Get paid for blogging as a programmer

Robert Pankowecki
Jul 28, 2017 · 4 min read

As developers there are a few things we can do with our time:

  • code and ship it
  • learn new tools and techniques
  • show your current knowledge and expertise

and there is always the 4th option. Fuck it and enjoy your time doing something non-programming related, which is completely valid and I won’t discuss it today :-)

When you deliver code, especially when you work on an hourly rate, you trade your time for a short-time benefit in the form of financial gratification. When you learn new tools or present your skills in blogposts and conference or meetup talks you are doing a long-term investment.

Yes, everyone knows that. But I don’t have fuckin’ time — that’s the usual response.

There are two choices you have.

  • Prioritize it higher in your life. Usually, there is no such thing as not having time. I see it every day in my life. Time just slips while we are doing different things such as watching Game of Thrones or House of Cards for 3 hours in a row. It’s related to my recent post.
  • Make it someone else time. Get paid for doing it. The companies that you work for usually have certain goals such as finding new leads, getting recognized, recruiting new developers. Make your blogposts work for them. Publish on company blog instead of your own.

How to make that second option happen? Set up clear rules. Companies love rules. You know the company you work for better than me so I am gonna suggest a few things you could consider for such arrangement:

  • Maximum number of hours weekly you can spend on company time shipping blog posts
    Your company probably is going to be worried you will spend hours blogging instead of working for your clients. Assure them you are going to be doing this max 2–3 hours a week. Set up a clear limit. That does not mean you can’t spend 6 hours writing a blogpost if you like, but you are getting paid only for what you all agreed to. That’s still better than not getting paid at all. If you are a perfectionist and you want to tweak your post more, you can still do it on your own time. That’s up to you. Or you can ship it slightly imperfect, we have a good discussion about in our video. If 3 hours is too much for them start with 2 or 1 and prove yourself.
  • When do you blog
    It might be good in some companies to explicitly schedule when is the time for blogging allowed. The option that I see as easiest to achieve is Friday 14:00–17:00 or something similar. You are likely not giving 120% of yourself at such hours so the company might be more likely to agree to such arrangements.
    I was blogging like that for years in Arkency, having a dedicated day for it. Obviously, it was Friday when least important things happen :) On the other hand, having a fresh task on Friday always felt good to me. After 4 days of intensive coding, I welcomed the refreshing feeling of blogging. It was something different and usual Friday feeling of being a bit tired at the end of working week did not apply to it as much as it usually affects my programming activities.
  • Blogging salary
    You are getting paid for blogging but how much? The only arrangement I see suitable is your normal rate as a programmer.
  • Junior/Apprentice defensive statements
    You or your company might feel that your level of expertise is not high enough to blog. That only experts and seniors can blog. Meh… Do you know the 8th Light company, where Uncle Bob works? Uncle, fuckin’ Bob. How do you beat that? Here is how they solved it.
    With a TAG on a blog. They just added “Apprentice Blog of the Week”. See for yourself: https://8thlight.com/blog/tags/apprentice-blog-of-the-week.html . Everything clear, expectations set. Still very valuable blog-posts, just not written by the most recognized person in the company. Being honest and explicit that you are starting and what you wrote is what you learned so far (and there is much more out there) is good enough. It’s something we also teach and mention in the video.
  • Ship, ship, ship
    3 hours a week might not be a lot but your company might still be afraid that it’s going to take you a whole month and 12 hours in total to ship one blog-post. Promise that those 3 hours will lead to a shipped blog-post. Keep using the strategies mentioned in the book and video to achieve it.
  • Show the company what they get from it
    Install Google Analytics (or anything else) and track visits. At the end of the month check yourself and show to the others how much exposure the company keeps getting from your posts. If you link to a page with services or recruitment offers, show how many people went there because of you.
    Keep track of the comments, retweets, job applications, people coming to you at conferences, mailing you with questions etc.

If you want to blog more, if you would like to get paid for that, try to ask. Have your arguments ready. And it might just work.

One thing I’ve heard from my bosses is that the employees often expect things to change, things to happen. They are not happy about an aspect or two of their work but they stay silent. They don’t want to complain or they don’t feel comfortable asking for something. But as a result, nothing changes and the bosses are blind about bad things happening in a company. If you have your dreams about writing on a blog or going to a conference, try to ask. It shouldn’t make anything worse.

P.S. Only 10 hours left to get Blogging for Busy developers with 30% discount code: MEBLOG

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