Why I Decided to Learn in Public Now (And Not Earlier)

For a long time, I believed learning in public was something you do after you feel confident.

After you stop Googling basic things.
After you stop making silly mistakes.
After your code looks clean most of the time.

So I didn’t do it.

I was learning every day, but quietly. Fixing bugs. Reading other people’s code. Breaking things and putting them back together. All of it stayed inside my laptop.

I told myself, “I’ll start sharing later.”

Later never came.

What I Thought Learning in Public Was

Earlier, I had a very wrong idea of what learning in public meant.

I thought it meant:

Teaching others
Writing clear explanations
Having answers ready
Sounding confident all the time

In my head, learning in public looked like standing in front of a room and explaining things clearly, without hesitation.

And I didn’t feel ready for that.

Because most days, my work looked very different:

I was confused
I made wrong assumptions
I fixed bugs without fully understanding them at first
I changed my mind often

None of that felt “share-worthy”.

So I kept learning private and assumed that was the normal way.

The Fear I Didn’t Admit

If I’m honest, the real reason wasn’t lack of knowledge.

It was fear.

I was afraid of:

Saying something wrong
Being corrected publicly
Looking less experienced than others
Writing something that feels obvious to someone else

I compared myself with developers who wrote clean threads, long posts, and clear explanations. Their confidence made my doubts louder.

So instead of writing imperfect thoughts, I chose silence.

It felt safer.

What Actually Happens During Real Work

Over time, something interesting happened.

The more I worked on real projects, the more I noticed that the most useful learning moments were very small and very easy to forget.

Things like:

A bug caused by a tiny detail
Code that looked fine but behaved badly
A tool that worked great until it didn’t
A decision that felt right but caused problems later

These moments didn’t feel big enough to become “posts”.

But they mattered.

They shaped how I think now.

And yet, I almost never wrote them down.

I would fix the issue, move on, and forget what confused me in the first place.

The Problem With Learning Only in Private

Learning in private has one big problem.

You forget.

Not immediately, but slowly.

You forget:

Why something was confusing
What wrong assumption you made
How you finally understood it
What you struggled with at that moment

Later, when you look at the same thing again, it feels obvious.

And when something feels obvious, you don’t remember how hard it was to get there.

That’s when learning becomes invisible.

The Moment My Thinking Changed

At some point, I read a post where someone shared a very simple learning.

Nothing impressive.
Nothing advanced.

Just a small realization from their day.

And it helped me.

That post made me realize something important:

The value was not in how advanced the topic was.
The value was in how fresh the learning was.

That’s when it clicked.

Learning in public is not about showing what you know.
It’s about capturing what you just understood before it fades.

Learning in Public Is Not Teaching

This was the biggest shift for me.

Learning in public does not mean teaching others.

It means:

Writing while you are still learning
Saying “I didn’t understand this”
Admitting “I assumed the wrong thing”
Sharing “this took me longer than expected”

It’s not a lesson.

It’s a record.

A record of how your thinking changes.

Once I understood this, learning in public stopped feeling heavy.

I didn’t need to sound smart.

I just needed to be honest.

Why I Didn’t Do This Earlier

Looking back, I wish I had started earlier.

But I understand why I didn’t.

Earlier:

I wanted approval
I wanted my posts to look good
I wanted to avoid mistakes
I cared too much about how it would be received

Now:

I care more about clarity
I want to think better, not impress
I’m okay with being wrong in public
I value consistency more than polish

This change didn’t happen overnight.

It came from experience, frustration, and time.

Why Now Feels Like the Right Time

Right now, I’m in a good place to learn in public.

Not because I know everything.

But because:

I’ve made enough mistakes to recognize patterns
I still get confused often
I work on real problems regularly
I’m okay saying “I don’t know yet”

Earlier, I waited to feel ready.

Now I understand something simple:

You don’t feel ready first.
You start, and readiness comes later.

Why I Created DailyDevPost

DailyDevPost exists for one simple reason.

I don’t want my daily learnings to disappear.

I want a place where I can write:

Small React learnings
Debugging stories
Tools I use and stop using
Code habits I’m trying to improve

Not tutorials.
Not best practices.
Not polished explanations.

Just real work, written honestly.

Some posts will be small.
Some will feel obvious.
Some might even be wrong at first.

That’s fine.

Because the goal is not perfection.

The goal is progress.

Who This Is Really For

This is for developers who:

Are learning while working
Still Google basic things
Feel confused more often than they admit
Want honest writing, not perfect answers

And it’s also for future me.

Because I know I’ll forget these lessons if I don’t write them down.

What Learning in Public Gives Me

Learning in public gives me a few simple things:

Clear thinking
Better understanding
Accountability
A record of growth

Writing forces me to slow down.

To explain things to myself.

To notice gaps in my understanding.

Even if no one reads it, the process itself helps.

What I’m Not Trying to Do

I’m not trying to:

Build a personal brand
Sound like an expert
Teach advanced concepts
Compete with anyone

I’m just documenting my journey as it happens.

That’s it.

A Simple Realization

I didn’t start learning in public earlier because I thought I needed confidence first.

Now I know:

Confidence comes after clarity.
Clarity comes after writing.
Writing comes after showing up.

You don’t need a big reason to start.

You don’t need permission.

You don’t need to be ready.

You just need to write the next small thing you learned.

Final Thought

If you’re learning quietly right now, I understand.

I was there too.

But if you feel like your learning disappears at the end of the day, maybe writing one small post can help.

Not for others.

For yourself.

That’s why I’m starting now.