So you've been blogging for 2 years

When you start programming and you find that you enjoy it so much, you can only wish that you had started it when you were younger. In the tech world, young has always been the new black. Young kids like Bill Gates and Zuckerberg tamed the world before they got rid of their acne. The rest of us, who didn't know what to do in our teen years, are left to suffer in our own eternal internal humiliation.

If I had taken my first website seriously, it would have have been 17 years today. In those days, I had so much to say, yet didn't know how to say it. I learned things the hard way but I learned.

If I was blogging for 17 years I would be much better not just as a programmer, but my writing will be better.

Well, that's what I like to tell myself. In reality, I wouldn't have done much with it. I would have probably done what any teenager does. Talk about my personal relationships, post pictures and videos, say awkward things I will regret, or just waste my time.

I love to think that if I had learned programming when I was a kid, I would've been better off financially. But the truth is, I knew programming since I was a kid, I just did what I thought was cool at the time:

• Make the CD drive randomly open when my brothers were using the computer.
• Create one of those fake viruses that pretend to delete all your files.
• A body mass index calculator.
• A very complex mIRC theme.
• Send .reg files to my annoying friends to brick their computers

You never get younger, and thank God for that. A lot of people I meet today, tell me how they wish they got into the game when they were younger. I understand, I also think about it sometimes. But in reality, it does not make a difference.

If you knew how to program before the Apple store was a big deal, chances are you wouldn't be the first to make a beer App. You would probably not make a beer App.

We have to accept that a lot of things that happen is pure luck. Zynga didn't become giants because they were the best game makers in the world. I would argue that they are one of the worst. But they were at the right place and the right time, and they seized the opportunity. Some of you readers might be saying Who the hell is Zynga?

Whether you are eleven, fifteen, or twenty five when you learn to drive, it won't make you any better when you are thirty five. It just means that you know how to drive.

Whether you learned JavaScript the day it came out or just 3 years ago, you will be making the same applications. Sure you would be better, you will probably write better code if you had more experience, but better code does not mean better applications.

“In a distraction driven world, each of us is given a URL in hope to grab your attention, if only for a moment.”

So I think of this blog again, what would have happened if I started it 17 years ago? The good news is, I have an answer. I have been making websites for just as long. Some of them have been copies and pastes without having an idea what was going on. I could easily put those numbers on a resume and impress my future employer. The problem however is sometimes, my ideas are just terrible, and I am glad that my previous websites have disappeared into oblivion.

If I started 17 years ago, I would be at the exact same place writing this blog post, remembering that it has been two years today since I started this blog. And that's what 17 years lead to. It's rusty, it's unprofessional, some of it is plain wrong, some of it makes no sense, but it is the most accurate representation of my thoughts that exists to date.

So I encourage my fellow programmers, and people who have something to say to start a blog. Don't take it too seriously. Don't think that if you don't meet your quota of 3 posts a week you are going to die. Do it because you enjoy it. Forget passion and the nonsense employers demand of their workers. Be here because it is Wednesday evening and you have something to say. In a distraction driven world, each of us is given a URL in hope to grab someone's attention if only for a moment.

You might be eleven or sixty five, ask yourself this question. Do you think someone is going to document what's in your head one day? No, right? Well, since your brain is stuck in your head, you owe it to yourself to make a copy of it for the web.

Ps: If you have a website that is between 1 day and 800 years old, feel free to share the URL in the comment section.

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