Blogging and job-seeking

I originally started this blog so that I could take over a tiny, tiny corner of the Internet writing about whatever interests me while reinventing whatever wheels I want in the process. One of the things I hadn't planned for was to use the blog to impress interviewers; but one of the engineers who interviewed me for my last job, who is now a close friend, reminded me just the other day it's nice to have in that context.

I actually never "advertised" this blog but some of the engineers who interviewed me in the past found it anyway (most likely because of my e-mail address). The blog turned out to be a great conversation starter both during and after the interview at the last place I worked. In fact, the coolest conversation that I had about the blog was during the initial screening: one of the engineers noticed that I'd set it up as a progressive web app (PWA) and we also had a lot of fun nerding over CSS.

In hindsight, I think I was just lucky because the engineers who interviewed me actually cared enough to check if I had something on this domain, and they actually spent time to read the single, super long post that was here.

Does having a blog increase your change of getting hired? Not sure because there are too many variables but, anecdotally, probably not. Although, if you have something neutral to positive to write about things you find interesting, then it's arguably not a bad idea to have one.

Should you have a blog and write at all? Not sure either! The best way to find out is to give it a go by writing regularly and publicly.