You’re mistaken if you think code is the only thing you should write as a developer.
In this article, we’ll explain how writing enhances coding skills, polishes professional prowess, and helps to win weight in your specialization niche.
So, how does writing help you in your career as a developer? Here are the seven ways:
Writing makes you a strong communicator
The difference between a stellar coder and a coder with a stellar career is often in communication. Being able to clearly express your thoughts, bottlenecks, and ideas for improvement is what makes a difference here. Skilled communicators are always at a price of gold, and a good coder with good writing skills is ahead of the pack regarding promotion.
Writing expands your opportunities.
A good writing style gives you a competitive edge in job seeking, proposal writing, and portfolio creation. Employers are more likely to hire prospects who clearly describe their skill set and experience than those who struggle with grammar and wording. Gregory P. Crawford, the President of Miami University of Ohio, attributes his success in receiving grants and pursuing his successful career path to solid skills in writing and grammar he received in school.
“I was a scientist, but writing has been critical to my career in research, teaching, and dissemination,” says Crawford in his article for Forbes.
Writing earns you respect from coworkers
A person who expresses thoughts clearly looks more intelligent and quickly gets listened to. Your teammates will appreciate explicit e-mails, messages, and posts, which will get you extra points when competing for formal or informal leadership positions.
Writing builds up credibility
The competition in the tech industry is increasing, and more and more people skilled in software development are entering a new area – public expertise sharing. For example, coders at MLSDev – offshore development team, have created a professional community for discussing application development. Other companies do the same.
Today, a respected developer is expected to share use cases, success paths, and engaging product development scenarios. Being able to write about such things quickly (not taking much working time) and clearly (so that a broad audience can stick to the writing) helps you market yourself and build up your credibility in your professional niches.
Writing makes you more approachable
Software developers treat products from a professional viewpoint and rarely step down to the level of an average user to understand their pains. By writing and communicating with the audience, a developer comes out of a professional shell and gets forced to view a product from the point of view of an average user (by simply chatting with customers on platforms); thus, new ideas of how to make their products more user-friendly may come to their minds.
Writing opens new sources of income
Any person once comes to a point when they need to take a professional pause, build up new skills or rebuild their career vision, seek new paths and directions, or simply get rested. During this time, one should still pay bills. Sharing your former expertise as a technical writer is a well-paid job that might become a great source of additional income or develop into a standalone career.
Writing makes you a strong mentor
Mentoring and teaching others is an inevitable step in a successful career. Once you gain experience, the best way to solidify it will be to share your knowledge with others. Being able to write clearly what you’ve learned will make you a great mentor to others.
Summing up
So, let’s see what you’ll get if you practice writing: you’ll become a better communicator, be respected by employers and coworkers, have a reputation as a credible professional in your business niche, be better visible to headhunters, and inspire your mentees. That means one thing: whatever your professional level is, writing training will open new opportunities.
Author’s bio: Anastasiia Lastovetska is a technology writer at MLSDev, a software development company that builds web & mobile app solutions from scratch. She researches the area of technology to create great content about app development, UX/UI design, tech & business consulting.