Why You Should Keep a Developer Diary

Every software developer should keep a diary.

Personally I’ve kept one for about a year now, and I’m very content. During some periods I haven’t bothered, and that’s OK. I can always write a new entry tomorrow, or next week.

The diary can cover a lot of different aspects from your daily work. Below are some examples.

• Things you’ve learned
• Accomplishments that you’re proud of
• Thoughts on dynamics within your team
• Sketches of ideas
• Reasoning behind technical decisions
• Solutions to problems that you’ve struggled with

I think the greatest benefit of writing a diary is that you give yourself time to reflect on your daily work. You will think about things that works less well and identify improvements for both yourself and your team. Sometimes we feel that we’re just standing still, not developing as individuals. By reflecting on accomplishments and things you’ve learned you can more clearly see that you’re actually growing as an individual, every day. You might reflect a lot already without writing anything about it. That’s great, but your brain might not be the most suitable storage solution in the long-term. Additionally, when writing thoughts or solutions related to different problems, you’ll get a personal knowledge base. If you encounter the same issue again, you can always re-visit your old diary entries.

So, my recommendation to you is to start write a diary.

Choose whatever format that works best for you; pen and paper or some service/tool such as Notion or Obsidian. If you can’t be bothered to write every day, do it weekly instead. If you forget about it for some time, don’t give up! Write a new entry tomorrow instead.

Thanks for reading!

• Writing
• Self-Improvement