The human part of internet traffic
What surprised me about why I share in public.
My analytics showed five active visitors.
Huh. That’s...more than normal.
I refreshed the page. Twelve active visitors.
Woah. Something must’ve happened.
I set off to find my new source of traffic. One of my posts was included in a small Python newsletter, but this was a different level. After a few minutes, I found my post on a popular news site for nerds.
Over the next half hour, the number kept ticking higher. Twenty. Forty. Sixty. Eighty.
The comments began arriving: the first responded to the content of my post. I felt relieved it wasn’t critical, but it also felt…distant. Oh, they are talking about code. Which perhaps shouldn’t surprise me given that’s what my post was about, but I couldn’t shake it.
Others commented what the post helped them understand, while several more shared what they disagreed with or disliked about the style. A typical mixed bag of internet participation.
When the day ended, my post had been read by more than 1,100 people. I realized the comment I most wanted hadn’t come. Something like, “Wow. What led you to build this?”
To be clear, they weren't responding incorrectly. They were engaging with exactly what I'd written. My surprise means the joke may actually be on me.
When I leave comments for other engineers on LinkedIn, I ask them a question about what led to the project or how they made a decision or where they hope to go next. Sure let’s talk about engineering, but only after we’ve acknowledged the human part. Were you doubting you were capable? Were you unsure how to share your finished project? Please tell me that. I’ll read the code on my own time.
It’s the same approach I take in my mentorship: we’ll fix your code but first tell me if your manager takes a while to respond to messages or your office coffee is weak.
I had thought I wanted people to see my work just because. And I did feel grateful at least one person chose to share it. But it made me realize my writing, projects, and code are invitations. If this resonated with you, I’d love to connect and hear about what you’re building.
After a day of more than expected traffic, I found myself sitting in front of my computer thinking, Now what?
We got the readers, but did we get the relationships?
If you're curious, the post that prompted this essay was What for x in y hides from you.