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This is spot on. 10 years ago I watched Pluralsight and TekPub, for high quality video content. I read blogs to learn from interesting people, and used Twitter to connect with like minded folk. Without meaning to sound all "it was better in the old days"... In some ways I did prefer it

Great post, ty for sharing. Platform monetization has put the fu in fun for tech creators. There is honor in doing something and not getting paid for it but that has been lost in personalized branding.

I appreciate that you rip off these videos on your phone. One perceived barriers to entry is all the fancy equipment that has become standard. Blogs (especially good ones) weren’t easy but you could get started without the same sorts of blockers.

💯 I also think the market is really noisy with people repeating the same content, producing AI generated content, and creating click-baity content for engagement rather than quality, so it's tricky for unique content creators to stand out.

My private conversations have been nobody wants to blog or comment in a climate where AI companies will steal unattributed content for their LLMs. We’re waiting for laws that will protect our intellectual property from being repackaged and resold.

I’ve actually done the opposite. I’ve used it as an opportunity to do everything in Camera, no edits, proving that demos are real. I’ve continued to grow my channel to almost 200 K without highly polished content or thumbnails. And I’m doing it on purpose

I avoid a lot of highly polished stuff on YouTube. Often the quality of the information is inverse the quality of the video production. If the person is making a YouTube face it’s an auto skip for me as the content is rarely good

Well answered! Yes, creating content does take time. I also feel many people nowadays want to see a quick 2 minute video instead of reading a 30 min - 1 hr paper or article that delves into details (the background, the solution, shortcomings, etc.). Yes, 2025 has been on shaky ground so far :-(

tbh i feel like a lot of it (not all of it) on twitter was people hustling for cash or attention and since you can't monetize on bluesky and twitter is garbage it's just died down. good riddance imo, give me the good content and not useless stuff!

There used to be a time that you charge someone 1k for a course to get into a bootcamp Where they pay 17k to view some videos and do peer coding And they would get a 6 figure job doing CRUDs in rails All gone 🥲

Don't worry, Scott, we're still here. 😃 Still sharing, still networking, still having fun 💪 on LinkedIn, Bluesky, personal blog, podcast, conferences, user groups, … #communityrocks #mvpbuzz

It also takes a ton of privilege to start doing this work. If you're already employed, chances are you'd be reluctant to start doing this work, unless you start with privilege. This is why most panels I'm on look a lot more like you than me.

Creating content also takes a lot of time, when you care about details and accuracy. I've had several "oh let me quickly write a short blog post about that" instances that morphed into a 3 day research project.

Some of us never left... Just didn't self promote and continue to create... Albeit in writing instead of video or social, so it's not necessarily as visible. 30 years creating online (with some hiatus) but still plugging away for my audience.

i put a marker a while back that the heat and light of professional devrel would migrate to independent/full time tech influencers (which mostly seems to have happened) and I’m not sure if there’s a value judgment you can make about it. maybe the pendulum will swing back, maybe not.

During the ZIRP era, people were flaunting their high six-fig salaries where they didn’t do anything. Then they were nowhere to be found once the layoffs started. I stay away from monetized content altogether—youtube, blogs behind paywalls, courses etc. Not perfect but this works as a nice filter.

This is defines content as audio-visual & writing only. Tons of tech people still creating open-source stuff. Key difference for me is building stuff that I can improve over time vs stuff that is set in stone (and most-often tied to a particular platform).

I only know of two "mustache YouTubers", and they both have full time jobs afaik? I'm sure you don't want to name anyone, but I wish I knew who you were talking about 😅

Spot on. I'd add that it's... harder for tech content to be "just fun" nowadays, which is kinda hard to explain in a short post.

Is part of the issue with 'fun' that your total online presence is perceived as one big virtual LinkedIn profile? So if people create content, they feel it must be 'professional' and reflect their opinions and expertise on a topic?

Not really, I think in my own case I have been in the "uncanny valley" between professional creator and doofus, and that led to a lot of expectations of what I was willing to do/have hot takes on. I'm also a lady and the... state of the world made creation harder.

The tech community I spoke to was starting to have expectations of me like the full-time creators of the world (at least that's the vibe I was getting a lot), which is a privilege, but I have a kid and I need health insurance lol, I'm not going to go full time anytime soon.

Strongly agree with both of you. I've personally cut back significantly. Two things I'd add from my perspective. First, part of my joy was built up on a belief that tech could make the world a better place that becomes harder to sustain every day...

Second, the stress of the underlying political disaster (especially in the US but not exclusively) which broadly drains energy and enthusiasm (and it's a disaster that tech is playing a strong supporting role in).

I made a but of blogs and other things. But then when I go to read other blog and content it seems smashed with AI content. Just feel like it’s to be downed out. I like deep diving in to frontend frameworks and explaining internal. Maybe one day I get the courage to start posting them.

I have a lot to say and high standards and zero of the kind of time one needs to record with its seclusion requirement et al. I've attempted to condense that energy into frozen concentrated skeets instead.

It seems like folks that make things for fun eventually end up in a role where they can get paid to make those things. Which of course makes it less fun 😅 Also can we talk about how it's clearly cherry blossom season?? 🌸

Lots of sites once offered $100-$300 for a decent written tutorial Idk if video tutorial sites are still paying as much either. Both were great side hustles I also wonder how many older ones started families & needed to stop Doing high quality tutorials or conference talks is a huge time cost

I was one of those folks who'd built my side-hustle as a content creator into a full-time job... until the whole thing imploded two years ago (along with a lot of other creators). The course market just dried up nearly overnight. Making it a job also made it way less fun.

I've been trying to get back to streaming this year but it has been hard. Was diagnosed with ADHD recently so been going on that journey which takes a lot of the time I would use to stream. Still trying to share blogs and do talks as that is why I share things, to help uplift and educate others.