I have a blog, but I mostly assume people _don't_ care what I'm doing or thinking. Some of my posts have probably never been read by anybody. I still personally find it worthwhile for a few reasons:
- The mere possibility that someone will see it pushes me to put more thought and effort into what I write. Sometimes this reveals weaknesses in my ideas that I would have glossed over if I were just writing private notes for myself; sometimes it leads me to actually change my opinions. It also means the blog posts are easier for me to understand / get value out of than notes are if I come back and reread them years later.
- It creates opportunities for people to connect with me which can pay off at unexpected times. Occasionally people have reached out to me to say a post helped them or resonated with them, or to give a thoughtful reply or ask a question. Those sorts of interactions are really satisfying even if they're rare. (One time, I was interviewing for a dev job and the interviewer asked a question about a post I'd written on the philosophy of John Rawls, and how it could connect to software engineering. I found that absolutely delightful.)
- It's just nice to have an outlet when I feel like writing about something.
- The mere possibility that someone will see it pushes me to put more thought and effort into what I write. Sometimes this reveals weaknesses in my ideas that I would have glossed over if I were just writing private notes for myself; sometimes it leads me to actually change my opinions. It also means the blog posts are easier for me to understand / get value out of than notes are if I come back and reread them years later.
- It creates opportunities for people to connect with me which can pay off at unexpected times. Occasionally people have reached out to me to say a post helped them or resonated with them, or to give a thoughtful reply or ask a question. Those sorts of interactions are really satisfying even if they're rare. (One time, I was interviewing for a dev job and the interviewer asked a question about a post I'd written on the philosophy of John Rawls, and how it could connect to software engineering. I found that absolutely delightful.)
- It's just nice to have an outlet when I feel like writing about something.