Kent Tegels - Database Geek of the Week
Kent Tegels is this week's Database Geek of the Week. Kent is the Geek's Geek in many respects. He takes part actively in the community, especially with his blog, Enjoy Every Sandwich. Here is Kent's take on Blogging:
Doug: Why do you blog, and do you think blogging has changed the face of software development?
Kent: Another boss I had now signs his email with a quote from Aaron Copland: “…the composer who is frightened of losing his artistic integrity through contact with a mass audience is no longer aware of the meaning of the word art.” It is no different for developers. The public performance of our art is our programs, but the back channel of critics and growth is the community.
Blogging is a powerful channel that has a deep influence on the art. But it is not the only one. There are also user groups, mailing lists, news groups, forums, instant messaging, code camps, instructor lead training, and so on. So you can’t trivialize it as “surface effect.” All channels have an influence at many levels.
A more recent mentor of mine nailed it when he said there are two types of bloggers: reflectors and generators. Reflectors refer to the works of others and maybe add some value by commenting on the referred-to posts. Reflectors influence by amplifying the work of generators, who publish their works and ideas as exemplars for others. Nobody who blogs is exclusively one or the other.
I blog to generate new discussions that are propagated through the reflections of my readers. I still read more than 1,000 blogs a day and frequently point out things that should be reflected to the community. That’s not why I started, though. My original reason for blogging was to practice writing when I wasn’t writing books or articles. It takes daily practice to grow as a writer, just like you have to write code every day to grow as a developer.
My former boss, Ted Kooser, and my mentor, Dan Sullivan, have proven themselves right. I hope to achieve a similar degree of success by implementing the same patterns.
The whole interview is here.