The pen is mightier than the IDE
We need more voices and writers in the data space
After Sarah's post and previously Anna's post asking for more writers to come forward, I thought I should write my own.
I'm not an eloquent person - after writing this blog for the last few months, I've wondered if I should go back and learn English properly first 😅. Thankfully, I’ve had the support of my very patient wife (who helpfully has a Linguistics degree and doesn’t know much about data and SWE beyond what I write), in proofing and correcting my poor grammar and syntax. I’m sure there are community members who would do this for you if you also struggle in this way, or if English isn’t your first language.
I'm an introverted person; writing gives me a voice I could never have had before. Things which I could get wrong saying in person, can be articulated to the best of my ability in this medium.
I had only intended on blogging my passage into a new role from an old one, and how it felt, and why it had happened - Benn happened to throw down the gauntlet when I was already considering it and it seemed like planetary alignment. However, the topics to write about keep coming and now there are even boards for inspiration.
I thought most people in the data community knew what I knew; many do, but many don’t and therefore find my blogging helpful. Writing about something you think is obvious or clear is still valuable, because there are others who don’t find it so.
I did it to give back to the data community from which I have greatly benefitted. Honestly, I've got way more out of it than I've put in.
It's resulted in new opportunities, driven by new found confidence and finding like-minded people. I never would have even dreamt of suggesting the debate with Tristan and Benn if I hadn't already been writing.
While I have things to say, I will write. But I’m sure I won't be able to keep this up indefinitely, and I'm sure I'll take some breaks from it in the future too, so let's have some new perspectives.
Clearly we've heard enough from David and Benn, so let's hear from some different voices 😉.
You don't need to be perfect, I'm clearly not! In fact, sharing your ideas and learning from any disagreement is so valuable. Our community is very kind and appreciative of the people who contribute in this way.
Thinking and reasoning about these things is like working out - the more you do it, the better you get at it. You gradually start being able to explore more complex topics and new ground, through research and logic. You may think you need to be really smart to write, but I think writing makes you smarter.
You can start writing no matter what your level of experience is - perspectives at all levels are valued.
You don’t have to write thought pieces, you could just write about the last piece of analysis you did and dive into the context.
You don’t have to write long posts, short ones can be more impactful.
You can write from a place of not knowing anything, and write about your journey of learning.
You don’t even need to write about something that exists, it could be a utopian dream or a birthday wish (do Analytics Engineers dream of YAML sheep).
I think of my substack and others as open source knowledge. You can learn from others and share what you've learned. They can import your packages and functions into their own knowledge packages, without having to repeat it or copy paste it.
Join us and be a contributor!
Please reach out to me on LO/dbt slacks if you want me to help you in this, or if you want to bounce an idea or post off someone.
I'd also be happy to help anybody getting started on their writing journey so feel free to hit me up in the same spaces (dbt/LO slack).