From 0 to 10K Followers on Dev.to – What Worked & What Didn’t

#discuss #writing #webdev #community

Started my journey here back in the end of November 2024 with a simple goal: to contribute to the Dev community.

At first, I wasn’t sure if my content would get noticed, but I kept writing, experimenting with different topics, and sharing what I’ve learned along the way.

This was the very first post I published: "Introducing Myself to the Dev.to Community"

I was excited to start, but honestly, it didn’t get the engagement I expected. Maybe because I’m a WordPress Developer?

Still, I kept going, because I knew every post was a step forward.

Till now, I have written 53 posts in total, covering a wide range of topics. Some posts performed better than I ever expected, while others didn’t get as much love.
By the way, this si my 54th post!

Most Engaged Posts – The Ones That Took Off

Some posts caught the attention of the Dev Community. These are the ones that performed the best:

I’m really proud of these posts because they brought value to the community and helped other developers.

The Posts I Thought Would Do Well – But Didn’t

Some posts felt like they should’ve gained more traction, but for some reason, they didn’t get much response. Maybe the timing was off, or maybe they didn’t resonate as much with the Dev.to audience. Either way, I still believe they are useful:

I think these posts deserve more visibility, and if you haven’t checked them out yet, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Tried Something New: My Very First Frontend Challenge

For the first time, I stepped out of my comfort zone and participated in a frontend challenge.

The idea was to create something unique, engaging, and useful. My challenge was:

"Visualize & Discover Your Love Language with Your Loved Ones."

I put a lot of effort into it, but it didn’t get the engagement I was hoping for. Still, it was a fun learning experience!

My Posts Stats Since I Joined Dev Community

Looking back, here’s what I’ve achieved so far:

Total post views: 42,950
Total post comments: 118
Total post reactions: 752

Not bad for a journey that started with zero followers!

The Badges I Earned

Getting recognition from the Dev.to community made the journey even better. Here are some of the badges I earned along the way:

Writing Debut – For publishing my first DEV post! A small but meaningful milestone.
1 Week Community Wellness Streak – Awarded for engaging with the community by posting at least 2 comments in a single week.
2 Week Community Wellness Streak – Keeping the conversations going for 2 straight weeks.
CSS – Recognized as a top CSS author for a week.
PHP – Recognized as a top PHP author for a week.

The Most Controversial Post – The One That Got Hate Comments

Not every post gets love. The post that triggered the most hate comments was:

🔥 "What’s Wrong With PHP? Why Developers Hate It"

It turns out PHP discussions get really heated. But hey, I take it as a sign that people are passionate about the topic.

What’s Next?

I will continue to provide valuable resources for the Dev community. This journey wouldn’t be possible without you!

I could never have reached 10K+ followers without your support. Thank you for reading, sharing, and engaging with my content.

Keep supporting, keep sharing, and let’s grow together! 🚀

📍 Find me on: LinkedIn | Medium | Bluesky | Hackernoon

Top comments (6)

Ehtesham Ali • Feb 27

Huge congratulations on reaching 10K followers on Dev.to — your consistency, creativity, and passion for sharing knowledge truly paid off! 🎉 Your journey from zero to 10K is inspiring, and your openness about both wins and challenges makes it even more relatable. Wishing you even more success and engagement ahead — keep shining! 🚀

Muhammad Usman • Feb 27

Thanks for the encouragement!

Cesar Aguirre • Feb 27

Often I'd like to think we can't predict our next hit. Often the posts I write to mark the calendar are the ones that get more engagement. Last week, one of my posts about unit testing "went viral" And I just wrote it to make my quota of posts.

Also, broadly speaking, dev.to tends to be a place for beginners (that's not a bad thing. I'm not ranting), so beginner-friendly content about web stuff tends to work well here. Just look at the subject of your top posts for example. My most read post is one about learning React in 30 days.

For me, what's worked is a combination of consistency and the right subjects for the platform. Congrats!

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