes to read the email. You'll learn something you can apply when life throws you into unexpected situations, or at least you might get some motivation. After being laid off from my last job, I de-prioritized content creation and focused entirely on coding. I spent most of my time working on iCodeThis.com and honing my technical skills. That's why I didn't send an email in such a long time. Losing my job...
Questions to ask before accepting a job offer 1. Will they claim ownership if you release a side project or any product? 2. Are you allowed to contribute to open source? 3. Is there a clear progression path? 4. Will you have a mentor? Side project/product ownership Many people are unaware that companies can claim ownership of their side projects/products even if they are created outside working hours and on personal equipment. Simply put, a company can claim ownership of everything you...