Why Even Successful Software Engineers Need Personal Branding

How to Build Your Personal Brand

Creating a brand for yourself might feel like a lot of work. Work which, quite frankly, you don’t have time for. However, creating your own personal brand doesn’t have to take a ton of time. The best way forward is just to start where you are by answering these simple questions:

• Who are you?
• Where do you come from?
• What are your values?
• Why do you do the work that you do?
• What are some of your strongest job-related beliefs?
• Can technology be a force for change in the world?
• What inspired you to pursue a career in tech?

There are no right or wrong answers. You want to end up with everything that feels right on that piece of paper. Then think about how that sets you apart from other developers. What on that list makes you particularly suited for your next opportunity? And how can you communicate that to others?

After this evaluation, you can move to the next step, which is your communication strategy.

Communicating Your Personal Brand

Once you know what your brand is, it’s time to spread the word. Luckily, the tech industry offers many tools that help you make a name for yourself among your peers. Here are some ideas:

• GitHub: Take some time creating a GitHub page that highlights you and your work. Be sure to make your contributions visible. If you have time, contributing to open-source projects is a great way to show how community-minded you are.
• LinkedIn: Complete your LinkedIn profile with current and relevant work experiences. Follow people in your industry and comment on their posts. Share news and your thoughts on industry-related topics to make your viewpoint public.
• Twitter: Use Twitter and other social media sites to spread the word about your accomplishments, ask and give help about tricky programming issues, connect with other people in your industry and share interesting posts on relevant topics.
• Personal Website: Create a simple website with your bio and your expertise. Highlight why and for what reasons people should reach out to you. Your future colleagues will be impressed to find their future leader online with an overview of what they believe in and the projects they contribute to.
• Blog: Start your own blog or Medium column — or contribute to well-known tech blogs in your industry.
• Speak at Conferences: Submit papers to calls for proposals to see if you are chosen to lead a talk or workshop at an industry conference. This is a great way to make a name for yourself while also bringing in extra income — or at least free travel.
• Network at Conferences: Improve your skills while meeting influential people in your industry. If you find this daunting, an alternative could be attending a hard-core tech event such as hackathons, where there’s less talking there and more working together in small teams.
• Podcasting: Look for an industry podcast where you can volunteer as a guest speaker and share your talents with an audience. You can even consider starting your own podcast!
• YouTube: Create your own YouTube channel where you talk about the industry or teach concepts you understand well. If you’re not ready to start your own channel, consider joining another channel as a guest.
• Kodeco: Apply to write books and articles or create videos for Kodeco. You can share your knowledge with the development community while making a name for yourself.

Remember, the key to your strategy is to remain authentic and truthful to who you are. In the process, you formulate a story or narrative that will make people believe you know what you’re talking about and are the right person for the job.

When to Start Your Personal Branding Journey

Building your personal brand is vital to growing in your career and establishing a thought leadership presence. To build a successful personal brand, you must understand the background of the concept of branding and how it has influenced many of the purchasing, investing and vetting decisions you have made.

That understanding will enable you to relate to the idea of your brand, which is an invaluable way to communicate who you are and what added value you bring to the table.

This critical discovery process becomes more succinct and authentic the more you repeat it to yourself and, most importantly, to those around you. Make sure that you create this narrative with a vision to growing and accelerating your career.

It’s never too early to start, so go ahead and begin that journey now, wherever you are on your career path.

Key Points

• Even if you have a successful career now, personal branding is vital to opening doors for future opportunities.
• Personal branding is the art of creating a narrative around yourself that shows your values surrounding your career, then communicating that narrative to your team, your managers and to others who might offer important opportunities for you to pursue.
• A personal brand consists of:
  • The Person (You): The things that make up who you are in a professional context. Your mission, vision, values, strengths and weaknesses.
  • The Brand: This is made up of a unique name (yours), your image (how you present yourself), your marking campaigns (activities you take part in and share publicly) and your consistency in communicating who you are and what you do.
• There are many tools that allow you to showcase your talent, ranging from a well-written resume on LinkedIn to a mentoring channel on YouTube. Which tools are right for you depends on what you’re trying to showcase and what you feel most comfortable with.
• Whether you are just starting in your development career or you are already a successful senior dev, now is the right time to start your personal branding journey.

• The Person (You): The things that make up who you are in a professional context. Your mission, vision, values, strengths and weaknesses.
• The Brand: This is made up of a unique name (yours), your image (how you present yourself), your marking campaigns (activities you take part in and share publicly) and your consistency in communicating who you are and what you do.