{"id":4246,"date":"2020-07-08T20:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T18:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/msalamon.pl\/?p=4246"},"modified":"2025-12-27T16:32:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T15:32:58","slug":"happy-birthday-to-you-the-second-year-of-msalamon-pl-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/msalamon.pl\/en\/happy-birthday-to-you-the-second-year-of-msalamon-pl-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday to you! The second year of msalamon.pl! + CONTEST"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two years of me running this blog have just passed! Sometimes it\u2019s hard for me to believe that I\u2019ve already been working on it for so long, and yet it\u2019s still only the beginning. Around the same time, my store also has its anniversary. True, I officially opened it in June, but I\u2019m going to count it as part of the joint celebration \ud83d\ude42 Just like a year ago, I invite you to a short summary.
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Recently I decided that I\u2019ll make some of my blog\u2019s statistics public. I think it\u2019s worth being transparent. What I decide I can share, I will show. Everyone likes to know \u201chow the neighbor is doing,\u201d right? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, a fun fact: apparently we\u2019re so curious because the curiosity center in the brain is very close to the pain center. So in a way curiosity hurts us, and pain\u2014as we know\u2014should be relieved as quickly as possible \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of the blog<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Let me remind you that my goal is to spread knowledge and embedded programming skills among beginners<\/strong>. I focus on STM32 microcontrollers because, in my opinion, starting with AVR (Arduino) is not the best path for people who would like to really know how to program. Sure, you can learn on them, but today\u2019s market increasingly expects you to be able to work with ARMs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An equally important second goal is improving my programming skills<\/strong>. I\u2019m still learning all the time, so when writing articles I often think about how to convey to you what I\u2019m describing. Not only do I have to think about how to program something, but also about how to explain it to you. It\u2019s not as easy as it seems\u2026 Besides, I also learn from my readers. More than once someone has pointed out a mistake in a comment, or I\u2019ve discussed something\u2014whether in the comments section, in emails, or on Facebook. I like talking with my readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A secondary goal is simply having an interesting activity<\/strong>. Writing the blog has become, in a way, my hobby. Additionally, opening the store supports me financially to some extent. Slowly, it\u2019s starting to come together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numbers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m an engineer, so numbers are a fairly clear indicator for me of how my blogging is going. At the beginning of 2020, I even brushed up a bit on Google Analytics. The data comes from the period 1.07.2019 \u00f7 30.06.2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I published as many as 25 blog posts in 2019.<\/strong> I\u2019m still sticking to one post every two weeks, on Wednesdays at 20:00. For now, I don\u2019t want to change that. I think it\u2019s the right interval between posts\u2014enough time for me to prepare new materials. Although for more difficult topics, sometimes I\u2019d prefer to have a bit more time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Users<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the second year of the blog\u2019s operation almost 21 thousand people visited me!<\/strong> More than double growth (+130%) compared to the previous year. It\u2019s becoming a really nice number, and the trend is still upward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All users visited a total of 81 thousand pages<\/strong>. That gives 3.75 pages \/ user<\/strong>. A better result than last year by 0.65 pages \/ user. There are more materials to read, so readers read more. I\u2019ve currently improved the suggestion of subsequent articles, so this result should improve even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, the average session duration<\/strong> improved. Last year it was 2 minutes 30 seconds<\/strong>, at the same time increasing by 40 seconds compared to the previous period. We have less and less time for everything, and yet people read me more. I\u2019m happy \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n

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The users chart looks like this visually.
\n<\/a>And compared to the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>Most popular posts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is valuable information for me, because thanks to it I know what kind of content interests my readers.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Many people see only the first page. These are probably people who landed on the blog\u2019s home page and didn\u2019t find anything for themselves at first glance. I\u2019ve recently worked a bit on the presentation of the first page. Maybe it will be better \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the top, as you can see, there are topics typical for beginners.<\/strong> Which IDE to choose<\/a>, how to get started with STM32<\/a>, why STM32 at all<\/a>. From less philosophical content\u2014basic components like LCD<\/a>, addressable LEDs<\/a>, or the BlackPill board<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without a doubt, the winner here is handling the classic 2\u00d716 character LCD<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking a quick look at the second ten, it\u2019s similar\u2014mainly basic components used when learning programming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mainly revolve on the blog around showing how to program such things, so I think the direction is pretty good. One day, however, these chips will run out, but I hope my ideas won\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a big TO DO list in my notebook \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Achievements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Original evaluation boards from ST have just appeared in the store! <\/strong>I finally managed to make it happen. Many people asked me about these boards. Right now there are a few types of Nucleo. More kits will appear gradually. Just like with developing the store, I finance everything from my own capital, so the development is slower than faster \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n

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As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, a major achievement is the consistency of published posts.<\/strong> Unchanged for two years, every two weeks on Wednesdays at 20:00 a new article comes out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe it\u2019s not related to the blog, but I became a co-organizer of Gda\u0144sk Embedded Meetup<\/a>.<\/strong> Currently, due to the pandemic, meetings have been suspended, but I can\u2019t wait for the return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was a speaker at Arduino & Raspberry Pi Day 2020<\/a>.<\/strong> My first time \u201con stage.\u201d True, online, but it\u2019s something. Next time maybe it will be in front of an audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our STM32 Polska Facebook group<\/a> has doubled!<\/strong> At the time of writing the post it\u2019s 1441 people. Additionally, I launched a Discord server<\/a> for this very group. There are many smart and active people in the group. Beginners can also feel comfortable, because the experienced folks don\u2019t bite \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Failures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not everything worked out the way I planned. Maybe I plan too much \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t manage to continue the VLOG.<\/strong> Editing takes a terribly long time, so I gave up \ud83d\ude41 Instead, I do a bit more Insta Story \u2013 private IG<\/a>, and electronics IG<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also didn\u2019t start YouTube or LIVE<\/strong> on it. It\u2019s still hanging on my to-do list, so the plan has only shifted. Once I start, I\u2019ll probably stick to it rigidly like with the blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t release the STM32 Course for beginners<\/a> (content delivered in Polish) in 2019. <\/strong>I started work intensively, but reality verified my ideas about such a course. I have a huge amount of work on it! It will probably appear right after the holidays \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plans for the next year<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Course, course, course!<\/strong> Priority number 1. It must be released in 2020, period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YouTube<\/strong>. I already have a topic for the first LIVE, which came up after my appearance at Arduino Day. Additionally, on LIVE I want to tackle things with viewers\u2014for example new boards from ST, and I have quite a few of them in my cabinet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not planning more\u2014better not. Of course, besides that I still intend to stick to systematically publishing content and carrying out my mission of teaching beginners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONTEST<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To wrap up, a birthday contest. I\u2019d like to somehow thank you for reading me. Unfortunately, I can\u2019t give something to each of you individually, but I can organize a contest ?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the LCD topic was the most popular last year, I have 3 sets of such displays to give away<\/strong>. Each set is 3 colors: green, black, and blue.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The rules are the same as last year:<\/p>\n\n\n\n