4 ms·

Personal branding guide: Software engineer edition

44 points by cebert 3y ago

cebert 3y ago
I have a goal to start blogging this year for personal branding. I don't even care if people follow it or find it interesting. I see it as a great way of improving writing skills and highlighting skills you have publicly.
- jamietanna 3y ago
  Nice blogging has seriously helped my career, even without the fact that other people find the posts useful, so look forward to the impact it has over the years for you
- layer8 3y ago
  > for personal branding. I don't even care if people follow it or find it interesting. That seems like a contradiction.
- krembo 3y ago
  Use ChatGPT and join the worst era in history for the written word, where people feel like they "must blog" but actually adding up to the enormous content dumpster that's out there.
flax 3y ago
Thanks, I hate it. I got into computer science, and then tech/programming because I was good at it, and it seemed to promise to minimize the amount of social/political bullshit to deal with. Now, like the rest of the internet, it's been corrupted by attention-seeking look-at-me extroverts. I don't want a brand. I don't want to _think_ about a brand.
- avgDev 3y ago
  Pretty much. I like hacking away. Writing code, configuring stuff, figuring out obscure bugs. I reached a point as a fullstack dev where I could build a complete app, deploy it and maintain it. But now I feel like I need to market myself. I also hate it. I worked with someone who was a lot less technical than me. Would get stuck for days on bugs I would fix in 15 minutes by just doing a few googles searches. What he was better at is marketing. He paid someone to write his resume. Paid someone to "reimagine" his linked in. He landed a 50% increase by moving companies. I guess paying someone to improve your resume and linkedin is a good idea. Starting a blog, having social accounts, etc. also seems like something one should to do to maximize their earning potential.
- infinitezest 3y ago
  To be fair, personal branding appears to be Polywork's whole deal. I tried it out for a bit but in the end, it just wasn't useful for me.
ashton314 3y ago
I hate everything about this. This is like a marketing first, substance later approach. Yes, it is important to be discoverable and your work accessible, but those are things that follow from quality work. Moreover, you should do side projects because they’re interesting to you—picking a project because you think it will boost your social clout is a gross inversion of priorities.

44 points by cebert 3y ago

I have a goal to start blogging this year for personal branding. I don't even care if people follow it or find it interesting. I see it as a great way of improving writing skills and highlighting skills you have publicly.

jamietanna 3y ago
Nice blogging has seriously helped my career, even without the fact that other people find the posts useful, so look forward to the impact it has over the years for you
layer8 3y ago
> for personal branding. I don't even care if people follow it or find it interesting. That seems like a contradiction.
krembo 3y ago
Use ChatGPT and join the worst era in history for the written word, where people feel like they "must blog" but actually adding up to the enormous content dumpster that's out there.

flax 3y ago

Thanks, I hate it. I got into computer science, and then tech/programming because I was good at it, and it seemed to promise to minimize the amount of social/political bullshit to deal with. Now, like the rest of the internet, it's been corrupted by attention-seeking look-at-me extroverts. I don't want a brand. I don't want to _think_ about a brand.

avgDev 3y ago
Pretty much. I like hacking away. Writing code, configuring stuff, figuring out obscure bugs. I reached a point as a fullstack dev where I could build a complete app, deploy it and maintain it. But now I feel like I need to market myself. I also hate it. I worked with someone who was a lot less technical than me. Would get stuck for days on bugs I would fix in 15 minutes by just doing a few googles searches. What he was better at is marketing. He paid someone to write his resume. Paid someone to "reimagine" his linked in. He landed a 50% increase by moving companies. I guess paying someone to improve your resume and linkedin is a good idea. Starting a blog, having social accounts, etc. also seems like something one should to do to maximize their earning potential.
infinitezest 3y ago
To be fair, personal branding appears to be Polywork's whole deal. I tried it out for a bit but in the end, it just wasn't useful for me.

ashton314 3y ago

I hate everything about this. This is like a marketing first, substance later approach. Yes, it is important to be discoverable and your work accessible, but those are things that follow from quality work. Moreover, you should do side projects because they’re interesting to you—picking a project because you think it will boost your social clout is a gross inversion of priorities.