How I Restarted My Writing Career with a help of AI

Hello there! (read in Obi-Wan Kenobi voice)

It’s been quite the trek getting back into the writing groove, and I’m still shaking off the cobwebs. Thanks for bearing with me — it’s only going to get better from here on out, I’ll promise.

If you’re here for the main event, slide right on over to the Techie Writer’s Aid - My GPT Sidekick section.

A backstory

It’s 2023. By day, I’m a Software Engineer, and by night, I juggle the roles of husband and dad to two wonderfully mischievous kids. Life’s good.

Those who know me might recall a year-long episode of mine when I’ve been writing for Baeldung.com. The bar was set high, which pushed me to deliver my best. With plenty to write about and a strong team to guide me, I found my rhythm and learned a lot. It was a valuable phase in my career that I look back on fondly.

My schedule was packed. I took a deep dive into freelance software engineering, landing a role with an innovative drone startup in the US, while also maintaining my advisory work. It’s a balancing act in the tech industry; you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. Big, regular paychecks? Absolutely, they’re great — who doesn’t love that? But the main game is staying sharp in the ever-shifting world of software engineering. So, I put writing on pause, with a good reason behind it.

Fast-forward three years, and here I am. This time, I’m crafting my very own blog. It may not be flashy, it may not be popular—yet.

But it’s truly mine, and that’s what counts.

Techie Writer’s Aid - My GPT Sidekick

Now, the juicy stuff.

I want to be upfront: I’m not a fan of AI-generated content. To me, it feels like a shortcut that lacks the insightful depth only human experience brings to writing. I’m eager to hear your views on this—do you value originality over convenience?

So why consider a sidekick, let alone an AI, when my writing’s already top-notch? Here’s the reality check:

1. I’ve gotten a bit out of practice.
2. Did I mention I’m out of practice?
3. My experience is primarily with Baeldung, which is a good niche but still a niche

The timing couldn’t be better. OpenAI has just rolled out custom GPTs. As soon as I got access, I jumped at the chance to try it out. My first creation? A ‘SpringBoot Kotlin coding assistant’—but more on that another time.

The standout feature? You can tailor the GPT using natural language. That’s incredible! In hindsight, I wish I’d taken a snapshot of the setup process. But hey, I’m shaking off some rust here, so bear with me.

My primary aim was clear: I didn’t want a tool to generate content for me. Sure, ideas are always welcome, but they’ve often been explored before. What I needed was an assistant, an editor—someone or something to smooth out areas where my writing was rough around the edges. With just a few instructive sentences, I crafted precisely that. And you know what? It’s working out pretty well.

I didn’t get it right on the first try; some fine-tuning was necessary. It’s great, but occasionally, the suggestions are a little over the top. Let’s delve into that:

Ok, that was too easy. A quick “save” and it was all set.

And really, that’s about it. It does its job remarkably well. I’m pleased — until I bump up against the GPT usage limit. Then, not so much.

Epilogue

The first pancake is always spoiled, or so they say. Still, I hope you enjoyed that first post at least a bit. I know I did.

Thanks for sticking with me to the end.

Jed