To celebrate my one year anniversary writing on Hacker Noon, I wanted to give an inside look into why I’m here. It all started when I mentioned their Twitter handle in a tweet. As a marketer and self-published author of three novels, I have been publishing and promoting my content on social media to engage with new readers. In this case, it was a type of audience-borrowing strategy to introduce, "Bizarre Startup Interview Stories" to Hacker Noon’s followers.
I was more than surprised when Hacker Noon sent me a polite direct message and a link to publish on their site. You see, I've always felt like an outsider in Silicon Valley and the tech community. While that has made for interesting content, it has been a journey to find professional support and development. I was also hesitant to pitch my ideas because I never considered myself a hacker.
However, looking more closely at Hacker Noon, I knew it was different. And, if they accepted my articles, there could be solid advantages. And now, in retrospect, I have experienced firsthand over the past year these three benefits specifically:
Diversity: My fears about not being a good fit for Hacker Noon’s were unfounded. The dashboard with reader statistics showed me people were not only reading my content but spending more time than other platforms I had published on. With over 3M subscribers and 15K writers who are real professionals working in their respected domains, Hacker Noon to me has and continues to embody independent and inclusive content by treating our internet friends with respect.
Innovation: I’m not surprised that Hacker Noon was successful in funding raising in 2020. There’s so much to discover and new features are regularly launched. I’m excited to be part of the monetization program with Coil and being a featured expert. It’s also amazing to see the most popular tags and engage with content and authors about the latest trends.
Support: A big part of what makes Hacker Noon unique is the community. It is true that professional human editors polish and publish your content in addition to answering your emails. Personally, the dedicated support on social media has made me feel part of it all. This was most evident last year during the 2020 Noonies. From podcasts to LinkedIn, I met many talented nominees over the span of four months through the process.
Having the support of Hacker Noon and the community has been a great experience and I highly recommend to all those working in technology to tell their stories. It’s helped me grow my skills as a writer and marketer as well as introducing me to new friends. And for that, I’m grateful.