←back to thread

Sell yourself, sell your work

(www.solipsys.co.uk)
449 points ColinWright | 1 comments | 25 Mar 25 21:35 UTC | HN request time: 1.199s | source
Show context
simonw ◴[26 Mar 25 03:06 UTC] No.43478469[source]▶
I have a personal rule which has worked really well for me: if I do a project, the price of doing that project is that I have to write about it.

Back when Twitter threads didn't suck (they could be viewed by people without Twitter accounts) I'd use those - tweet a description of my project with a link, then follow it with a few photos and screenshots.

These days I use my blog, with my "projects" tag: https://simonwillison.net/tags/projects/

I blog all sorts of other stuff, but if I was ever to trim back the one thing I'd keep doing is projects. If you make a thing, write about that thing. I wrote more about that here: https://simonwillison.net/2022/Nov/6/what-to-blog-about/#pro...

Projects with a GitHub repository make this even easier: describe the project in the README and drop in a few screenshots - that's all you need.

(Screenshots are important though, they're the ultimate defense against bitrot.)

I have many projects from earlier in my career that I never documented or captured in screenshot form and I deeply regret it.

replies(9): >>43478641 #>>43479552 #>>43479671 #>>43480222 #>>43480307 #>>43480952 #>>43482474 #>>43482775 #>>43483574 #
zimpenfish ◴[26 Mar 25 11:21 UTC] No.43480952[source]▶
> if I do a project, the price of doing that project is that I have to write about it.

Definitely something I need to do. I've been meaning to do a "what I did in 2024" blog post but since I didn't keep track, trying to figure it out has postponed the post for 3 months already...

replies(1): >>43481060 #
eXpl0it3r ◴[26 Mar 25 11:35 UTC] No.43481060[source]▶
I'd suggest a smaller scope, as writing for a whole year can be a bit of a daunting task.
replies(2): >>43481587 #>>43483015 #
1. coldpie ◴[26 Mar 25 15:02 UTC] No.43483015[source]▶
Agreed. I find for myself, for a blog post that is about something else I've done, the ideal length is about 5 paragraphs and it should take no more than an hour to write. Longer than that and it just doesn't get done, or it should be considered a project unto itself and should be managed as such with dedicated time set aside for it. Writing about everything I did in year would be a lot longer than 5 paragraphs, which means I need to break the concept down (perhaps into months, or write something per-project instead).