Ask HN: I'd like to start political blog under my name will it affect my career?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14065758

by ffjffsfr • 9 years ago

4 5 9 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm really worried and afraid about direction in which things are going in my country and in the world. I'd like to write more about politics, however I feel like writing anonymously or under pseudonym makes people treat you less seriously. If I start writing under my own name will it affect my programming career? Potential employers will be able to find my political views in google. ..

throwaway_374• 9 years ago

Relevant: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/snowflake-te...

gcoda• 9 years ago

If you expressing your opinions anyway do it in louder way. But keep in mind you can get in trouble anyway, there is a few stories about programers who got fired coz of SJW rage. Even CEO of Mozilla got fired. Jslint guy got disinvited from events for comparing strong maps to men.

But if your opinions strong, do it under pseudonym, you can get a reputation for a fake name, not a problem. There is bunch of anonymous YouTubers with millions views and nobody knows their name or seen their face

brudgers• 9 years ago

The willingness to live with the consequences of one's actions can be a metric for measuring the importance of those actions in a moral/ethical domain. I mean what we refer to with morals/ethics are things that are done independently of personal gain or advantage because they are the right thing to do.

Depending on what you write and where you apply for work, it may or may not affect your career. It's ok if your career is more important than what you want to say about political topics...the average political essay is noise.

It's also ok if what you have to say is more important than your career. There's no right answer in the abstract.

Good luck.

ffjffsfr• 9 years ago

Thanks for this wise and thoughtful comment, I really appreciate it.

Mz• 9 years ago

I have been unintentionally controversial as hell for a lot of years. I have worked hard at becoming less of a lightning rod for utter shit shows.

In my experience, how you say it matters at least as much, perhaps more so, than your actual point.

You should be trying to bring solutions, not complaints. If the entire point of your blog is to kvetch, then don't make it a "political" blog. Make it clear "this is me bitching into the void." It will be less likely to come back to bite you.

When you bring solutions, be incredibly careful to not point fingers.

The English bible says "The meek shall inherit the earth." My understanding is that the French version says "The nonchalant shall inherit the earth."

Try to be nonchalant. Try to be diplomatic. Try to educate people rather than lecturing them.

Many blogs are just noise anyway. Having big feels about something doesn't guarantee you will have anything of real value to contribute. But if you think you can make a difference, then, there are ways to be more Zen about it.

"If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one there to hear it, it makes no sound. Yet, it falls."

Ask HN: I'd like to start political blog under my name will it affect my career?

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