My First Year at DEV Recap
I heard about DEV a while back from a former colleague who was posting regularly back then. She won a few challenges and prizes and spoke about how the community was so welcoming.
This was years ago. Aside from reading a post here and there, I never wrote or commented actively on the platform.
Things changed a year ago when I wrote my first post: We launched on product hunt this week was it worth it.
It got a total of 7 reactions. Some of those reactions were mine...
I naively thought that I could just release a post and that it would get immediate traction.
It didn't. For obvious reasons. I will get back to this point in a bit.
Months went by without posting. I felt discouraged that my first post had flopped so badly.
Then I saw an opportunity to write again through a DEV challenge. I could showcase my work again and even potentially win prizes. These extra incentives pushed me to share my second post.
This one gathered more reactions and even a couple of comments!
My motivation went back up and I was already thinking about my next post which I released just a week later.
I then started writing more and more posts. I saw the engagement and follower count increase over time. I kept going.
Things took a turn after one of my posts was awarded the highly coveted top 7 badge of the week. That really made my day and I felt that people were really tuned into what I was writing about.
From that point onwards I decided that I would write a weekly post on the platform so I can share my learnings, experiences and projects with the community. Aside from the odd week now and then, I am proud to say that I remained consistent with my writing goal.
Today I am proud of my progress achieved and even happier that I have a growing audience that enjoys engaging with my content. I even made multiple friends along the way!
I want to share with you a few reflections looking back at my first year with DEV. I hope you find inspiration in some of them.
Don't be distracted by vanity metrics. I know that I mentioned a couple of times the reactions count as being a source of motivation. Of course it would be!
Who wouldn't like getting engagement on a post they poured effort into writing and sharing with the world? However I would caution against fixating on just these reactions. I made the mistake of giving up after my first post due to the low engagement. In hindsight this was a mistake as months went by without me writing anything, reinforcing this feeling of disappointment. This was a mistake on my part and a lesson for anyone going through the same. This leads to my next point.Be consistent. I can't overstate the importance of this. Some of your posts will perform better than others, and that's totally ok. What counts is to keep showing up over time. I never knew that the post that made it to Top 7 would be that specific one. But since I was posting regularly at that point it increased the odds of this happening. Being consistent is easier said than done.
Create a system. In order to become consistent I built in a habit of writing a weekly post. Writing has now become a part of my weekly routine where I dedicate an evening a week to writing my post.
Writing is healthy. I feel that writing is a moment of reflection for me that I need in my life. The weekly slot I block out to write is a moment for me to slow down, shape my thoughts and reflect. This is a weekly habit I am glad I picked up.
The more I write, the more ideas I get. You would think that writing one post a week is hard as you would eventually run out of ideas. However I find the opposite to be true. Everytime I write a post I get into a reflective state that gets me thinking of future post ideas.
Join DEV challenges. I have joined several challenges over the year and these pushed me to try out new tools and even collaborate on a post with other DEV members! I even won runner-up to one of the challenges which was a great moment.
Give before you take. This was a bug mistake I made when I first posted here on DEV. I thought I could promote a tool I made and get instant engagement. That is definitely the wrong way of thinking. Before I posted again I decided to engage with other members posts. Everyone is putting in effort to share their thoughts with the world. Acknowledge these efforts in others posts instead of just thinking about your own. Just think about it. If nobody engaged with anybody else, few people would keep posting.
Provide value above all. Don't write posts with the pure intent of selling a product to your audience. It's ok to share and mention what you are working on, but include valuable information that the user can take away from reading your post.
Have fun. Some of you might frown at this one but it is easy to start viewing posting as another task in your schedule. If this becomes the case I would advise taking a break from writing and only coming back once you feel that you want to keep writing. If you don't take any enjoyment out of posting, then what is the point?
As my first year at DEV wraps up, I want to thank all my followers for their engagement and also the community for being a safe space I can share my thoughts and experiences with, and learn from others.
I can't believe I have over 20k followers today. I am grateful to every single one of you!
Stay tuned for my year 2 recap!