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This goes against everything I was ever taught and everything I believe in. Do what you love. People will take notice. Your skill will improve. Your goal is se

by sebcat 13y ago

This goes against everything I was ever taught and everything I believe in. Do what you love. People will take notice. Your skill will improve. Your goal is self-fulfillment, not becoming more attractive to an employer or marketing yourself as a commodity on a job/freelance market. Pretty sure Mr. Clinton didn't become a president so he could charge the the hourly rate mentioned.

oalders 13y ago
Sure, but Mr. Clinton also knows how to get people to stand up and take notice. You can probably get by on just doing what you love, but the chances of you landing the job that you really love are greatly increased if you make it easy for people to see how much of an asset you really can be.
Legion 13y ago
> Pretty sure Mr. Clinton didn't become a president so he could charge the the hourly rate mentioned. No, but he promoted the hell out of himself to get the job. A great political mind with no self-promotion does not become President.
gamegoblin 13y ago
I fully agree with you. I am a senior in a computer science program. I know a lot of people in the department who I have seen tweaking their resumes and their linkedin pages for hours, and thinking of creative ways to inflate/BS their skills during interviews. They are always trying to contact friends for a "hook up" with some company. Something about this has always weirded me out. I don't have a linkedin, my resume is fairly plain and unexaggerated. I spend my time hobby coding and occasionally posting about my hobby coding on my personal website that, to my knowledge, is only linked to from my HN profile and my StackOverflow profile. I always figured that if I spent time actually developing my skills, rather than spending time thinking of ways to try to take shortcuts around developing skills, things would turn out better in the long run. I am the only one of us with a 6 figure job lined up after graduation (without applying, too).
- phektus 13y ago
  I got touched by this. I used to spend a lot of time coding (already graduated) and never felt the need to do shortcuts on finding gigs. Once I went overseas I got overwhelmed by the old employment culture and suddenly became comfortable and 'recruiter'-friendly. Now I realized that it's not working, and being a well-rounded programmer means spending a lot of time programming outside work while still keeping a balanced lifestyle. Felt good to have finally closed my linkedin account. Can't say the same for fb though :P
acjohnson55 13y ago
If the author of the original post was overly cynical, you're running the risk of being overly naive. Doing great work that you enjoy is critical, but the reality is that you have to build value outside of your technical skills, or you risk limiting your potential opportunities. You don't have to be a narcissistic self-promoter. Just put yourself out there--as you've already done by posting something thoughtful. Be skilled, but also be industrious, authentic, and adventurous. That's my advice anyway.

by sebcat 13y ago

oalders 13y ago

Sure, but Mr. Clinton also knows how to get people to stand up and take notice. You can probably get by on just doing what you love, but the chances of you landing the job that you really love are greatly increased if you make it easy for people to see how much of an asset you really can be.

Legion 13y ago

> Pretty sure Mr. Clinton didn't become a president so he could charge the the hourly rate mentioned. No, but he promoted the hell out of himself to get the job. A great political mind with no self-promotion does not become President.

gamegoblin 13y ago

I fully agree with you. I am a senior in a computer science program. I know a lot of people in the department who I have seen tweaking their resumes and their linkedin pages for hours, and thinking of creative ways to inflate/BS their skills during interviews. They are always trying to contact friends for a "hook up" with some company. Something about this has always weirded me out. I don't have a linkedin, my resume is fairly plain and unexaggerated. I spend my time hobby coding and occasionally posting about my hobby coding on my personal website that, to my knowledge, is only linked to from my HN profile and my StackOverflow profile. I always figured that if I spent time actually developing my skills, rather than spending time thinking of ways to try to take shortcuts around developing skills, things would turn out better in the long run. I am the only one of us with a 6 figure job lined up after graduation (without applying, too).

phektus 13y ago
I got touched by this. I used to spend a lot of time coding (already graduated) and never felt the need to do shortcuts on finding gigs. Once I went overseas I got overwhelmed by the old employment culture and suddenly became comfortable and 'recruiter'-friendly. Now I realized that it's not working, and being a well-rounded programmer means spending a lot of time programming outside work while still keeping a balanced lifestyle. Felt good to have finally closed my linkedin account. Can't say the same for fb though :P

acjohnson55 13y ago

If the author of the original post was overly cynical, you're running the risk of being overly naive. Doing great work that you enjoy is critical, but the reality is that you have to build value outside of your technical skills, or you risk limiting your potential opportunities. You don't have to be a narcissistic self-promoter. Just put yourself out there--as you've already done by posting something thoughtful. Be skilled, but also be industrious, authentic, and adventurous. That's my advice anyway.