What it takes to run a tech newsletter
This article is going to give you a perspective to what it takes to write a tech newsletter (personal experience of 30 weeks loading...)
I have completed 30 weeks of writing my publication:
without skipping a week. Each week, I try to pick a technical topic/blog, then deep dive into it and share my learnings with my audience. I intend to continue the same for as long as possible. At this point, I want to share my strategy on how I do it, why I do it, and what it takes to run this newsletter. This blog is based on personal experiences and will give you a fresh perspective on basic habits like reading and writing.Let me keep this blog to the point and answer some of the most popular questions:
1. How do I decide what to study?
When it comes to deciding what topic to read, I prepare a list of ten topics that come to my mind about which I want to read. This list of ten topics could be anything — any system design blog by a company any technical topic in depth or any research paper. Suppose I am aware of the technology itself. In that case, I ask myself some interesting questions: What makes it so interesting that everyone in the industry is talking about it or already using it? As an example, this was my intention behind a few of my last topics: What makes Kafka so fast, and What makes Redis so fast?
"If I have the list of next 10 topics already prepared beforehand, it keeps me away from procrastination about what to write and at the same time sets discipline in myself as a writer."
2. How do I study a topic?
This is a two-step process for me. The first step is learning about the topic and the second step is to confirm what I have learned. YouTube is my go-to resource for learning any new topic from scratch simply because I find videos interactive and easy to grasp. Then, after learning about the new topic, I go and search for the topic on Google and then try to read the topic from the top 3 links to make sure I've understood the correct thing.
Still, it might not be that straightforward. If I am reading about Redis from scratch, then I might not know what is hashing. If I Google about hashing, then I might enter into a plethora of topics to understand. Usually, it becomes frustrating to go into such depth and overall it's a time-consuming process but I try to keep patience and absorb as much as can.
"The idea here is to recursively peel the topic layer by layer until I hit a point where I am familiar with the underlying technology" ~ that's how I finish reading a topic, atleast for meanwhile until I pick it again and go even more in depth.
3. How do I write about a topic?
This is probably the most interesting part of the whole learning process. Immediately when I try to write about the topic I just read, it shows me the gaps in my understanding. So I try to follow a simple process:
First, give context about the current state of the design/architecture
State what the team wants to achieve that is not achievable with the current design. State very clearly what are the problems in the current design.
Then, discuss what is the new solution or new proposed architecture
Discuss if there are some other alternatives
Discuss the pros/cons of each proposal so that you truly understand the benefits of each design.
At the very end, try to summarize what you can learn from the topic
It might or might not be very evident from my writing style that I try to follow this process. But, while writing I keep on introspecting to myself how do I stick to these steps and learn something new every time.
At the end of it all, one realization that has come to me lately is that writing is probably more important than reading — at least that’s the case for me.
4. How do you manage your time to write this newsletter?
The majority of my time goes into my job. Then, I like to spend the rest of the time with my family and friends. Then, with whatever little time I have, I like to upskill myself by reading new things and sharing them with my audience on LinkedIn and Substack.
With so little time left, I try to balance it out by writing for half an hour on weekdays or in between weekends. I know that sometimes it’s just impossible to make time sometime but even so I do it because I like the current discipline in my mind and body. If it’s not possible during the daytime, then I try to balance it out by staying up late at night and then learning something new. For example: I am publishing this newsletter on my vacation just by devoting half an hour of time because I had written the majority of it earlier.
“Planning helps a long way”
If you have read anything so far from the 30 articles that I’ve written so far, please help comment on what you liked and what you did not. Your feedback positive or negative matters to me and certainly helps me to be better in this journey.
This series has really helped me become a better engineer, I really appreciate you taking the time to write these newsletters every week. Thank you!