This post is not about java. At least not strictly. I was wondering the other day why I read the blogs that I read (and I read quite a lot as you can see on the right). Why do I read Jonathan Schwartz's Weblog ? Why Neal Gafter's blog ? Why Paul Buchheit ? Do I read them because they write nice things ? Maybe. But how did I know it when I started reading them ? Did someone recommended them to me? True, but why I cared ?
The answer is I read them because they are famous. Jonathan Schwartz is the CEO of Sun. Neal Gafter works at Google (Google Calendar I think) and on closures for java, Paul Buchheit is also at Google (Gmail, AdSense). Their fame is the reason I cared to subscribe to their feeds. Their smart posts maybe is the reason I keep reading them but the fact that they are very well known is the reason I started looking at their blogs. Of course I read some of my friends 's blogs and they are not famous. I didn't say that I read only the blogs of the famous.
So the next question is: why are they famous? Is it because they write blogs ? Is it because they have written books ? Of course not. They are famous because they did something great. Blogs and other stuff came later. They first created something great, something big. This is what they are known for.
When I started this blog I wanted mainly to create an archive of the solutions I give to problems in my everyday job as a programmer. But in the back of my mind I also had the thought that the blog is a good way to be known for what I do. Ok, now I don't think so. As a matter of fact, what I do is not something that I 'm worth being known for. What I do is using the technology and the great things that others have created. Maybe the visitors that come here through a search in Google for "hibernate troubles" will remember me for some time but this definitely does not make me famous.
My advice: If you want to become famous do something great. Then you can start a blog about it.
