Key takeaways
- Learning in public means sharing what you learn, as you learn it, to deepen understanding and gain feedback.
- Start with small weekly posts, a GitHub project and one platform, and stay consistent for months.
- Build-in-public updates work best when they share real decisions, numbers and lessons.
- Own a personal site for your technical blog, and cross-post to platforms with canonical links.
- Personal brands and speaking careers rest on verifiable work, consistency and practice.
Learning in public means sharing what you learn as you learn it, through posts, notes, projects, talks and open code, so others benefit and you get feedback, accountability and visibility. It is one of the fastest ways for students to build skills and a reputation together. I share technical work through my site and campus sessions, having led 20+ of them, so this page covers what it means, how to start, community advice, build-in-public updates, blog platforms, personal branding and public speaking.
What is learning in public?
Learning in public is the habit of sharing your learning process openly: writing notes, publishing projects, explaining concepts, asking questions and documenting mistakes, rather than learning privately and only showing finished results.
The idea, popularised among developers by the writer Shawn Wang, known as swyx, is that teaching what you just learned deepens understanding, attracts feedback from experts, and builds a public record of growth that employers and collaborators can see. It does not require being an expert; beginners often help other beginners best because they remember what was confusing. The core mindset is generosity and honesty: share useful things, admit gaps, and improve publicly.
How do you learn in public?
Pick a topic you are learning, and share small outputs regularly: a short post explaining a concept, a GitHub repository with notes, a demo video of a project, or a thread summarising what you built this week.
Also asked as: how to learn in public · how to start learn in public · how to learn in public reddit
Make it useful to others: write the explanation you wished you had found, include code and screenshots, and link resources. Share where your audience is, such as LinkedIn, X, a blog or developer communities. Ask questions openly and credit people who help. Consistency beats perfection: a short weekly post for six months builds more than one perfect article. This site, with its answer pages on RAG, fine-tuning and careers, is part of my own learning in public.
How do you start learning in public?
Start this week with one small post: what you learned, a problem you solved, or a resource you found useful. Keep it short, specific and honest. Your first posts do not need an audience; they build the habit.
A simple starter plan: set up a GitHub profile with a README and one project; choose one platform for writing; commit to one post per week for eight weeks; and keep a running notes file of things worth sharing. Use templates such as today I learned, how I fixed this error, or what I built this week. Expect little response at first. Engagement grows as you help people consistently over months.
What does the community say about learning in public?
Community discussions are mostly positive: people report faster learning, job leads and new friends from sharing their journeys. Common cautions are avoiding performative posting, burnout from chasing engagement, and sharing confidential work details.
Practical advice from these discussions: focus on helpfulness rather than self-promotion; share real code and specific lessons instead of vague motivation; engage with others' posts, not only your own; and keep a sustainable pace. Introverts suggest written formats like blogs and GitHub notes instead of videos. Many recommend starting in communities where you already participate, such as Discord servers or subreddits, before broadcasting widely. Quality and consistency matter more than follower counts.
What are good build-in-public blogs and update formats?
Good build-in-public updates share real numbers and decisions: what shipped, what users said, what failed and what comes next. Formats include weekly or monthly changelogs, devlogs, open metrics dashboards from indie founders, and project retrospectives.
Also asked as: ask hn: best build in public/regular updates blogs
Effective updates are regular, concise and honest, including mistakes and reasoning, which makes them valuable to readers building similar things. Many indie developers publish monthly updates on personal blogs or newsletters, and open-source maintainers write release notes and roadmaps. Start with a simple template: goals for the period, what was done, metrics, lessons and next steps. Avoid sharing sensitive customer data or security details, and keep updates focused on what others can learn.
What is the best platform for a technical blog?
Popular choices are a personal site with a static site generator, such as Hugo, Astro, Jekyll or Next.js, hosted on GitHub Pages, Netlify or Vercel; or hosted platforms such as Hashnode, Dev.to, Medium and Substack.
Also asked as: ask hn: best platform for a technical blog
A personal domain gives you ownership, control over design and long-term search value, which community discussions usually recommend. Hosted platforms offer built-in audiences and easier setup. Many writers do both: publish on their own site and cross-post to Dev.to or Medium with canonical links pointing home. Choose Markdown-based tools if you write code-heavy posts, and make sure code blocks, images and RSS feeds work well. The platform matters less than writing consistently.
How do you build your personal brand?
Decide what you want to be known for, such as building RAG systems or mentoring students, then consistently share work, insights and help in that area across a website, GitHub, LinkedIn and talks. Reputation follows useful, visible work.
Also asked as: how to build your personal brand
Practical steps: create a simple website with your bio, projects and contact details; keep profiles consistent in name, photo and description; publish case studies of real work; speak at college events or meetups; and help others in communities. Be authentic and accurate: never inflate achievements, since trust is the whole point of a brand. My own brand rests on verifiable work: five NextUpgrad AI apps, hackathon wins and 20+ campus sessions.
How can beginners learn public speaking skills?
Start small and practise often: speak in class, present a project to friends, record yourself explaining a topic for two minutes, and join a club such as Toastmasters or a college speaking society. Confidence comes from repetition.
Also asked as: how to learn public speaking skills for beginners
Prepare well: know your opening and closing lines, structure the talk around three points, and rehearse aloud with a timer. Focus on the audience's needs rather than your nerves. Watch recordings to fix filler words, pace and body language. Ask for specific feedback after each attempt. Technical speakers benefit from demos, which shift attention from the speaker to the work. Most confident speakers started out nervous; repetition is what changed them.
How do you learn English public speaking?
Build English fluency and speaking confidence together: speak English daily in low-stakes settings, read aloud, shadow talks by repeating after speakers, and practise short structured talks on familiar topics before tackling formal presentations.
Also asked as: how to learn english public speaking
Prepare scripts at first, then move to bullet points to sound natural. Learn key phrases for openings, transitions and conclusions. Record yourself and compare with fluent speakers for pronunciation and pacing, focusing on clarity rather than accent. Join English-speaking clubs, online conversation groups or Toastmasters. Remember that audiences value clear ideas over perfect grammar; many successful speakers present confidently in their second language by keeping sentences simple.
How do you build a career in public speaking?
Build expertise first, then a speaking reputation: develop a topic you know deeply, speak at free events such as colleges, meetups and webinars, record talks, gather testimonials, and gradually approach conferences and organisations that pay speakers.
Also asked as: how to build a career in public speaking
Create a speaker page with your topics, bio, photos, past talks and contact details, and make booking easy. Network with event organisers and say yes to diverse audiences early. Combine speaking with related work, such as workshops, training, consulting or courses. Speaking careers usually grow alongside a professional career rather than replacing it at first. For students, campus sessions are a great start: they build skill, references and a body of talks.
Sources
GenAI engineer and AI product builder with 2+ years shipping production-grade AI systems: RAG pipelines, fine-tuned LLMs, hybrid retrieval and multi-modal apps across vision, speech and OCR, architected end to end from ingestion to deployment. Leads engineering for SCULT INDIA's 14-member team, founded the 500+ member TechVerse Enclave community and has mentored 200+ students. Three hackathon first prizes: Changethon 2025 (IIT Roorkee), Product Genesis at Vividhotsava 2025 (CSJMU) and BYTEBATTLE (MeetKats).
Open to GenAI roles, hackathon judging, mentorship sessions and guest talks at colleges. For campus sessions the inviting institution covers the visit end to end: travel (a First AC train ticket for journeys up to five hours, a flight for anything longer), accommodation, meals, and pickup and drop; the honorarium and workshop fees are negotiable on WhatsApp or on the call, and requests are welcome from institutions that can cover the visit this way. Email pranjulrathour41@gmail.com.
