I wish all blog readers a healthy and successful New Year 2016. For me, the time between Christmas and New Year is always a time to reflect and plan for the coming year. Perhaps some of these readers might find it interesting to take a look behind the scenes and learn a little more...
What did the blog bring me?
Writing a blog obviously takes time. You might ask yourself whether the time invested is worth it. My thoughts on the matter are as follows. First of all, I enjoy writing and don't see blogging as work, but as leisure time. I often sit down in the evening after the children are in bed and write another blog. When I then publish it, I am always happy to have accomplished something. I enjoy that much more than slumping on the couch in front of the TV. But of course, that happens to me sometimes too :-). But there are also other aspects why blogging is worthwhile for me. I summarize my knowledge for others and for myself. Lifelong learning is very important for engineers, otherwise you are hopelessly outdated in just a few years. Blogging allows me to structure my thoughts and archive knowledge. I often only realize whether I have understood a topic when I blog. So, for me, it is a good way to document my knowledge. I like to post my knowledge online so that others can benefit from it too. This year, I have often been able to refer colleagues or customers who had a problem to the blog and thus help them.
The blog also serves as a way for me to start a conversation with others. This has worked very well this year. I've been able to make many contacts through the blog, which have helped me advance both personally and professionally. Exchanging ideas with others is a great motivator for me and a real joy. I really enjoy exchanging ideas with others and talking about engineering topics.
And ultimately, as a self-employed engineer, I'm also responsible for my own marketing. With the blog, I've found a way to show others what I think and how I work. Every reader can get an idea of whether or not I can help them. Through the blog, clients can get a first impression of me.
Is the blog being read?
This is probably the most exciting question every blogger faces when starting out! Especially in the first few weeks, you follow the statistics very closely and calculate the readership numbers. However, this obsession with ratings subsides significantly after a few months :-) Currently, I check about once a month to see how many readers I have and where in Germany they come from. I admit, it's a lot of fun to see which cities my blog is being read in and what interests people. Attached is an image showing the access locations within Germany.
Currently, I get 500 to 1,000 hits per month on the site, and about 15 percent of readers visit the blog regularly. For my first year of blogging, I don't think the traffic numbers are bad at all :-)
What happens next?
I'll continue this year. I have many exciting topics in the pipeline. Professionally, I'll be developing more in the direction of mentoring and coaching. I'm pleased to already have clients for this. Furthermore, I'll be giving a lecture at Nuremberg University of Applied Sciences in the summer semester of 2016 on the topic of systems engineering in medical technology. I'm really looking forward to that, too. Some of the course content will certainly be featured here and there on the blog.
Say thank you
I'd like to thank my wife Diana, who not only tolerates blogging, but also proofreads almost every single post and always gives me valuable feedback. I also thank the guest bloggers for their great contributions. I'd also like to thank readers who have given me feedback in person, by phone, by email, or in comments on the blog.
I wish you a successful and exciting year
Goran Madzar