I wrote the value of blogging hoping to highlight the less often discussed value of practicing writing. Too often we look at blogs solely as a branding tool, or as a way to make money, or to get a zillion hits. Nothing wrong with any of those and I wouldn’t even discourage anyone from trying them, but just to write is enough, and I think we don’t teach that lesson.
As an employer if I read your blog I’ll be looking to see who you are. You can’t blog 50 or 500 times even just writing purely technical posts without revealing a lot; writing skills, interests, attitude, ability to present yourself professionally, and more. Often it will do so much better than a resume or an hour interview would. It’s not the whole puzzle, I still need to see how you interact with people and hold up under the pressure of an interview.
I often wonder if saying ‘blogging’ doesn’t hurt our ability to get people to write more often. Calling it a ‘diary’ is the wrong word, maybe ‘journal’?
