26 Apr 2025 #writing
Your headline is the front door to your content.
People will only enter your shop after seeing an attention-grabbing sign on the front door. Headlines work the same. No matter how thoughtful and actionable your post is, if the headline doesn’t “hook” them, they won’t read it.
To write better headlines, steal them like an artist from YouTube or from other posts.
Here are the headline templates from some of my most-read posts on Medium. Steal them and tweak them to fit your content.
- <Number> Subjects I’ve Changed My Mind About as a <Profession/Role>
- 9 subjects I’ve changed my mind about as a Software Engineer
- For <Outcome>, <Key Action> in Your <Context>
- For cleaner domains, move IO to the edges of your app
- To break free from debt, stop using your credit card
- Using <Popular Action> Doesn’t Make Your <Context> Truly <Desired Outcome>
- Using lambda expressions doesn’t make your C# code functional
- Cutting down on cups of coffee doesn’t make you save more money
- <Number> Alternatives for <Common Action> When <Context>
- Three alternatives for the startup class when migrating ASP.NET Core projects
- Five alternatives for eating out when saving money for your next trip abroad
- The Best Way to Get Better at <Skill> Isn’t Just <Common Misconception>
- The best way to get better at coding isn’t just writing more code
- The best way to make more money isn’t just asking for a raise
- If You Enjoy <Activity>, Think Twice About <Counterintuitive Decision>
- If you enjoy coding, think twice about joining the management track
- If you enjoy photography, think twice about starting a wedding photography business
- You Only Need These <Number> <Category> to <Big Transformation>
- You only need these four books to change your relationship with money
- You only need these two gym routines to lose 10KG of fat in the next 30 days
- Steal This <Number>-Step <Process> to <Outcome>
- Steal this 6-step reading process to retain more from books
- Steal this 5-step process to land your first coding job
As writers, our job is to hook readers one line at a time. Nail your headlines and opening lines and you’ll write posts readers can’t stop reading.
25 Apr 2025 #misc
Anita asked on dev.to if AI, given all the hype, will take her job.
Short answer: Not yet.
Sure, we code daily and AI shines at spitting out code. But most of our work is balancing expectations and handling risk.
Apart from coding, we as coders have to deal with:
- Inter-team planning
- Brainstorming sessions
- Putting late sprints back on track
- Designing requirements and user stories
- Decomposing a full project into milestones
- Scoping tasks with Product people
- Reviewing architecture designs
- Negotiating deadlines
- Talking to clients
And that involves a lot of human interaction. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that a coder will spend more time in meetings than coding on a normal day. And AI can’t replace that human interaction yet.
But sure, our job as coders will change. Even if we’re skeptical about AI, we can’t ignore it. We can only assume AI will generate code faster and cheaper than any of us. We have to adapt.
We won’t be code monkeys anymore, cracking lines of code in exchange for bananas. AI will handle that. And if AI will change everything, let it at least kill dumb SCRUM ceremonies.
24 Apr 2025 #writing
These days, Ben, one of my email subscribers, asked me a question about blogging using Markdown.
Here’s an edited version of his email:
I have been on a journey to start a coding blog over the past couple of months but just cannot get behind Markdown blogging in an IDE, which seems to be the most common or popular way to create a blog. I find it far easier to use some web service that essentially amounts to a rich text editor.
What would you recommend in this instance? Am I missing some obvious solutions or is getting the hang of Markdown just the way everyone recommends doing this?
Well, I’m a plain-text fan. Writing posts using Markdown on a text editor is my favorite way to blog.
Do you have to use Markdown? Short answer: No.
You could write HTML files and publish them directly to the Internet.
I’ve even seen people blogging using GitHub Gist or public GitHub repositories. They simply share file URLs from the repo.
A Markdown-based blogging engine like Jekyll is convenient. You could try editors like MacDown or Typora. These days, I’m using Notable. Or you could try a Markdown extension for Visual Studio Code.
And by the way, yesterday, I found a guy who runs his blog with Obsidian, if you’re looking for inspiration.
Now, if you’re writing for the first time on the Internet, I’d recommend to start on a “social blog.”
A social blog is a place for long-form writing with an audience and a distribution mechanism, like dev.to or Medium.
Social blogs are “slower” than social media platforms like Twitter/X or LinkedIn, but “faster” than traditional blogs or websites. It’s easier to get traction on a social blog than on a personal blog, which sits behind search engines and their bots.
I’d recommend starting on dev.to.
I have an account there where I repost some of my coding content. It has a decent built-in editor with basic formatting, but still uses Markdown.
It has a large audience of mostly beginner coders learning web development. Of course, you can share any content related to coding there.
You have nothing to lose by starting a blog. Start writing, even if it’s just one post. Choose the simplest option so you can focus on writing, not tweaking tools or writing your own blogging engine.
For more blogging lessons, read four lessons for a coder struggling to write, start writing by writing TIL posts, and how I organize my blogging workflow as inspiration.
23 Apr 2025 #writing
Last year, I challenged myself to revive my LinkedIn account by writing 100 posts.
I didn’t know what to write or how to write it. I only had good intentions.
My first posts were crap. Of course, 90% of everything is crap. I made every sin possible in my first posts: emojis, a big wall of text, external links…I’m embarrassed by those first posts.
But reading as a creator changed my writing.
I started to notice the posts I opened and read.
I collected the opening lines of the posts I opened. I created a file with my favorite openers. Then I stole (like an artist) those hooks to write my own.
Every time I clicked “See more” and found a big wall of text, I stopped reading. To avoid this mistake, I started to write shorter posts.
When I realized I never clicked on any of the external links in the posts I found, I stopped adding external links to my posts.
And I noticed how my favorite creators structured their posts. So I ditched emojis and started to add blank lines, use shorter sentences, and make my posts mobile friendly.
“Writing is learned mainly by imitation”
That’s from Writing to Learn by William Zinsser.
To improve your writing, imitate your favorite writers to develop your own style.
Notice the opening lines of your favorite books, collect headlines, and hand-write your favorite pieces. That’s how you get better at writing.
To learn to write, stop blindly consuming content. Put on your creator glasses and start noticing your behavior as a reader. That’s your cheat code to better writing.
22 Apr 2025 #writing
The definition of book has changed.
The other day, while reading James Altucher’s archive, I learned a book doesn’t have to be a 10,000-word New York Times bestseller, traditionally published.
A book could be a 20-page personal story or a summary of 10 scientific papers. And you don’t have to write it for the masses.
A book could simply be a story for our grandkids.
It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t sell thousands of copies or get 5-star reviews or get featured in newspapers. The real audience of our book is 4 or 5 people, our future relatives.
It would be great to read how grandpa found his first job, met grandma, and made it through life. I wish I had a firsthand glimpse of their lives.
You don’t need 10,000 words or a traditional publisher. You just need a story to tell. And chances are you already have one.