This week I found out that a developer decided to apply to Futurice using this charming message:

Well, you know who you are, so thank you for that!

It's one of the greatest compliments a software engineer can receive when another engineer explicitly wants to work alongside you based on what you write publicly on the Internet. But, of course, it's also a remarkable benefit to the company.

Moreover, it's a bold testament to why writing as a skill is crucial for any knowledge worker, irrespective of the particular field. Your track record of communicating ideas and thoughts by writing often carries the same, if not more substantial, relevance than a resume listing previous positions. Moreover, moderate amounts of writing make you stand out from the crowd vividly like a beacon of enlightenment — given that you write something honest and do not stroll around social media trolling.

If you think writing, e.g. a blog is not worth it, you can tell your impostor self that it's always better to suck in public than excel in private. Never mind if you haven't written any professional content, either. I, too, started my writing journey by jotting down fictional stories and later reviewing artefacts of pop-cultural significance: movies, music and video games, mainly.

I do recall my roots fondly in writing critical reviews. It gave me a strong base for extracting, analysing, and assessing subjects from various perspectives. Solving problems in software is similar, albeit more hands-on: you approach the problem from a given perspective, find a solution, and try it with reasonable amounts of trial and error before succeeding. Clear writing indicates clear thinking, ultimately producing clear solutions.

On that note, do tell me what you will write this week.