MC-Guide

Content Writing

Website 149: semaphore.io

How Can You Earn Money Writing For “semaphore.io” Website

This guide shows you, step by step, how a beginner can learn to pitch and sell stories to semaphore.io

You will learn what semaphore.io wants, how to test your idea, how to write a pitch, and how payment roughly works. You can use this like a small SOP.

Semaphore — CI/CD Blog

Semaphore · Contributor Snapshot

Pay: historically up to $200 per tutorial (confirm current policy) Style: Practical CI/CD tutorials & DevOps explainers Sections: CI/CD · Testing · Automation · DevOps · Tooling Audience: developers, SREs, engineering leads Difficulty: Beginner–Advanced

Ideal for step-by-step tutorials, real pipeline examples, best practices, and case studies that help teams ship faster and safer.

Technical Writing · 04 Beginner Friendly Target: Semaphore.io

Guide: How to Get Paid to Write for Semaphore (Step by Step)

This detailed guide shows you, in plain language, how you can research, plan, write, and pitch high-quality CI/CD and DevOps tutorials to Semaphore — and how to turn those pieces into paid work and portfolio wins.

You will learn what the Semaphore blog values, how to choose a productive topic, how to build demos and reproducible pipelines, how to craft a tight pitch, what the historical payment picture looks like, and how to keep editors happy.

Section 1 · Understand the publication

What Semaphore actually publishes and why it matters for your pitch

Semaphore (often called Semaphore CI) publishes tutorials, explainers, and case studies about continuous integration, continuous delivery (CI/CD), testing, automation, deployment strategies, and tools that make teams ship faster and safer.

In short: they want practical, reproducible, technical writeups that help engineers solve real problems in build/test/deploy pipelines. Their audience ranges from junior developers learning CI basics to senior SREs and engineering managers exploring pipeline design patterns.

Semaphore’s public contributor guidance and tutorial pages make this clear — they prefer posts that include working examples (repositories, pipeline YAMLs, or live demos), clear commands, and a problem -> solution narrative. See the official contributor guidance linked in the resources section below.

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What counts as a good Semaphore tutorial?

Strong Semaphore pieces usually fit into one of these buckets:

Step-by-step pipeline tutorials that show how to configure CI for frameworks (Node, Python, Go, Ruby) or platforms (Docker, Kubernetes).
Testing & quality guides (unit tests, integration tests, flaky test handling, test parallelism).
Performance & scaling for pipelines (parallelism, caches, matrix builds).
Tool integrations (GitHub Actions, Terraform, Docker, Helm, monitoring, secrets management).
DevOps culture, workflows & case studies (branching strategy, rollbacks, blue-green deploys, canary releases).

Ask: “After reading this, can the reader reproduce my pipeline and ship the same artifact?” If yes, you’re on the right track.

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Who is the Semaphore reader?

Their readers are typically:

Developers and DevOps engineers who manage builds and deployments.
Engineers who like copy-paste examples — CI config, commands, and repo links.
People who want trustworthy, tested, and repeatable steps.

Your article should feel useful, exact, and reproducible — with a repo, pipeline config, and a short explanation of why you chose each step.

Article type	Area	Depth	Best use
CI pipeline walkthrough	CI/CD	Code + pipeline YAMLs + demo	Teach how to build a repeatable pipeline for a stack
Tool integration	Automation & tooling	Step-by-step, config, scripts	Show how tools communicate and deploy reliably
Testing strategy	Testing	Examples, speed tradeoffs, parallelism	Help teams reduce flakiness and shorten build times
Case study / postmortem	Process & culture	Story + measurements	Explain decisions, failures, and what changed

Tip: Open these in new tabs: Semaphore Blog, How to write an article for the Semaphore community, and example articles showing pipelines in action (links in resources).

Section 2 · Fit your idea

Is your idea a Semaphore-shaped idea?

Good Semaphore ideas start with a concrete problem or repeatable pattern that engineers will copy into their repositories. Instead of “I want to write about Docker,” narrow it down to “How to parallelize tests in Docker-based Node projects on Semaphore”.

Use these checks to shape your idea so it matches what the blog and editors look for.

Check 1

Does it solve a specific engineer task?

Example: “Reduce CI time for Rails apps by running database migrations in parallel” is better than “Speed up Rails tests” — it names the task, the target, and implies a measurable outcome.

Check 2

Is the angle novel or actionable?

If the exact topic exists on the Semaphore blog already, find a new angle: compare two approaches, show a migration path, or bring updated tooling (e.g., new GitHub Actions + Semaphore hybrid flows).

Check 3

Can you make reproducible artifacts?

Editors and readers love links to a GitHub repo, a runnable example, or a pipeline YAML. If you can include those, your article becomes far more valuable.

Exercise: Write a one-sentence value proposition starting with “This article shows you how to…”. If the sentence ends with a clear, replicable result (e.g., “…cut CI time by 40% on a Node monorepo”), you’re ready to move on.

Section 3 · Prepare yourself

Build a small technical base before pitching Semaphore

Semaphore values tested examples and clean writing. If you are just starting to write technical tutorials, build a small ladder of samples before you pitch their editors.

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Step 1 · Publish 3–5 strong samples

Write detailed tutorials on your own blog, Dev.to, or Medium.
Include repository links, pipeline YAMLs, and reproducible commands.
Link to external docs and make the setup steps explicit (versions, env vars, secrets handling).

Samples show editors you can finish a piece and that your instructions work in another person’s environment.

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Step 2 · Study Semaphore’s style

Read the official guidance: How to write an article for the Semaphore community.
Pick 3–5 recent Semaphore posts in your topic and break them into outline chunks (intro, prerequisites, steps, results, conclusion).
Notice how they present pipeline config, where they explain tradeoffs, and how they provide repo links.

When you pitch, your outline will feel familiar to editors and easier to accept.

Step	Where	Main goal
Start	Your blog / Dev.to / Medium	Practice reproducible tutorials with repo + pipeline examples
Middle	Smaller tech blogs or community sites	Collect clips and learn to work with editors
Higher	Semaphore & major outlets	Create flagship technical pieces and reference guides

Pro tip: If your sample uses Semaphore platform features, include a short note explaining “how this would look on other CI systems” — that expands the audience and shows editorial thoughtfulness.

Section 4 · Practical workflow

Step-by-step Semaphore pitch plan (for beginners)

This workflow is a repeatable SOP you can reuse for other developer publications as well.

Step 1

Read Semaphore’s contributor guidance closely

Start with the official tutorial guide: How to write an article for the Semaphore community. Take notes on their recommended structure, expectations for code, and final formatting tips.

Step 2

Pick a specific problem and audience

Write one sentence: “This tutorial helps [role] do [task] using [stack].” Examples:

“This tutorial helps frontend engineers set up parallel test suites in Semaphore for a React monorepo.”
“This tutorial helps backend teams deploy Docker images to Kubernetes using Semaphore pipelines and Helm charts.”

Step 3

Draft a full outline + reproducible repo

Outline should include:

Problem: describe the real pain or gap.
Prerequisites: Node version, OS, CLI tools.
Steps: numbered actions, commands, config blocks.
Results: CI run outputs, timings, screenshots.
Repo: public GitHub URL with tags/branches for readers to clone.

Editors like a single-repo approach where each step of the article maps to a commit or branch — that makes verification faster.

Step 4

Write a complete sample outside Semaphore first

Publish the full tutorial on Dev.to, your blog, or a community site. Make sure it is runnable, has screenshots, and includes the repo. This becomes your sample link for the pitch.

Step 5

Send a clear pitch (or use their contributor contact)

Use the contributor contact method listed on the Semaphore tutorial guide. Your pitch should include:

Short bio (who you are and why you can write this).
One-sentence idea + 4–6 bullet outline.
Link to a full sample article and the demo repo.
Optional: screenshots or a short video of the pipeline in action.

Step 6

Working with editors and iterating

If accepted, expect at least one round of technical edits and a copy edit. Be ready to run the final steps and update the repo if editors or readers find issues. Use the edit to improve clarity: add commands, shorten paragraphs, and annotate code blocks.

Section 5 · Money side

How you can (historically) earn and how to negotiate

Semaphore historically ran a “Get Paid to Write Tutorials” program offering up to $200 per tutorial (see their 2015 post). However, that program page also includes a note that writing engagements may no longer be offered in the same way — so treat historical pay figures as a guide, not a guarantee. Always confirm the current policy with the editor or contributor contact listed on their community page.

If you want to earn directly from a platform like Semaphore, three common routes exist:

Paid tutorial programs: occasional calls for authors with fixed fees (historical).
Commissioned pieces: editors may offer a paid assignment if your idea matches a content need.
Indirect earnings: use the semaphore byline to attract freelance clients, consulting, or paid talks.

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What you might receive

One-time payment for an article (if offered — confirm in writing).
Professional editing and publishing support.
Promotion through the Semaphore blog, newsletter, and social channels.
A public byline that builds your portfolio and trust as an expert.

Treat initial posts as a way to build a portfolio; later you can negotiate higher fees or request commissioned work if your pieces perform well.

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Simple negotiation tips

Ask for a clear fee and payment terms up-front before you start serious work.
If asked to write a multi-part series, request a per-post fee or a package rate.
Keep receipts of your time and value: include the hours for research, building demos, and responding to edits.

If an editor cannot offer money, ask about other benefits (promoted placement, newsletter spot, or a longer-form series) to ensure your time is well spent.

Type of piece	Historical pay picture*	Strategy for you
Short tutorial (basic pipeline)	Lower end (if paid)	Good first piece to learn process and gain an editorial relationship
Deep, multi-step tutorial	Mid range (if paid)	Show serious demos and repo — this is a flagship portfolio piece
Series or book-adjacent work	Negotiated	Propose a package with clear milestones and deliverables

*Historical figures included for orientation. Always confirm current policies with Semaphore’s contributor or editorial contacts before depending on payment.

Section 6 · Ethics & reproducibility

Honesty, AI use, reproducibility, and safe CI practices

Semaphore and its readers expect work that is verifiable. That means repo links that build, accurate commands, and no made-up performance numbers. If you use AI tools to draft prose, run and verify every code snippet yourself — you are the author, and your name is attached to every example.

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What you must not do

Do not submit AI-generated or placeholder pipelines without testing.
Do not copy other tutorials without attribution and permission.
Do not publish credentials, secrets, or unredacted tokens in repo/demo code.
Do not claim benchmarks or uptime numbers you cannot back up.

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Safer ways to use helpers

Use AI to brainstorm section headings and editing suggestions, then rewrite in your voice.
Use CI to run your own tests on pull requests and include the passing badges/show pipeline output in the article.
Remove any secrets and provide a sanitized example or environment variables file (.env.example).

Final rule: you must be comfortable defending each step in a live technical review or PR comment.

Golden rule: if you would not be comfortable running the tutorial in front of a colleague, add one more round of testing before you submit.

Section 7 · Micro-SOP

Final checklist, templates, and pitch examples before you submit

Use this checklist every time you pitch. It keeps your work professional and reduces friction with editors.

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Sample pitch — short (email or form)

Subject: Tutorial pitch: “Parallelize Jest tests in a React monorepo with Semaphore”

Bio: I’m Jane Doe, a frontend engineer who maintains a React monorepo at Acme. I build CI pipelines and optimize test parallelism.

Pitch: This tutorial shows how to split and parallelize Jest tests across Semaphore workers to cut CI time by 40% on medium-size monorepos. It includes a public repo, pipeline YAML, and benchmark notes.

Outline:

Intro: problem + goals
Prereqs + repo link
Pipeline setup: YAML & worker config
Split tests: strategies & code
Results & timings
Wrap-up & next steps

Links: sample article (published), repo link, screenshot of run. Thanks for considering — happy to adapt the outline for your readers.

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Sample pitch — long (detailed outline)

Use this when the form allows longer text. Expand each outline bullet into 2–4 lines explaining what you will show, the commands you will use, and the expected outputs.

Include a short timeline for drafts and expected review cycles (for example: draft in 3 weeks, final in 2 weeks after edits).

Section 8 · Quick answers & resources

FAQ: Beginner questions about writing for Semaphore

Can a complete beginner write for Semaphore?

Semaphore expects reproducible examples and working code. If you are brand new, start by writing tutorials on Dev.to or your blog and practice making reproducible repos. Once you have 3–5 strong samples, aim for a contributor pitch.

Does Semaphore still pay authors?

Semaphore historically ran paid tutorial programs (up to about $200 in older posts). Policies change; check the contributor guide and contact the editorial team for the current position. Don’t assume payment — use contributions to build a portfolio and negotiate commissions when you have traction.

Do I need a Semaphore account to write a tutorial?

No — you can write a tutorial that uses any CI system. But having a free Semaphore account to test your pipeline and to capture real run screenshots helps a lot. Provide clean sanitized outputs in your article.

How long should my article be?

Aim for 1500–3000 words for a full tutorial with commands, screenshots, and a repo. For deeper multi-part tutorials, a series may be better than a single massive post. Clarity and reproducibility matter more than raw length.

Official and helpful resources