Why you should write about your work online.
I know what you’re thinking, you agree that you should be writing about your work — but it’s hard. You maybe aren’t sure what you should write about, maybe you’re nervous about voicing your opinion or it’s just time consuming and the payoff isn’t obvious.
I’ve felt all of those things and continue to feel them. Even though writing and publishing my thoughts online has become the way that I make a living.
Writing forces us to pause, and reflect on ourselves and our work. In a world where many of us are stuffing as many tasks as possible into each minute — the idea of pausing to reflect seems like something we might have the luxury to do one day.
But, in my opinion, writing about your work online is one of — if not the — best thing you can do for your career starting right now. Writing about your work and sharing it with the world is the number one way you can take your career from where it is now to where you want to be. So I’m going to explain why I think that is and the opportunities that it brings.
1) It looks incredible to potential employers
If you’re a designer or a developer, you already know that you should have examples of your work on a portfolio site. But, do you want to know how you can make those examples stand out even more? Write about them. Share your process, share the train of thought you had while you were working on the project, explain why you made the decisions you did. Don’t be afraid to do this. Think of it like math class in elementary school, even if you ended up with the wrong answer, you got points for showing your work. So many employers are looking for people who can intelligently express how and why they made the decisions they did and not everyone is doing this — you will stand out.
2) It’s how you get speaking opportunities and onto podcasts
When I’m looking for people to interview for Ways We Work, I’m always looking for people who have written about their work and their process online. One the biggest things I’ve learned from interviewing over 100 people, is that people who write about their work give the most thoughtful and intelligent answers. Editors, producers, conference organizers are looking for people who can express their thoughts and ideas clearly and the only way you get better at doing that is by writing.
3) It makes you better at what you do
Regardless of what profession you’re in, I promise you that writing about your work will make you better at it. Guaranteed. When you practice thinking through your decisions and trying to communicate them to others, you’ll very quickly see the ways you can improve and the options you can explore next time. Not only that but you open yourself up to feedback from others. Feedback you won’t get if you don’t put your writing out there.
“Okay but how do I start?”
Start small
On your next project, whether it’s a design mockup, your personal website, next month’s content marketing calendar — whatever it may be — take little point form notes throughout the process. What choices are you making, ask yourself why? Did you just discover something new? Jot it down. Where are you getting stuck or struggling? Write that down too. It doesn’t have to be a lot, just point form notes that you can reflect on later.
When you’re finished with whatever it is you’re working on, you now have little checkpoints that you can reference when you go to write about the process.
Read and respond to others
There are more than enough thought-leaders publishing opinion pieces online in almost every industry. I’m willing to bet that most of the time the gap between their knowledge and yours isn’t always as big as you might think. Read what other people are writing — do you agree with what they’re saying? Do you disagree? Start by writing responses to other people’s work, it’s a really good place to start when you’re not quite sure what you want to write about yet.
If you have more tips on how to write about your work online, I’d love to hear your responses. If you want more help or more ideas, reach out to me on Twitter or via email — I’d love to help out.
