{"id":4313,"date":"2019-07-10T20:00:24","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T18:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/msalamon.pl\/?p=4313"},"modified":"2025-12-27T19:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T18:28:10","slug":"happy-birthday-msalamon-pls-first-year-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/msalamon.pl\/en\/happy-birthday-msalamon-pls-first-year-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy birthday! msalamon.pl’s first year! + CONTEST"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It happened. The first year since I started the blog has passed! This is a perfect opportunity to sum up what I managed to achieve over this year and what I plan for the coming year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

First of all, I want to thank you. Without you, this small success wouldn\u2019t be possible because I wouldn\u2019t have anyone to write for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why I write<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The idea to write came up when I was changing jobs. At that time, I had nothing to stand out with on the market, so my CV looked like almost anyone\u2019s with a few years of experience. It was dry and boring. The only thing that could catch the eye and break away from the monotony were press articles I had written in the past. They were always a reason for an interesting conversation during recruitment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, I got the job, but I thought I still needed a differentiator. Since other engineers were so interested in the way I write, it made sense to do something in that direction. I didn\u2019t necessarily want to write press articles. It just so happened that exactly a year ago I was reading Micha\u0142 Szafra\u0144ski\u2019s book \u201cZaufanie, czyli waluta przysz\u0142o\u015bci. Moja droga od zera do 7 milion\u00f3w z bloga,\u201d and that book pushed me to start a blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still had to choose a topic. I generally deal with electronics and programming. There are tons of sites with DIY projects. Besides admiring the results, I don\u2019t see much value in such articles. I also didn\u2019t want to do what everyone else does. That\u2019s why writing about Arduino was out from the start. Besides, my engineer\u2019s spirit wouldn\u2019t let me, hehe \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While preparing for the job change, I was training intensively in microcontroller programming. I chose STM32 because they are popular and 32-bit. Looking for materials on them, I was disappointed. At that time there were few interesting places on the Polish internet that explained how to approach these great chips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I can write detailed descriptions and explain things, I decided to write specifically about STM32. In addition, I wanted to help beginners, and that\u2019s what\u2019s happening. My articles are dedicated to everyone starting their adventure with STM32.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some numbers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first post<\/a> was published on 11.07.2018<\/strong>. For convenience, I\u2019ll count from 1.07.2018 to 30.06.2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Users<\/h3>\n\n\n
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I\u2019m not an Analytics expert, so in the first days I accidentally inflated my own views. Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t have a big impact on the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the beginning of the blog, I\u2019ve had 9100 unique users<\/strong> visit. That\u2019s a lot!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These users generated 28240 page views<\/strong> across different pages, which is about 3 pages per person. Readers like to check out a few pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On my site, people spend on average just under two minutes<\/strong>. Quite good, considering that nowadays long posts are rarely read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You probably see that spike in November 2018. That\u2019s not a lack of interest in my site. Unfortunately, I accidentally disabled the Google Analytics plugin on the blog\u2026 For almost a month I didn\u2019t monitor traffic on the site \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most popular posts<\/h3>\n\n\n
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The most popular is\u2026 the homepage \ud83d\ude42 Apparently most people scan what I have and don\u2019t quite decide to read on. A pity, because they\u2019re missing a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second place is interesting to me because it\u2019s not directly about STM32, but about designing enclosures for displays<\/strong>. It\u2019s probably so popular because it\u2019s a topic hardly anyone talks about, yet it\u2019s incredibly important for the aesthetics of the devices we build. If you don\u2019t know it yet, be sure to check it out. Never do this with a display!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next post is a review of a book for beginners<\/a><\/strong>. This shows me how important the audience taking their first steps with STM32 is to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From this list, it\u2019s worth noting positions 6 and 8. They are among the newer posts and have already ranked very high in the yearly summary. Both articles were written with beginners in mind<\/strong>, which further emphasizes what I should focus on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key achievements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The mere fact that the blog runs is not my only achievement. I managed to maintain the planned posting frequency<\/strong>. It\u2019s every other Wednesday at 20:00. I didn\u2019t miss a single post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second success was opening a store<\/strong><\/a>. I sell parts there that I discuss on the blog as well as those that are useful on an electronics workbench. I\u2019m gradually expanding my offer. I\u2019d be grateful for suggestions on what else I can put in stock. I opened it with the idea of financing the parts I have to buy to produce my posts<\/strong>. Some of my readers place orders, for which I want to say a big thank you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I managed to build a very nice Facebook group<\/strong> STM32 Polska<\/a>. It currently has 775 members. I\u2019m very happy with it. There\u2019s no shortage of people willing to help. I sometimes ask questions myself. Beginners ask questions in a polite and orderly way. It\u2019s clear how to help them and everyone is satisfied. Keep it up, group!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tested myself as a video host. It was admittedly a short VLOG series, but now I know I\u2019m able to talk to the camera. You\u2019ll find it on my personal channel<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

It\u2019s a good habit to plan. Next year I intend to keep up the pace of publishing articles. It will still be every other Wednesday at 20:00<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d like to continue the VLOG. Maybe not daily, but from time to time I\u2019d share something interesting and valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d like to start recording on YouTube. Today\u2019s world revolves around video, so it would be good to take advantage of that. How about doing a LIVE as well? For example, building some little device? Be sure to let me know in the comments \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, I want to write as much content useful to beginners as possible. My goal is to help!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently I announced that I\u2019m creating an STM32 course for beginners<\/strong> (content in Polish). Work has already started and I want to finish it in 2019. It would be best if it came out in October. I recommend joining the waiting list<\/strong> (content in Polish). We\u2019re discussing there what the course should look like.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Contest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There won\u2019t be a separate summary today because this entire post is a summary. Instead, I\u2019d like to thank you in some way for reading me. Unfortunately, I can\u2019t give something to everyone individually, but I can organize a contest \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can win 16\u00d72 LCD displays. There will be 3 sets of displays: green<\/a>, black<\/a> and blue<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you need to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n