Attention embedded engineers! We’d like to invite you to sign up to EmbeddedHub.io, an exciting new space just for embedded engineers. Sign up early to be a part of the journeyđ
Are you a developer with a blog? Or are you thinking of starting one?Â
The activity of blogging involves writing to your readers with the intention of providing information, tips, advice and anything else that might help or inspire the reader.
Bloggers can also fall victim to writer’s block and it can be tricky to find a balance between topics that you have a genuine interest in and what the readers may find useful. However, different approaches can be taken to come up with blog post ideas for developers.Â
Blog post ideas for developers can be inspired from looking at activities performed on a day-to-day basis and reflecting on past experiences. Due to the vast amount of skills-set required as a developer, there are endless topics to write about if you think about it deeply enough.
Our previous blog post looked at 5 incredible benefits of blogging as a developer. Check it out if you want to know how blogging can help you grow as a developer.
This article follows on the topic of blogging and will list 15 inspiring blog post ideas for developers so you wonât often suffer from writerâs block (hopefully!)
If you browse through the list of published blog posts on this website, youâll see weâve covered posts from each of the topics we’re about to discuss. A link is provided to a sample post published on this website that falls under each topic idea so you have an example to reference against!
âDonât waste time waiting for inspiration. Begin, and inspiration will find you.â – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links which provides Inspirezone with a small commission if you make a purchase through us. This is at no additional cost to you and helps to keep inspirezone sustainable. See our full disclaimer here.
1. Opinions and recommendations
These are posts on a particular topic around software development that are mostly inspired by your opinions and thoughts.
Take a look at the programming languages you use, or the tools, frameworks and technologies youâre involved with. Itâs likely several of these topics are a source of discourse within the software development community.Â
Regardless of whether there is a consensus on the topic or not, could you provide your view on it? Formulate your thoughts on such topics into words and turn it into a blog post!Â
Inspirezone post example:Â 5 Convincing reasons to choose Linux for programming
2. Your personal challenges
We all go through common and individual struggles in our own journeys. Reflect and share what those struggles were and provide tips on how you overcame them.
Topics on challenges faced by programmers can include: feeling a lack of progress, feeling like quitting, the struggles of job hunting, imposter syndrome and all other various struggles we face.
If youâre presently going through challenges all the more reason to write about it! You can also get engagement from others going through the same and exchange your experiences.
Inspirezone post example: 5 Powerful ways to combat programmer imposter syndrome
3. Complete program tutorials
Developers write code, so what better source of a topic to get ideas from than the programs youâve written.
A blog post on a complete program tutorial is centred on taking a working program and breaking it down to an explanation of how it works to allow someone to understand how the program was put together.
These types of blog posts are a great way to exchange technical knowledge and provide other developers with practical working applications as a reference for their own projects.
Inspirezone post example: Learn web scraping with Python in minutes: The basics using selenium
4. Code snippets
These are a lighter form of a complete program tutorial and are instead focused on explaining how a particular function or concept works. Â
Typically, such posts are structured by sharing a piece of code that does something specific. Then the blog post can explain what that snippet of code is doing.
You can write a blog post just for the purposes of sharing snippets of code to allow anyone to copy and use it for their projects. Such posts can even be made for entertainment purposes to share something fun you created.
Depending on the type of code being shared, a great way to present a code snippet is through a live illustration on the blog post itself. This can be gone by creating for example, a CodePen of the code snippet and embedding it on your blog post.
Inspirezone post example: Sending emails with Python: Quick and easy guide
5. Your field of speciality
Itâs likely many blog post ideas for developers will source from experiences working in a particular field in software development. If you have a speciality area then take that as your gold mine for topics to write about.
Starting with an area youâre familiar with can also make it easier to write about as youâre talking about a topic you already some decent knowledge about.
In my case, my field is the embedded industry so several of the blog posts on this site are inspired by specific topics on embedded systems.
Inspirezone post example: 8 Essential & Fundamental Embedded Software Engineer Skills
6. Personal and career growth
Developers need to make a living too, so we can all relate to learning more about how to grow personally and in our career.
Reflect on things in the past that has helped you grow in competencies that may not be directly technical related. These can be soft skills youâve focused on developing or any career-related tips for surviving in the tech world.Â
Inspirezone post example: 5 Crucial non-technical skills every developer needs to work on
7. Introductory posts
These are simply introductory posts written to help someone new to various categories of software development such as a programming language, developer platform, API, framework, utility and so on.
Think of all the things you use now or used in the past and write a post about them targeted for beginners.
Not only will you be helping out someone else who is new to it, but youâll also be refreshing your own knowledge!
Inspirezone post example: A beginner friendly guide to making your first open source contribution
8. Your perspective on a common question
If you blog or thought about starting youâve probably told yourself at some point, whatâs the point in writing about X topic? You may think the internet doesnât need yet another blog post on that very commonly asked topic or question.
But you know what youâll come to realise when you start to write about such topics? Thereâs always room for more opinions, insight and comments on a topic, even if it has been answered a million times already!
Donât be afraid of taking a super common topic or question and writing your own spin on it. Answer the question from your point of view and maybe someone out there will benefit from your method of explaining or the unique insights you may have on that subject.
As a personal example, I remember having to convince myself more than a few times to write about how to select a first programming language (a topic clearly with many vast and varying opinions!)Â
Inspirezone post example: What programming language should I learn first? 3 key factors to consider
9. Advice for newbies
Look back at your journey and what it took to get to where you are now. Everyone will surely have more than a few pieces of advice to share for their past selves.Â
This is really how we can use our own experiences to help others go further and reach where they want to be quicker. Write several blog posts centred on your journey reflections and what has really helped you.
If you consider yourself a newbie you can still write for other newbies! (By the way, I like to think we are all newbies, just on varying levels!)
As a newbie to something, your advice may even hold more weight since itâs likely something youâve just gone through and can articulate it better to those also going through similar struggles.
Inspirezone post example: 10 Invaluable things I would tell myself when I was new to coding â if I had a time machine
10. Tips for organisation and productivity
We are always trying to be more efficient in how we carry out tasks but there are no 100% proven ways to go about it.
Share any discoveries youâve made on these subjective topics and let us know what has worked for you when it comes to how to stay organised and be more productive as a developer.
Inspirezone post example: 8 Practical tips to stay alert and focused while coding
11. Trends and news in the software industry
The software industry is constantly changing and itâs always a good idea to stay on top of whatâs going on.
Be one of the blogs that offer up to date information about the latest trends and activities in the software world. To do this effectively, youâll need to carry out some research and keep in touch with the latest news.Â
Choosing to write about current topics, of course, has the advantage of keeping you personally up to date with the industry. Â
Inspirezone post example: Compelling reasons why python is popular with developers in 2021
12. Posts on lesser-known categories
We donât always have to write about things that are trending! This focuses on lesser-known topics youâll not find nearly as much information about compared to common topics.
Blog post ideas for developers can source some areas in the field that are not necessarily well known or talked about. If you see such a gap, take the opportunity to write several posts on the topic.Â
If the topic gains popularity later on, youâll already have existing content published on the topic which can prove to be advantageous in gaining traffic from the web.
Inspirezone post example:Â What is Technical Debt? â The elephant in the development room
13. Reviews
Write a review about anything and all things that may be useful for developers. This can include books, tools, gadgets, courses, events or anything else you would like to review from your point of view.
What you review doesnât necessarily have to be specific for developers either. For example, you can write about reviews of a management tool that has helped you although the tool itself may not be geared only for developers.
If itâs something that helps you (or not..) write a review about it!
Inspirezone post example:Â 9 Indispensable Rules for Debugging Software and Hardware (Book review)
14. Numbered lists
If youâve browsed through pages in the blog post section of this website, youâll notice one thing, lots of numbered lists!
Usually when we start reading something like a numbered list we want to reach the end. This makes this style post great for keeping the reader engaged till the end.
Numbered lists can also be presented in a fun way such as writing in a count-down style. Blog posts on a numbered list can be as short or as long as you want it to be!
Numbered lists are also great for allowing readers to skim through the entire post as the headings should be self-explanatory and give a good enough overview of the key points (kind of like the post youâre reading right now!)
Inspirezone post example:Â 10 Incredible projects showing the power of open source
15. Write about whatever inspires you!
Itâs not always easy to write about a topic that has both criteria of something people are searching for AND what you actually want to put effort into writing. You’ll likely have those weeks when you just can’t come up with something.
At times like this, I encourage you to write about whatever you feel like!Â
Itâs your blog and your space. While most of the time we try to please our readers by giving information, tips and advice that will help them, sometimes itâs okay just to ramble about whatever comes to mind.
Of course, still try to write about something somewhat relevant to your niche. Itâs not recommended for a majority of your posts to be completely random if your readers expect your posts to fall within certain categories.
Once in a while though, itâs okay to break from posts that are geared towards a particular audience. You may even be surprised when some of your ârandomâ posts end up getting more engagement than the ones you spent carefully planning!
Inspirezone post example: Introductions â Why I started this blog and community
Conclusion
Writerâs block can make it difficult at times to come up with blog post ideas for developers.Â
However, there are several topics developers can write about and countless ideas can come from looking at our current activities and past experiences.
We’ve provided some blog post ideas for developers that will hopefully trigger sources of inspiration for your next blog post.Â
If you ever feel stuck maybe come back to this article and see if any topics and blog post types will inspire new ideas for you!
Are there any topics you like to write about in your blog? Share them in the comments.
Ready to start your own website and blog? You’ll need a hosting provider such as Hostinger (affiliate), a well-known hosting provider which is also used to power our inspirezone site!
Also checkout other articles on developer tips: