Caffeinated Coder

I’ve noticed that the style of my posts has been pretty eclectic over the last several months.

Partly, I just have an over-active sense curiosity that leads me all over the place. Mostly, however, I think it just has to do with the fact that I’ve been blogging for less than a year and probably haven’t quite found my writer’s voice for this genre yet.

Regardless of the reason, it led me to marvel at how different the styles are of some of my favorite bloggers.

As an homage to this diversity, I decided that instead of doling out awards this month based on specific posts, I would recognize certain qualities in the bloggers themselves that have been particularly influential for me and my search for my blogger’s voice.

1. For Best Researcher…Jeff Atwood – Some of the best blog posts come from personal experience, but after a while that can be a pretty limiting constraint to place on yourself. Some of the posts that I’ve found most rewarding lately have started from an idea that I was interested in but didn’t know very much about and then researched until I felt I had something interesting to say about it. Jeff’s posts are always consistently thoroughly researched and include plenty of quotes from primary sources to support his point.
2. For Best Writer…Reginald Braithwaite (raganwald) – Reg provides excellent technical content and quality feedburner/del.icio.us that I don’t find cross-listed anywhere else. However, the trait that I appreciate the most from him is his obvious talent as a writer. If you’re a popular blogger, then you are already able to express yourself in writing better than most, but I think he is one of the few that could probably get away with writing non-technical content as well and that is an inspiration on days where I just get carried away in the process of writing.
3. For Most Passionate Technologist…Scott Hanselman – It has been my experience that the best developers are prolific users of software themselves who are fearless about trying new tools and utilities and make a study of what makes one piece of software better than another. After all, how can someone create quality software if they are not experts at recognizing it? With his legendary ultimate tool list, Scott excels more than anyone else I can think of in this regard and exudes an excitement about good software that makes him very compelling to listen to and read.
4. For Best Essayist…Steve Yegge – I used to think that a strict rule of the blog genre was that posts had to be short and concise, otherwise nobody would read them. Then I read Steve’s Blogging Theory 201 – Size Does Matter, in which he shares his “splash size” observations that his longer posts had more long-term staying power than his shorter ones. Once I adjusted my expectations on the size of a blog post, I started reading posts that I had skipped before and suddenly discovered a gold mine of quality content, especially from Steve’s blog. If you see an occasional longish post from me, that’s why.
5. For Best Satirist…Fake Steve Jobs – Humor that is not thought provoking or that is just mean spirited may experience “flash-in-the-pan” success, but people eventually get tired of it. Like Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, Fake Steve Jobs achieves the perfect balance of biting wit and sarcasm with actual industry news. In the age of information overload where we routinely become numb to what otherwise should be shocking events, sometimes satire is the most effective way to convey truth.
6. The Most Professional Blogger…Max Pool – The more I learn about blogging, design, and SEO, the more I marvel at Max’s attention to detail when it comes to his blog, Codesqueeze. If you want to polish up your blog, then use this site as a model. I also like that he’s been creative and innovative when it comes to providing content, such as with his regular segments Developer Faceoffs and Whiteboard Wednesdays.
7. The Best Software Philosopher…Jeremy Miller – Jeremy excels at dissecting big picture issues in software development and constructing clear and intelligent arguments about the best way to design a system or tweak a development process. If you only have time for one codebetter blog, his is the one I would recommend. He’s a role model for me when it comes to critically thinking about processes and presenting a cogent critique of the status quo.
8. The Most Irreverent Blogger… Justice Gray – Unfortunately, one of the least endearing qualities of uber-geeks is their ginormous egos and their tendency to take themselves way too seriously. This is why I like reading Justice’s blog so much. He obviously has all of the requisite geek street creds, but he brings a great sense of fun to the blogosphere that you just don’t find in too many other places.

To all the winners this months, thanks for providing such excellent content on the web. I promise to buy the caffeinated or alcoholic beverage of your choice if we should ever meet. It looks like I’ll see Jeremy, Max, Scott, and Justice in Seattle at the Alt.NET conference next month. I just saw a place to buy Reg a PayPal coffee on his site, so I’m give him a virtual coffee. As for Jeff, Steve, and FSJ, I’ll have to give you a rain check.

To everyone who isn’t familiar with these bloggers already, I highly recommend that you subscribe now.

Until next month…

Popularity: 10% [?]

 Subscribe in a reader