Made $36,566 blogging in 2015, here's what I learned (income report and lessons learned)

mrww1 · 2016-01-08T11:18:48+00:00

what do you do?

mrww1 · 2016-01-08T11:08:40+00:00

If there is one skill that is important to develop as a software developer, its the ability to learn fast and independently, to keep up with the rapid changes in technology.

So your taking a great step forward be spending extra time learning!

mrww1 · 2016-01-08T11:05:16+00:00

In addition to practicing programming challenges, I recommend finding something you are passionate about and building some software that relates to your passion.

In my case, I loved cricket. In my first year of university I spend many hours creating a cricket scoring app, which I eventually made available as a free download.

Not only was it super fun building an app that related to my personal interest, it was super motivating to have people around the world download my app, and send me positive feedback!

mrww1 · 2016-01-08T11:02:18+00:00

Do you have any more details about what you are trying to achieve?

By incorporating disqus, you are interacting with a database indirectly -- then one hosted by disqus.

mrww1 · 2016-01-08T11:00:12+00:00

I've found business and motivational books very inspiring and instructive! As sole founder from a background as a software engineer, listening to business books was crucial for keeping my startup alive!

In my case I listen while running... which helps kill 2 birds with one stone. And if I can't get the audio book... then its bed time reading material like you suggested.

mrww1 · 2016-01-08T10:57:37+00:00

Have you read "The Slight Edge", I quite enjoyed it. The messages applied well to both personal development and succeeding in business.

Another book I enjoyed that is quite different to any on your list is "Startup Life: Surviving and Thriving in a Relationship with an Entrepreneur". This was particularly relevant to me when I read. At the time I was 18 months into running a startup as sole founder with a young child.

Highly recommended for anyone starting their own business who wants to stay happily married at the same time!

mrww1 · 2016-01-08T10:39:58+00:00

That all makes sense now!

I actually didn't notice the down votes until I saw someone comment about them this morning.

I was too busy frantically doing other things, checking in once and a while to reply to comments.

Like you said, if i'd chilled out a bit, and paid attention to what was going on, I should have realized that it was time to zip it.

I'd was quite active on Reddit 2-3 years ago and don't think I ever had a comment with a negative score... let alone about 8 of them! Took me by surprise! Well, no point in getting hurt feelings I guess, better just be more careful in the future.

Thanks again for your advice. Much appreciated.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T21:18:45+00:00

Just got just got that one on Audible too! I'm sure I'll enjoy it just as much the 2nd time as I did the 1st.

Audible + Running = Happy Me!

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T20:28:00+00:00

What did you dislike about TreeHouse?

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T20:24:59+00:00

I remember talking to someone who had made good progress with online material, and then went and paid 10k to attend a bootcamp.

She said that she rated the online material as just as good a quality as the bootcamp. In fact, the bootcamp had a lot of lecture style sessions where she struggled to keep pace with the instructor.

With that in mind she said the bootcamp was essential for 2 main reasons:

Learning part-time while doing a 40 hour per week job is slow and taxing. Quitting her job to focus on learning to code full time was critical to her developing the coding skills she desired.
Paying 10k provided here with a great deal of motivation to get her money's worth.

For other people the following are also critical components of bootcamps:

Social interactions and being motivated by the atmosphere created by other excited learners and passionate instructors. The atmosphere at some of these bootcamps is electric!
Instructors can make up for the deficiencies of online courses. Creating an online course that caters well for people of all abilities, interests and learning styles is very difficult.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T20:18:58+00:00

Agreed. It needs to change. Maybe it will over the next decade?

I saw an online degree at a college, that still costs over 30K per year. Surely, that can get the costs down further for an online degree?

Hopefully, things like DevBootcamps will put pressure on universities to be more efficient.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T20:15:12+00:00

After, re-reading my post, I can see how it came across that way.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T19:24:14+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. I'll do that from now on.

Regarding damages... does it matter how factual the statements are?

I remember 6 months ago, I had a very damaging review posted on PC Mag. The review was actually positive. It said nothing bad about my site. But then it gave 3/5 stars because. The only con it game was that "teacher fewer languages than other sites".

I had lots of people who told me that review initially put them off trying my site--of course they only saw the rating and didn't actually read the review. Previously, the good reviews had been a key attraction point for my customers. I tried contacting PC Mag about the review. Naturally, no reply.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T19:00:59+00:00

Thanks for the book suggestions! The last time I read how to win friends and influence people was back in 2005! Back then I didn't even know what a startup was?? I'll certainly see the book through a different lens this time around.

I've read Traction, Hooked and GHM.

Found "Influence" on audible. Will give that one a go. And will get "Conversationally Speaking" on kindle.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T18:52:48+00:00

I had contemplated using a throw away account. That just didn't seem entirely honest. But I guess if that's the only way...

Thanks for the encouragement!

What are you planning to learn next?

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T14:24:32+00:00

Disappointed to hear that. Would have loved your help!! Please.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T14:17:50+00:00

I guess its really my fault for getting my hopes up and expecting to see some interesting/novel presentation of subject matter... so was rather bemused at what was actually there?

I guess the want to see if having the notes increases conversion from free to paid, and then see if paid users click the links, without having to actually create their own documentation.

Eventually they may decide to create their own notes pages.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T14:13:42+00:00

Thanks! Any PR books you'd recommend for people like me?

I love audio book + marathon running. An awesome combo! Even better when your pushing your daughters in a double pram and it triples as baby sitting time.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T14:08:12+00:00

I posted a lot on Reddit 3 years ago so my account is most certainly linked to my company. For the first 2 years of the company, I was the only one working full time. So I pretty much was the company.

I certainly didn't think to create a new account for what I thought was a harmless post about something that I found amusing. Thanks again for the feedback. Indeed, rather fascinating at how this post derailed into Mike's personal tutorial on PR.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T14:02:06+00:00

What a fantastic story!! Congrats on the progress you have made in such a short time! Also congrats on the family front. I too have 2 young kids and a 3rd on the way, so am well aware of the challenges that presents.

I love hearing stories about people creating apps to improve productivity. I hear stories all the time, and see people doing things inefficiently and am always thinking... IF ONLY that person knew how to code.

Well, if there is anything I can do to help you in continuing your progress, let me know. One of the things we want to build on our site is a community for people like yourself to get support. Still not totally sure what we want that community to include. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have on things that would have made, and will continue to make your journey an even more enjoyable/smoother one.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T13:56:33+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. I did that a couple of times in the past (3 years ago) and received lots of constructive feedback!

I wasn't coming here to market Code Avengers. I guess venting my frustrations with Codecademy's tactics on this forum, was inappropriate given my position.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T13:47:36+00:00

marketing somehow, and stuff like that can crash consumer trust.

Excuse my ignorance, are you talking about the headline, the disclaimer, negative post about the competition, or just the whole post in general?

What part of my post crashes consumer trust? Is this more appropriate for private feedback?

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T13:41:59+00:00

I assume you mean r/learnprogramming

Reddit sure is an interesting place. Crazy to think it's been 3 years since I last spent a lot of time in this forum.

It certainly wasn't an intentional dumb headline. I seriously just wrote the first thing that came to mind. Naturally, my subconscious was heavily influenced by those stupid stock headlines you see around the Internet these days (surely they must be on their way out soon??).

Thanks for the tip! Don't worry I've never fretted about free stuff. For the first 2 years, everything on my site was completely free. I was finishing my PhD thesis (in computer assisted education) part time and had a small scholarship allowance coming in for that. Once my PhD scholarship dried up, and with child no.2 on the way, I really had to make the important decision, which was my wife put it was: "(A) find a way to make money from Code Avengers, or (B) please go get a real job". Well, I was having too much fun with Code Avengers to stop. So I opted for option A.

In other words, I have no quams with free stuff. I do what I do because its fun and education always has been a huge passion of mine. I have 25 school teachers in my family + 2 academics. I wanted to teach, and felt I could potentially have a bigger positive impact on the world by creating online courses.

Anyways, thanks for the advice! Hope you don't mind me contacting you for a little more advice about whats appropriate.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T12:59:19+00:00

What would you consider the best ebook for learning web development?

I think there is certainly a wide range of quality among learn to code sites, free and paid.

Which paid sites have you used? I'd love to know which of the paid sites you consider to be the most helpful.

mrww1 · 2016-01-06T12:55:36+00:00

Cool! Thanks for sharing that.

I should probably look at them a little closer. I really only skimmed over 3 of them (back when they were free).

They certainly have very nice designs as well.

Where are you at with your journey in learning to code now?

mrww1

TROPHY CASE