I've had a highly successful career so far (though I'm only in my mid 30's) without maintaining any significant online presence. My HN profile is probably the

I've had a highly successful career so far (though I'm only in my mid 30's) without maintaining any significant online presence. My HN profile is probably the only place where you'd find my email address listed. No LinkedIn, no Twitter, and a Github account that is only mentioned if someone wants to vet my work remotely. Granted, it could lead to trouble down the road if I ever seriously wanted to leave Austin, but just keeping good meatspace contacts in the Austin VC community along with a good track record of delivering quality output has allowed me to comfortably enjoy my career and take interesting jobs on my time schedule. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I'd love to think that the bullshit associated with meticulously grooming some social media facade is by no means a prerequisite for a career in software engineering. Obviously being a CEO requires a completely different degree of public visibility, so it's not a comparison to your situation.