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As a software engineer with 2+ decades in the field, this always is a worry in the back of my mind. I excel at and enjoy programming. I always have since I fi

As a software engineer with 2+ decades in the field, this always is a worry in the back of my mind. I excel at and enjoy programming. I always have since I first learned on a PcJr. I have been a Team Lead, Software Architect and other roles but I would like to stay employed as an IC as long as I still enjoy it. Ageism is a thing. I believe this "personal brand" strategy is the way forward. While it may be possible to pull off a jaded, "I've seen some shit", "get off my lawn" attitude, it will probably make everything more difficult. I try to keep a positive attitude and avoid being the guy nobody wants to work with. This, combined with a mountain of experience, will hopefully keep me gainfully employed so long as I still want to be.

everdrive 5y ago
>I believe this "personal brand" strategy is the way forward. I think I'd just rather make less money. It's not just that I dislike selling myself. I actively cannot respect people who are taken in by such an approach.
- Veen 5y ago
  If you prefer to reframe away from the bullshit marketing language, you can think of "personal brand" in terms of integrity, conscientiousness, and reliability. These are virtues that make you valuable.
- EMM_386 5y ago
  I'm not saying to be phoney. I'm just saying I'd rather try to keep a positive attitude and not be miserable to be around, if I can avoid it. I look at each new JavaScript framework, "SQL sucks, no wait, SQL is actually great!" passing trend in the industry now and on some level it can make me miserable. But I try to not let it bog me down and take my whole attitude with it.
- yohannparis 5y ago
  "personal brand" in the context of the article is not about marketing oneself, but how to be a personable, reliable, competent, and helpful colleague. This as nothing to do about trying to get more money, but to have a more stable relationship with your company. To be honest, this is an advice for everyday life, nobody likes a drama queen or a energy vampire around them.
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  Is it that people are taken in or just noticed overall? This was one of my early learnings in the workplace. A small portion of what I do gets noticed and I could just not have done half my work and nobody would have noticed.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  I don't think it's about selling yourself, but rather choosing what impression you'll leave with people. When a new opportunity or problem comes up, do you want to be the engineer that many people dread talking it over with? Or do you want to be the engineer that makes people (at least slightly) excited to discuss something with? Do you want to be known as the engineer who sucks energy out of the room in brainstorming sessions, or the one who can help the group "see around corners" either from your personal insight or from fostering a sense of directed curiosity within the group? You're right that it's not necessarily the best programmers who create the most value/make the most money for themselves, but I don't think the counter position is "you have to become a giant phony and sell yourself".
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
    - sokoloff 5y ago
      As used in the article, personal brand is a lot closer to your first paragraph than to snake-oil peddling. > Personal brand also works like that. When you work on a project, even a crappy project, your personal brand is on display for all potential shoppers to see. And even when everything is going south, others will notice which people are easy to work with, which people can be relied upon to do what they said they would do, and which people consistently produce a quality result.
- ThrowawayR2 5y ago
  "Personal brand" isn't some kind of con. It is defining and letting people know who you are as a professional, both good and bad. There's no falsity in that (unless you're deliberately trying to hide a trait that others won't like); if anything, it helps others fit in with you and your managers find a place where you'll function best.
toast0 5y ago
> While it may be possible to pull off a jaded, "I've seen some shit", "get off my lawn" attitude, it will probably make everything more difficult. My boss/CEO once told me "You can't have this shitty attitude if your stuff doesn't work" (or something similar)... I made sure my stuff worked after that. Although, my attitude was really only bad with him, IMHO; everyone else seemed to think I was nice to work with.
- belval 5y ago
  This is the equivalent of "you're not pretty enough to be this dumb" for software engineering. It's a hard to picture a situation where that's the right thing to say though. Unless you were exceptionally insufferable.
  - toast0 5y ago
    The direct trigger was, servers were on fire, for the third day in a row (approx 30-60 minutes of bad service the previous two days), I was frantically trying to figure out why, he came over my shoulder and asked "what's going on with the servers?" I told him "if I knew what was going on, it wouldn't be going on". Had a meeting later in the day where the earlier quoted statement. Certainly some back and forth earlier there, I wouldn't argue that I didn't have a shitty attitude with him. Being charitable, he had an aggressive management style that I didn't apprechiate, and as a mostly autonomous worker, I chose not to do a fair number of the tasks he wanted me to do. Otherwise, my stuff tended to be at least as reliable as the rest of the system, except my stuff relied on external services / user input.
- stavros 5y ago
  At least he can't say you picked the easier of the two options!

everdrive 5y ago

>I believe this "personal brand" strategy is the way forward. I think I'd just rather make less money. It's not just that I dislike selling myself. I actively cannot respect people who are taken in by such an approach.

Veen 5y ago
If you prefer to reframe away from the bullshit marketing language, you can think of "personal brand" in terms of integrity, conscientiousness, and reliability. These are virtues that make you valuable.
EMM_386 5y ago
I'm not saying to be phoney. I'm just saying I'd rather try to keep a positive attitude and not be miserable to be around, if I can avoid it. I look at each new JavaScript framework, "SQL sucks, no wait, SQL is actually great!" passing trend in the industry now and on some level it can make me miserable. But I try to not let it bog me down and take my whole attitude with it.
yohannparis 5y ago
"personal brand" in the context of the article is not about marketing oneself, but how to be a personable, reliable, competent, and helpful colleague. This as nothing to do about trying to get more money, but to have a more stable relationship with your company. To be honest, this is an advice for everyday life, nobody likes a drama queen or a energy vampire around them.
MattGaiser 5y ago
Is it that people are taken in or just noticed overall? This was one of my early learnings in the workplace. A small portion of what I do gets noticed and I could just not have done half my work and nobody would have noticed.
sokoloff 5y ago
I don't think it's about selling yourself, but rather choosing what impression you'll leave with people. When a new opportunity or problem comes up, do you want to be the engineer that many people dread talking it over with? Or do you want to be the engineer that makes people (at least slightly) excited to discuss something with? Do you want to be known as the engineer who sucks energy out of the room in brainstorming sessions, or the one who can help the group "see around corners" either from your personal insight or from fostering a sense of directed curiosity within the group? You're right that it's not necessarily the best programmers who create the most value/make the most money for themselves, but I don't think the counter position is "you have to become a giant phony and sell yourself".
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    As used in the article, personal brand is a lot closer to your first paragraph than to snake-oil peddling. > Personal brand also works like that. When you work on a project, even a crappy project, your personal brand is on display for all potential shoppers to see. And even when everything is going south, others will notice which people are easy to work with, which people can be relied upon to do what they said they would do, and which people consistently produce a quality result.
ThrowawayR2 5y ago
"Personal brand" isn't some kind of con. It is defining and letting people know who you are as a professional, both good and bad. There's no falsity in that (unless you're deliberately trying to hide a trait that others won't like); if anything, it helps others fit in with you and your managers find a place where you'll function best.

toast0 5y ago

> While it may be possible to pull off a jaded, "I've seen some shit", "get off my lawn" attitude, it will probably make everything more difficult. My boss/CEO once told me "You can't have this shitty attitude if your stuff doesn't work" (or something similar)... I made sure my stuff worked after that. Although, my attitude was really only bad with him, IMHO; everyone else seemed to think I was nice to work with.

belval 5y ago
This is the equivalent of "you're not pretty enough to be this dumb" for software engineering. It's a hard to picture a situation where that's the right thing to say though. Unless you were exceptionally insufferable.
- toast0 5y ago
  The direct trigger was, servers were on fire, for the third day in a row (approx 30-60 minutes of bad service the previous two days), I was frantically trying to figure out why, he came over my shoulder and asked "what's going on with the servers?" I told him "if I knew what was going on, it wouldn't be going on". Had a meeting later in the day where the earlier quoted statement. Certainly some back and forth earlier there, I wouldn't argue that I didn't have a shitty attitude with him. Being charitable, he had an aggressive management style that I didn't apprechiate, and as a mostly autonomous worker, I chose not to do a fair number of the tasks he wanted me to do. Otherwise, my stuff tended to be at least as reliable as the rest of the system, except my stuff relied on external services / user input.
stavros 5y ago
At least he can't say you picked the easier of the two options!