JSJ 381: Building a Personal Brand with John Sonmez

JavaScript Jabber

Episode | Podcast

Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2019 10:00:00 +0000

<div class="trix-content"> <div><strong>Sponsors</strong></div><ul> <li> <a href="http://sentry.io/"><strong>Sentry</strong></a><strong>– use the code “devchat” for $100 credit </strong> </li> <li><a href="https://www.rxjs.live/"><strong>RxJS Live</strong></a></li> </ul><div><strong>Panel</strong></div><ul> <li><strong>Charles Max Wood</strong></li> <li><strong>Christopher Beucheler</strong></li> <li><strong>AJ O’Neal</strong></li> </ul><div><strong>With Special Guest: John Somnez</strong></div><div><strong>Episode Summary</strong></div><div>John is the founder of Bulldog Mindset andSimple Programmer, which teaches software developers soft skills, and the author of a couple books. He specializes in creating a personal brand and marketing. He addresses the rumors of him leaving software development and gives an introduction to marketing yourself as a software developer and its importance. The panel discusses their experience with consulting and how marketing themselves has paid off. John talks about the importance of having soft skills. In his opinion, the most important soft skills for programmers are communication, persuasion and influence, people skills and charisma. He talks about highlight those soft skills. The truth is, more and more people are hiring for people skills rather than technical skills. The panel discusses more about the importance of people skills.</div><div>John talks about ways to build your personal brand. One of the easiest ways is blogging but he talks about other methods like podcasts YouTube, writing books, and others. A key to building a personal brand is choosing something that you can become the best at, no matter how small it is. The panel shares their experiences of what things have gotten them attention and notoriety and talk about how other influential programmers got famous. They talk about interacting with central platforms like Medium and Github. Building a personal brand for software developers is the same as any other personal brand, such as having a consistent message, consistent logos and color schemes, and repeated exposure). Most people in the software world aren’t willing to do what’s necessary to build a personal brand, so it makes you stand out when you do it. John talks about the importance of controlling your image so that companies want to hire you. John gives a brief overview of his course How to Market Yourself as a Software Developer. </div><div><a href="https://noonies.hackernoon.com/award/cjxrat2ogn51d0b429e2zwy52"><strong>Click here to cast your vote NOW for JavaScript Jabber - Best Dev Podcast Award</strong></a></div><div><strong>Links</strong></div><ul> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/John-Sonmez/e/B00RPMRT5U?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&amp;qid=1564723520&amp;sr=8-1">John Somnez’s books</a></li> <li><a href="https://blogs.objectsharp.com/post/2004/05/23/Welcome-to-Marcie-Robillard-(aka-Datagrid-Girl).aspx">Data Grid Girl</a></li> <li>Follow JavaScript Jabber on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DevChattv/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&amp;eid=ARDBDrBnK71PDmx_8gE_IeIEo5SnM7cyzylVBjAwfaOo1ck_6q3GXuRBfaUQZaWVvFGyEVjrhDwnS_tV">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/devchattv?lang=en">Twitter</a> </li> </ul><div> </div><div><strong>Picks</strong></div><div><strong>Charles Max Wood:</strong></div><ul> <li><a href="https://amzn.to/2LP89qN4.%20Put%20this%20at%20the%20end%20instead:%20?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1548462018&amp;sr=8-1&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=devchattv-20&amp;linkId=f06bfe7482dca8bb751ed6d7cc86e2ab&amp;language=en_US"><strong>To Sell is Human</strong></a></li> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/06710270344.%20Put%20this%20at%20the%20end%20instead:%20?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1548462018&amp;sr=8-1&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=devchattv-20&amp;linkId=f06bfe7482dca8bb751ed6d7cc86e2ab&amp;language=en_US"><strong>How to Win Friends and Influence People</strong></a></li> </ul><div><strong>John Somnez:</strong><... Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/javascript-jabber/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy