Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Even if you aren't using it to become attractive for recruiters, this will probably happen. I went from rarely (like, extremely) getting callbacks for remote gigs to getting around 30%-40% callbacks. The difference was that I started a blog about writing a web application with modern technologies and included it in my applications. It's a pretty bland blog, but just the fact that I wrote about stuff I'm interested in and has relevancy with the jobs I'm applying for has really paid off.

I definitely feel like an imposter, and I have no readers, but it definitely sharpens my abilities and has really forced me to really understand why I build something a certain way and to evaluate alternatives.

Do it.



Note that employers want people who can write (plans, documentation, ...) so demonstrating that you can write is as important as anything else.


I've done the same thing and had similar results.

Writing forces you to deeply understand concepts and exposes the gaps in your knowledge.


A recruiter once turned me down for not having work rights in the US, then called me after I pointed a link to my blog. It helps.


Do let us know how much more viewership you get after posting this on HN

Or better yet, write a blog post about it


Ha, this post provided around 620 unique visitors yesterday. I had 1 visitor (who was probably me) the day before, so that's a nice bump from HN :)

It will be interesting to see how traffic dies/tails off in the coming days.


How do recruiters know about your blog that your conversion rate went up to 30-40%?


I simply highlight/mention it in a cover letter when I apply to a job.

To your point though, the 30-40% number is pure gut-feeling, I've certainly done no proper study to arrive at that. But there is definitely a marked increase in response rate.


It sounds like the kind of blog I would read! Can you share the link please?


Bit of tracking and I guess this is it : https://joelgardner.github.io/


Yes, this is it. It's very early-stages/preview-mode as I haven't quite nailed down the exact architecture I want for the client but it has helped a lot as far as job searching goes!


In your tags page, I really dig that the posts listed by tag are on the same page and being able to jump to them. Very minimal. Hope you don't mind me stealing the idea.


Steal away, but the credit goes to https://github.com/AWEEKJ/Kiko-plus as I am just using his Jekyll theme.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: