I'm surprised he didn't encounter the 4th reason for not blogging:
4. The topics I want to blog about are controversial.
That is, strong but controversial opinions on certain technologies are just as likely to help you get noticed as hurt you (i.e. get noticed in a negative way.) Even if the topic isn't technically controversial, it can still be a negative. Revealing that you helped {religious minority church} set up their network, or that you solved a problem with {porn website} can also put a mark on you that is not automatically good. Heaven forbid you worked for/supported {political organization} this election cycle.
So the answer is, of course, to self-censor. You have to strip out your opinion and context and only blog about technical details that you are very confident are correct. Keep your jokes gender neutral and your insights limited to your profession.
But that's boring. That's not blogging, it's writing a corporate memo. We've just ratcheted up the difficulty, limited the new thoughts you're allowed to think, and made you invisible to all hiring managers who can't recognize when your technical manuscript applies to their industry.
> That is, strong but controversial opinions on certain technologies are just as likely to help you get noticed as hurt you (i.e. get noticed in a negative way.)
I think the way to get around this is to stick to your best evidence as much as possible to back up your opinion, and try not to stray too far from it. That makes the conversation about the evidence, and not your "out there" take on things. For example, if you're pushing TDD (which has experienced a bit of a backlash of late), you might cite something like https://www.infoq.com/news/2009/03/TDD-Improves-Quality or http://blogs.ugidotnet.org/luKa/archive/2010/06/27/scientifi... which is a list of studies .
I don't know if this is strictly true. I don't deny that blogging about controversial subjects will turn off possible employers or close doors. That is definitely something to be aware of.
But you could look at the flip side of that and say that this is actually filtering out opportunities wouldn't be a fit. Much like qualifying leads in sales is something you want to do as quickly and easily as possible, doing the same for employment opportunities can help you focus on organizations where there is a culture fit.
With respect to your example, if an employer was offended by your support for a minority group or political candidate, is that an employer you'd feel comfortable bringing your whole self to work at?
I may be hopelessly Pollyanna, but I think I'd avoid that type of situation. If you are a software developer and those are the only type of opportunities you have access too, I agree, you should avoid blogging about such controversial topics. Or get good at remote work.
Strictly speaking, the only way my post can be untrue is if "fear of controversy" was not a reason people avoided blogging, or they feared controversy for an entirely different reason than the one I provided.
4. The topics I want to blog about are controversial.
That is, strong but controversial opinions on certain technologies are just as likely to help you get noticed as hurt you (i.e. get noticed in a negative way.) Even if the topic isn't technically controversial, it can still be a negative. Revealing that you helped {religious minority church} set up their network, or that you solved a problem with {porn website} can also put a mark on you that is not automatically good. Heaven forbid you worked for/supported {political organization} this election cycle.
So the answer is, of course, to self-censor. You have to strip out your opinion and context and only blog about technical details that you are very confident are correct. Keep your jokes gender neutral and your insights limited to your profession.
But that's boring. That's not blogging, it's writing a corporate memo. We've just ratcheted up the difficulty, limited the new thoughts you're allowed to think, and made you invisible to all hiring managers who can't recognize when your technical manuscript applies to their industry.