Season 1 Episode 28

I want to talk about promoting yourself. Why I think you should do that, and some suggestions on how you should do it. Now, let's start with why you should do it.

It's doubtful that you will suddenly be discovered. Now, there could be any number of reasons you want that to happen. Maybe you don't. In which case, great, you should not read this post.

You need to be discovered, and you need to make that happen. Why does that matter? In my case, and I suspect many others, my reputation and public presence have progressed my career from one job to the next.

Okay. I acknowledge there may be a certain amount of luck there. But if I had not been out there promoting myself, and I don't mean promoting in some arrogant way, I mean promoting as if you were a product because you are your product, your skills are your product.

It would've been a lot harder if I hadn't been out there doing it. I would have to have applied to a lot of job positions. I'm here to tell you all the jobs I've had and all the people I've worked with have been because they came to me.

I think it has been maybe 20 years or so, something like that since I last. Applied for a position without them coming to me first. I don't mean that in some big-headed way. I mean to use that to emphasize to you that many of the things I put out there helped make that happen.

People have recommended me or come across my work and want to start a conversation with me. These are the reasons that I think you need to go ahead and promote yourself. You will rarely be discovered. I'm not going to say it won't happen, but if nobody knows where to find you or you are not on the internet posting something somewhere, it will be a lot harder.

Okay. Now, let's get into the details.

First of all, you should network now. Yes, I know. We all stop and go, oh gosh, networking. But networking is different these days than it used to be. Now, let me say, first of all, you cannot beat in-person networking. That face-to-face where people get to see you, get to know you, they can pick up on your intention.

I recommend my post “Why you should not fear the developer technical interview” to accompany this article.

Many of these things don't come across online, so find a group to join where possible. Years ago, I went to a Swift group for a couple of meetings, and then they disbanded, which was a real shame because they were friendly folks. It was great to hang out somewhere, have a coffee, and talk about whatever anyone wanted.

So, in person. It is the number one option. Of course, COVID has made that a lot more difficult. Things are getting better, but you still have to be careful.

Suppose you cannot do it in person or don't feel like that's the thing for you. Okay.

You can go to many places, including creating your own Internet home. I'll get into that later when I talk about creative ways to promote yourself.

You must accept that it will be challenging at first, okay? Especially if, like a lot of developers, you are introverted. It's going to be a problem. It's something you will have to get used to.

The other thing is that if you are starting and don't have a history, that will make it even harder. That's something you can solve. How do you solve that?

There is no magic answer, and you don't solve it overnight. To start, you do what I suggest today.

You start it today. The sooner you start doing these things, the sooner it's out there, and you start building that legacy.

Always remember you are promoting yourself as if you're a product. Be polite to people, even if they're not polite to you, right?

It's not as painful as you imagine it's going to be. Remember, most folks out there want you to succeed, and they will be nice to you, and they're going to want to help you, and they're going to want to help promote you. Just as much as you should want to help them.

That's another thing: be known for helping people.

Don't underestimate yourself; you probably know a lot more than you realize, and I guarantee you, there are things you know that other people don't, and they would be interested in them. Putting yourself out there and putting content out will again help your reputation and help you promote yourself, and people will remember you for it.

This can lead to so many different things. I have seen this lead to invites, like myself and others, onto podcasts, conferences, talks, and so much more. It can also lead to the possibility that people will pay you for what you know.

What are some of the creative ways to start promoting yourself?

I have a few suggestions I will discuss, and I think these are great ways to get started.

First of all, number one is blog posts. Believe it or not, contrary to what the internet wants you to think. Blogging is still very much worth it. We all read them when trying to solve problems or research.

I recommend a two-fold approach. First, you should have a home on the Internet that you control the fate of. So when the next social network fails, you do not have to do anything to save your content.

This is a huge deal. People will get to know where to find you. Make this the place everything else jumps off from—one place to tell folks about regardless of the content type.

This content can also be placed elsewhere, referencing your home as the original canonical post place. This enables you to take advantage of an existing site, such as dev.to, a great developer community.

The other option is to be a guest blogger for someone else. That's happened to me. I've been invited to write on other people's sites.

Discord is another option. I have created DevClub, a Discord server, with some friends, and we are having a blast there. You can click that link to join it.

It is all about a positive attitude. There's no judgment of how good someone is or bullying; we have a zero-tolerance policy, and so far, we have never had to use it. We have folks from all walks of life, experience, and skill levels.

Along with Discord, there are plenty of other places like Slack, Facebook, and many other networks with groups where you can try to find one that works for you.

So think about all these. Yes, they all take time, but I think it's crucial that you put time aside to do this. People must get to know you in these communities. Don't just take from these communities. Give back.

Another option is to get yourself on a podcast or other media. We can make that happen if you want to come on the UIBuzz podcast. I am open to any development topics, and you are more than welcome.

Reach out to me at PeterWitham.com/contact. I would dearly love to talk with folks.

The last one is an example that I do once a week, a live stream. I have a live stream on Twitch. You can go to twitch.tv/Compileswift.

I have a wonderful chat room full of nice friendly and fun folks.

Peter Witham on his live streams

Yes, it was terrifying when I started because I was sitting there thinking, oh my gosh, everybody is judging what I'm doing, and I'm doing terribly.

But you know what? After a while, you realize that's not what this is about. If I base the success of my streaming on how much good code and good work I've done, it would be a failure. But the critical part is when I realized it's about the community. It's about the folks in the chatroom and the folks watching.

At first, no one will be watching. Don't panic! Everyone starts that way. Act as if people are watching. Yes, talking to a camera is weird when no one is watching. Do it anyway because, eventually, there will be folks. Remember, some people prefer to watch replays because they are in different time zones.

The point of a live stream is not only to put out the content but to interact with people. That's what I love, and we have such a great laugh in my chatroom.

On your streaming platform of choice, interact with folks, watch other people's streams, get involved in their chat rooms, and be a part of their community.

I hope this has been helpful. I wanted to give you some ideas you can use today.

I hope this inspires you. Be inspired to do this. Give it a try. If you do any of these things, Reach out to me. I would love to visit your content.

If you would like further thoughts and tips on marketing skillfully, I suggest my post and Podcast episode ‘Doing the uncomfortable marketing and conversion politely.‘