Since the release of ChatGPT searches that include the term 'reddit' have doubled. Meanwhile interest in Substack grew four-fold during the same period. We are living in a time where content created by people is becoming more valuable and the best content is moving behind a paywall.

It's becoming easier to stand out. The information on the internet is converging to an average as the same SEO tactics are being applied to every webpage, marketing teams pay for the privilege of appearing at the top of search results or there's a constant need to churn out content in fear of losing relevance. People are hungrier than ever for an authentic and relatable tone of voice.

It's time to stop caring about what people think. The sooner you do so the better, and a few other reasons as to why you should start putting yourself out there.

People want to make connections

At one point there were at least three tech meet-ups a week in London. They are all similar, it's a good place to go to get some food when you're penny pinching. You come away from these conferences with a full belly and some esoteric knowledge from the presentations, however one thing I've come to realise is that these tech gatherings aren't very conducive to networking.

At first I thought it may be the type of persona these caverns attract, however I have come to realise that being the most outgoing person in the room was the wrong way to approach getting to know people.

Instead of making an effort to introduce yourself one person at a time you can save a lot of this hassle by booking a slot on stage and introducing yourself to everyone at the same time. Your name will be on the program, so those that forget can look you up. You're also forced to give 5 mins of content to everyone in the room.

(Wait for my next lightning talk, where I try not make it passed the introduction).

After your presentation you'll find that people start introducing themselves to you and you'll get away from actively trying to locate the like-minded individuals. Your talk also acts like a filter, so you might get people approaching that are interested in what you had said.

Improving and feedback

You might not like every follow up or the opinions others have. Putting something out there in the universe enables others to interact with it. It opens you up to feedback. Which is a great conductor to learning. We have modern physics due to trial and error, and we can probably thank trial and error for #npc #ganggang Either way, it's about discovering what works.

In software we learn that it's best to have tight feedback loops. The sooner we know we are doing the wrong thing the better. This saves us working on something for 6 months which ends up being a dead end. Some of my most memorable 'Ah-ha' moments have been from feedback. Important feedback sticks.

The easiest way to launch bad software is to shut yourself out to feedback. The same can be said about a skill, knowledge or an idea. You don't know if you're decent at anything unless you've tried it. If you think you're good at something, prove it.

Why I Write

There are about ten to twelve notebooks of thoughts I've accumulated over my working years. I'm sure each idea, in those books, is amazing and I can live pretending that's the truth or I can put some of them into writing and learn where they're flawed or where my writing is flawed.

If I wanted my writing to be terrible, the best way I could do this; is to avoid writing at all costs.

At the moment it's like seeing someone that doesn't look like they workout; in the gym. They've probably already acknowledged that they've been programming for the last 8 years but at least they're doing something about it.

There are a lot of half baked product ideas out there that have never seen the light of day and I'm sure they're amazing in the minds of the creator, but nothing will bring them down to earth quicker than getting user feedback. There might be one key piece of feedback between them and making something amazing, what ever thought is stopping you from getting here is probably silly in comparison.

There's also the benefit of going over something half baked with a fine comb that allows an idea to develop. It also helps the concept sink in.

Start being uncomfortable

I've convinced myself that we learn the most from being uncomfortable.

There's a reason we call something a comfort zone. It's the space that you operate in that is most familiar to you. So by definition the unfamiliar is probably a space you know least about. Diving into the unknown and getting a little uncomfortable can help you grow and learn. You might not be as bad as you thought you were, and if you're rubbish you're still a mile ahead of all the lurkers.

It's mostly crap on average.