Welcome to my blog!
My name is Kevin.
I am a software technical writer in Canada and this is a return to blogging after a few years. I previously blogged about trail running in and around my home province. Up until recently, I was happy with my personal website as a repository for my CV and a small homespace on the web.
Running a blog in 2024 might seem a little passé, after all blogging’s heyday was over a decade ago. What I’d like to do in my first post is to talk about why and what you can expect if you come back to this blog (or follow this sites RSS feed).
Why a blog in 2024?
There are a couple of reasons why I’m returning to blogging in 2024.
Primarily, it’s an excuse to write. One of the powerful things about writing is how closely the act is tied to creating ideas. When I write technical documentation, I’m helping bring together intentions about what a tool does and creating a resource to build shared understanding. Writing (and doing it independently) is important because these ideas become clearer in the process. This is especially true for the kinds of projects I work on as a professional writer.
So, this blog will be a repository for the “whys” and “hows” of the things I do when I’m writing—a place for those ideas to become more concrete. It will also be a place for other people to understand how they can do similar things. I also think it’s important to advocate for the kind of work we do in software companies. In some cases, people might make assumptions about the kinds of projects and work we can take on. I hope I can showcase the value we bring to software companies.
Now, all of this could be done with a service like Medium or Substack. After all, if you just want to write, those are good ways to go. You could then have your old site link to the Medium posts.
Why a personal website?
I was already committed to owning a domain and having a website as part of maintaining a bit of personal space on the internet.
One big reason is that I’m looking to stay sharp on my skills for building and managing websites using a variety of tools, such as Github, cloud computing and static site generators. I find fiddling with these tools fun and rewarding! This site is built using Hugo, but there are many other options. This kind of technology is flexible, freely available, and has strong community support.
By authoring on my own computer, all of my content is already on my laptop. I don’t have to export my writing elsewhere. I can also write using the tools of my choosing (Git for version control, my preferred editor, Markdown, etc.), which is a definite plus.
I believe the internet is at its best when it provides opportunities for independent or collaborative efforts. Building and maintaining my own website, with its own content, is part of a project to make the internet a better place. I want the internet to be filled with diverse perspectives and stories. I want it to have meaningful writing that’s meant to communicate ideas and points of view.
I’ve modified this Hugo theme to fit with the principles of the Indieweb, because my personal outlook on technology and content aligns with the principles and goals of this movement. I want to own my identity on the web, and my content. By writing it here, I’ll have local copies of all my posts. And above all, fiddling with websites and computers is fun.
So, these are the reasons I’m returning to blogging. Thanks for coming along as a reader!
What can you expect on this blog?
Primarily, I’ll be talking about professional topics. As a software technical writer, my job is to produce useful and clear writing that explains how to do things with software products. This is an interesting field! There’s a lot to understanding how people learn and use software. And while I have produced pieces ranging from white papers to reference documents and learning modules, what I really enjoy is thinking about the design and upkeep of knowledge.
Technical writing is about being able to build resources that are useful and clear. My best experiences with documentation involved well-built tutorials, carefully crafted conceptual explanations, and clear answers to questions I was struggling to articulate. And I think this is why, even though the profession is changing with the advent of generative AI, I don’t think our role is going away.
Projects I have in mind for this website include:
- Explaining how I approach certain kinds of processes, work situations, and solutions.
- Discussions of emerging technologies and their impact on the profession.
- Documenting projects and things that I’m working on, as I regularly use coding scripting, and various tools.
- Book read-alongs and comments on media that relates to my professional life.
- Posts about social trends working in technology, and thoughts from community projects I’m interested in organizing.
I won’t be holding myself to a regular publishing schedule, but I am aiming for roughly monthly posts. If you have any thoughts or ideas for posts, feel free to reach out to me through my contact page or on social media!