What is Learning in Public?

Learning in public means openly sharing your learning journey, the struggles, breakthroughs, and everything in between. It’s about documenting what you learn as you learn it, rather than waiting until you’re an ’expert'.

Why I Started

As a Senior Software Engineer, I’m constantly learning new technologies. I realized that:

  1. I was learning things and forgetting them
  2. Others were asking me the same questions repeatedly
  3. Writing forced me to truly understand concepts
  4. Teaching is the best way to learn

Benefits I’ve Experienced

1. Better Retention

Writing about what I learn helps me remember it. The act of explaining forces deeper understanding.

2. Building a Personal Knowledge Base

My blog posts become my own reference documentation. When I forget something, I can refer back to my own posts.

3. Career Opportunities

Sharing knowledge has led to:

  • Speaking opportunities at meetups
  • Recognition within my company
  • Stronger professional network
  • Better job interviews

4. Improved Communication Skills

Technical writing has made me better at:

  • Writing documentation
  • Explaining complex concepts
  • Presenting ideas to stakeholders

How to Start

1. Choose Your Platform

Options:

  • Personal blog (what I do)
  • Dev.to
  • Medium
  • Hashnode
  • Twitter threads
  • YouTube

Start where your audience is. I chose a personal blog for full control.

2. Write for Your Past Self

Write the tutorial you wish you had when you started learning. Answer the questions you had.

3. Document Your Process

Show your work:

"I struggled with Kubernetes deployments for a week.
    Here's what I learned..."

People connect with hornest struggles more than perfect tutorials.

4. Don’t Wait for Perfection

Your first posts don’t need to be masterpieces. Just ship it.

I look back at my early posts and cringe, but they helped people.

5. Be Consistent

Better to post one article per month consistently than 10 one month and none for six months.

Common Fears

“I’m not an expert”

Neither is anyone else! Experts were beginners once. Your beginner’s perspective is valuable.

“Someone already wrote about this”

Your unique perspective and experience matter. People learn differently. Your explanation might click for someone who didn’t understand other explanations.

“What if I’m wrong?”

You probably will be sometimes. That’s okay! The community will help you learn. Add corrections and updates.

“No one will read it”

Maybe not at first. But:

  1. You’re building your knowledge base
  2. Google will index it (future readers will find it)
  3. You only need to help one person to make it worthwhile

My Learning in Public Workflow

1. Learn Something New

While working on projects or studying.

2. Take Notes

I use Obsidian for rough notes and code snippets.

3. Write a Draft

Expand notes into a coherent blog post. Include:

  • Context
  • The problem I was solving
  • My solution
  • Lessons learned
  • Resources

4. Get Feedback (Optional)

Sometimes I share drafts with wife or friends for feedback.

5. Publish

Post it on my blog and share on LinkedIn.

6. Engage

Respond to comments and questions. Often leads to follow-up posts.

Tools I Use

  • Writing: VS Code + Markdown
  • Blog: Hugo (static site generator)
  • Hosting: GitHub Pages + Cloudflare
  • Note-taking: Obsidian
  • Diagrams: Draw.io, Excalidraw

Topics to Write About

  • Debugging stories
  • Project walkthroughs
  • Technology comparisons
  • Book/course reviews
  • TIL (Today I Learned) posts
  • Career reflections
  • Setup guides
  • Best practices

Measuring Success

Don’t obsess over metrics, but I track:

  • Blog traffic - Growing slowly but steadily
  • Comments/questions - Engagement is more valuable than views
  • Personal reference - How often I refer back to my own posts
  • Professional impact - Opportunities that came from blogging

Challenges

1. Time Management

Solution: Batch writing. I often write 2-3 posts on weekends and schedule them.

2. Impostor Syndrome

Solution: Remember you’re helping your past self, not teaching experts.

3. Staying Motivated

Solution: Focus on your own learning, not audience size. Even writing for an audience of zero improves retention.

Conclusion

Learning in public has deepened my understanding of technology. The best time to start was when you began learning. The second best time is today.

Start small. Start today. Start sharing.

Resources

Are you learning in public? I’d love to read your blog or follow your journey. Reach out at contact@puneeth.io