Blogs as an indication of job satisfaction?

When was the last time you updated your blog?

Have you done anything lately that was worth blogging about?

These are all questions that have been rattling around my head recently. I’ve experienced it myself, I’ve seen it via my colleagues. When people are working on interesting stuff, focused on solving clearly defined business goals, their blogs are full of detail and insightful to read! If the business is losing or has lost direction, blogs become an attempt to stay focused and continue honing skills but slowly over time the drain of the working day drags the blog content down to just notes or, worse still, silence.

I’m beginning to see the worth of a blog as a litmus test on job satisfaction – a stagnating or random blog probably indicates a day job that is doing something similar! Many posts (regardless of the stats) probably indicates a full-on and enjoyable day job focused on solving tangible business goals

There is probably a good argument that a job shouldn’t define you and that you can exist out of work, but if you are a developer and you’re spending at least 8 hours per day, 5 days a week doing something that is not progressing your skills and you’re not enjoying, then you probably need to question what you are doing! (and the first person that you should question is your boss!)