Sell yourself, sell your work

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.

I get it, but I have reservations.

A random example on Youtube "I will tidy up your garden for free". They do that based on the income they get from writing/videoing about it, mainly from big tech algos. If everyone did it, that monetary value is lost from the explaining of it.

It's taking advantage of a curve for self-advantage which you're aware of which is fine, but doesn't really provide value in productivity in the broadest sense. What if everyone blogged about their work? As in literally everyone.

"What if everyone blogged about their work? As in literally everyone."

That would be great. This isn't a zero sum game - what's important is that each individual has an opportunity to document their work, look back on it in the future and occasionally show it to interested people.

Does the web really work that way though?

Maybe it does for your historical reference example, like a CV. If we presumed that those pages with that content would get any traction at all.

Generally the way it's working is people continually pump out content, big tech algos surface it to other people and within a few days those pages don't receive any visitors at all.

If you have a great channel where people see that link, great. But most information discovery is via the big tech algos.