I created content during my PhD years in the form of articles for conferences and journals. Such articles take forever to write, never-ending revisions and adjustments to make them perfect, or at least in a decent shape to communicate some scientific result to the community. Then celebrate its publication, or swallow the bitter pill of rejection and hope for better luck next time.
After finishing my PhD studies, I still felt the itch to create content: a blog entry here and a little YouTube clip there. Such content is not as crazy expensive to create as academic content. Of course, it also doesn't carry a scientific contribution to it. Instead, I see my post-academic content as useful for the industry and myself.
There is also something ultimately selfish in creating content. While creating, I'm clarifying my own thoughts. Some ideas sound great at first sight, then they look different when written down. Writing is powerful: it can really help people in their learning journey. I benefitted from others' writings, perhaps it's time to return the favor.
It's also about impact. You see, academic writing is super-niche. You write for a very small group. In contrast, writing a blog post, creating a YouTube clip or a new online course can impact a lot of people. Some might really like your take on the topic, others not so much.
A few years ago, I created a small online course with an introduction to Docker. I uploaded the course on Skillshare. The feedback from learners ranged from 'great introduction..', 'great started course!' to 'choices of examples are not clear nor simple'.
Feedback helps improve my content creation craft. I appreciate the effort that someone took to either express their thanks, or to vent their frustration. Sometimes feedback is a joy, other times it's maybe unfair. Content creation is hard, and somehow addictive. So stop reading my blog, don't even think about following me, just get back to writing!
