Your Personal Brand as a Developer: Implementing (Part 2 of 2)
Guest post by D³: LIVE & INTERACTIVE guest Sue Varty.
Have you done your homework? If not, download the worksheet and read Part 1 – it will help you complete the five steps below to implement your personal brand. Do you see any common threads or themes about what you’re all about in Part 1? This theme is important to keep in mind when you need to be consistent with everything you do online and off. Let’s get to work.
Step 1
Write down your long-term vision for your software development career. Do you want to focus on architecture behind the scenes? Lead a team or become CTO? Do you want to start a developer community around a specific technology? Imagine your retirement party and all of the kind of accomplishments you would like have and write it down.
Step 2
Find out how people describe you. Think about how you introduce others and how they might introduce you. Be straight up – ask some people close to you what they think you are known for. Request some references on LinkedIn. This will give you insight as to what people remember about you and your skills. Is it what you want? Will their descriptions help you achieve your long-term vision?
Step 3
Write three statements about what problems you solve for non-technical people. For example, “I make it easy for our clients to access our software from any mobile device”. Have others read them and provide you with feedback. Which one did they like the most? Adjust your favourite statement or “pitch” accordingly to ensure it fits your long-term vision from step one.
Step 4
Now it's time for a plan of action. You have a long-term vision, you are more aware about how others describe you – plus – you are now armed with statements that help tell the story of what you're all about. Whether it is blogging, participating in social media, writing a book, lighting talks, creating a series of YouTube videos on a topic or interest – what will you do to tell others about your brand? The key is to participate – and participate consistently. Use the themes and topics from Part 1 as a guide to plan what you’re going to talk about.
Step 5
Do it. Use the plan created in Step 4 and showcase your interests and strengths through the channels you selected. By getting your brand “out there” people will start understanding (directly and indirectly) what you are all about. In time, your personal brand will grow. When you position your skills and interests on your terms – you won’t have to work so hard to prove to others you’re perfect for that next role.
Examples: 5 Steps to Implementing Your Personal Brand
| Have a long-term vision about your career management, business – not just about having the latest skill-set or service/product. | Your long-term vision: Become a team lead and eventually a CTO in a start-up or post-start-up focusing on cloud computing/SaaS product.
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| Find out how others describe you. | How do people describe you? “Frank helped me with Azure. He got it done fast - before our target due date.” Look at other’s Twitter lists (categories where they feel you belong). Ask someone to introduce you to someone else or provide a recommendation – what do they say? Is it what you want? | |
| Refine your pitch (or how you introduce yourself) to focus on the “pain points” you solve for others. | What problems can you solve for others? “I can take any website and turn it into a mobile app.” “I streamline our code so people can access our software on any device.” “I’m a developer who also studies web browser accessibility standards to help the blind.” | |
| Develop a plan of execution using traditional and self-publishing channels, such as books, websites, blogging, social media, speaking engagements, workshops. | Plan of Execution (Monthly) Blogging Speaking GitHub | Goal (Yearly) Build a following of experts to generate interest in an open source project you’d like to start. |
| Deploy/establish your expertise (speaking, GitHub, blogging, tips, LinkedIn Groups, StackOverflow Answers, micro-blogging on Facebook, Twitter). | What can you showcase and how/through what channel? Code sharing/fork on GitHub StackOverflow SpeakerDeck | |
Question
Before this blog series, how much of the above did you already have figured out? How much of it did you already have implemented?
Comments?
Share them with myself, Sue, and the larger Canadian developer community – start a conversation in the Canadian Developer Connection group on LinkedIn.
Sue Varty
Susan Varty, Director of Digital Strategy for HeadStart Solutions, is a social media and career development educator, non-traditional marketer, and an established blogger. She spoke recently about Personal Branding at ConFoo, a developer’s conference in Montreal and is the co-founder of HeadStart Social.