{"id":144,"date":"2010-01-12T18:00:20","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T18:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/?p=144"},"modified":"2018-04-12T00:24:46","modified_gmt":"2018-04-12T04:24:46","slug":"selling-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/selling-yourself\/","title":{"rendered":"Selling Yourself: Why? (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know many good developers who are under the impression that they either don’t have to sell themselves, or selling yourself is wrong, but is that really true?<\/p>\n

First, let me clarify by defining what I mean by “selling yourself.” \u00a0I don’t mean “selling out,” I mean marketing yourself, what you’re doing and what your skills are. \u00a0Especially to your organization.<\/p>\n

I don’t need to sell myself, my code speaks for itself.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Really? \u00a0Do you think your pristine code says enough about your skills, especially to a non or semi-technical person? \u00a0Think back about how many products with fancy UIs beat out excellent products with crappy UIs. \u00a0The simple fact of life is that marketing is effective and required. \u00a0Imagine creating a really good product and doing no advertising at all because you think that the product speaks for itself. \u00a0No one will know about how good it is and no one will buy it.<\/p>\n

The only person who can recognize the quality of your code\u00a0is another developer of equal or greater talent. <\/strong>Now I realize that someone of lesser skill may be able to recognize that your code is “good,” because it is easy for them to read and it looks pretty, but just like a connoisseur\u00a0of fine wines can distinguish the small differences that really count, it takes a developer of significant talent to recognize excellent code from good or even great code. \u00a0Being armed with this knowledge, it is easy to see why your code will rarely speak for itself.<\/p>\n

As a professional developer you have to consider your audience. \u00a0Mostly the people influencing your career in development are not the highly talented developers who can appreciate your code. \u00a0In my experience, it is a collective of all developers, project managers, and recruiters. \u00a0Because of this audience, you must do more than write good code. \u00a0That good code must be seen and the effects of it must also be seen.<\/p>\n

It’s wrong to sell myself, it is politics, I don’t do politics, I just write code.<\/h2>\n

If it’s so wrong to do, how come so many of us do it when we are interviewing for a new job? \u00a0It’s like a courtship when they guy is taking the gal out to dinner and buying her flowers and romancing her, but as soon as they get married where did the romance go? \u00a0Many of us developers are just like that. \u00a0We polish our resum\u00e9 and go out looking for the job, dress up in a suit and tie, present ourselves as professionals, but then we get the job and settle in, and we turn off the charm. \u00a0It’s not wrong to keep the charm turned on, not only is it not wrong, it’s expected.<\/p>\n

What about the politics of it? \u00a0Well yes, there are politics involved in selling yourself, but thinking \u00a0you can be a technical person and\u00a0completely\u00a0ignore politics is a sure way to dead-end your career. \u00a0Most developers want to reduce the amount of political situations they have to deal with, and I agree with that, but trying to ignore the problem to just make it go away is like trying to make a hungry lion go away by closing your eyes. \u00a0Even if you are the best hacker in the world, people skills are important. \u00a0It is my strong opinion that every professional, developer or not, should read How to Win Friends and Influence People<\/a>, by Dale Carnegie<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I think there is also a large difference between tasteful marketing of a product or service and offensive or annoying marketing. \u00a0Just like the XXX spam mail that shows up in your email unrequested, a developer can market themselves in an unsolicited and annoying way. \u00a0On the other hand…<\/p>\n

See part two of the series here: Selling Yourself: How<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know many good developers who are under the impression that they either don’t have to sell themselves, or selling yourself is wrong, but is that really true? 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