As a developer, do you know what you should post on LinkedIn?
One of the most common things developers tell me is that they don’t. And I get it. You open that dialog and the blank screen staring back at you is intimidating.
Because seriously, what are you supposed to say?
Here’s something I’ve noticed after talking with a lot of developers lately: most of you have way more to talk about than you think.
The raw material is already there
- You fixed something this week that took three hours to figure out.
- There’s a technology everyone loves that you don’t think is appropriate for every project.
- You made an architecture decision and had to choose between two imperfect options.
- You screwed something up.
- You learned something.
- You helped a junior developer understand something you’ve known for ten years.
- You pushed back on a requirement because you understood the problem better.
- You inherited code that made you question every decision that led you into software development. (Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything.)
That’s the stuff you should be sharing.
You don’t need to write a tutorial. You don’t need a revolutionary opinion. You don’t need to go viral or become the next thought leader.
You just need to start documenting what being a developer actually looks like.
Because somewhere out there is another developer dealing with the same problem. That I guarantee. An engineering manager who recognizes the way you think. A company dealing with exactly the thing you’ve gotten really good at solving.
They’ll never know any of it if everything you know stays inside your head and your company’s codebase.
A challenge
Before you start work tomorrow, think about one thing you learned, solved, questioned, or changed your mind about last week.
Write five sentences about it.
Post it.
Then go back to being a developer.
You don’t have to create content. You just have to stop hiding your experience.