Platforms to build online presence as Developer?
Hey Indie Hacker community! Since the lockdown hit, I have started to slowly getting into writing blog posts (https://www.ramblingcode.dev/) and trying to build up some online credibility along the way. I am just starting out, so I am in testing phase of trying to blog long detailed posts on my niche problems(payments), or just small solutions from day to day production work.
I have been told that Twitter is a nice platform for tech networking, but after using for 3 months, the amount of negativity I see daily alongside constant moaning really effects me subconsciously. Especially seeing unrelated posts that people I follow like, and more than half is on the negative side.
What are the platforms you use as a developer to interact with other developers? I am aware of Dev.to. What else is out there that worked for you?
YouTube, is the best bang for your buck, by far.
— Way less competition to get noticed
— Massive traffic (vs. tiny slivers on Dev.to)
— Sharing on reddit etc. is easier since people are more receptive to videos
The biggest reason of all, though, is this: On YouTube your audience gets to hear your voice and see your face. You become a full human being instead of another block of text.
I got more positive interactions in 3 months of YouTubing than I did in 10+ years of blogging.
Checked your website. Good stuff :thumbsup
Wait, wat? I've had the exact opposite experience. What subreddits are you sharing on?
programming reddits — e.g. vim, rails etc.
how about you?
The same... clearly I need to learn from you 😃
Twitter is definitely one of the main places to be. I've rarely gotten anything from other online communities than IH, unfortunately.
https://dev.to/uclusion works pretty well. Depends what you mean by "interact".
Thanks! Interact == Discuss technical challenges, share OSS projects. I guess Dev.to is the only option in that regard
For discussing technical challenges we use our product Uclusion and also Uclusion is free forever for OSS.
But you can definitely get more out of IH. Just include a link to https://www.ramblingcode.dev whenever you are promoting - I think that will work better than https://dev.to which is more about long term documentation than immediate contact.
Maybe join some channels on Discord and Slack, some Facebook groups, you may find great communities there, you may find some great developers to connect with on LinkedIn as well
I think Twitter is a pretty good place for that, you just have to follow the right people (same interests, same programming language...) and just unfollow/block whoever does not provide you with any value. There's always going to be some noise, but you'll get more valuable info than noise at the end of the day. You can follow other indie hackers 😉
Dev.to is awesome as a site to cross-post your content to gain more visibility. I use it (see my profile) this way and I have posts with more than 20k view, which I'd not have reach with my own blog. For some reason, my latest posts had way fewer reads, but I guess that's because there are more people on it now (I started posting on DEV in 2018...)
Maker log is pretty decent
I agree with a lot of your concerns about Twitter but it's probably the best place out there. Maybe start posting frequently to some common hashtags e.g. #100daysofcode, #freecodecamp. I know posting pictures / small videos help here.
Posting on Reddit, Stackoverflow or creating snippets on Codepen & Stackblitz, etc... These things may also help you if you're providing neat ways of people linking back to your blog.
I guess Stackoverflow?
building your own, small following via the blog and IH is a great place to start.
i tell folks that they should consider just using something like IH for blogging:
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/3-ways-to-use-indie-hackers-as-a-project-product-blog-f6fc367485
This comment was deleted 6 years ago