DEV Community: Andrew Powell

Rebuilding a Personal Brand

Andrew Powell — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 14:32:39 +0000

Complacency. It's the worst. Grab a coffee, we're about to board the failboat. We all know that company brands are of paramount importance. But personal brands are often overlooked. They speak to your abilities, they're a realtime, interactive, functional resume. And your brand speaks volumes about who you are. What happens when a personal brand falls by the wayside? I learned the hard way.

It's never crowded along the extra mile. - Wayne Dyer

My personal brand had peaked in 2012. I was working with/on the jQuery UI project, I was attending events (thanks much in part to my employers at the time), I was doing some occasional speaking, and my online presence was never more prolific. And then it all went to shit.

Ground Up

I started getting a modicum of notoriety in the Freeware space in the early 2000s with some Windows apps I had written, and it's what landed me my first job out of college. I built shellscape.org around that, and used it as a landing for all of my projects. As I added more projects, I added a small blog to the site.

It was really "the jQuery Company" that helped build my brand the most. I was one of those people who thought that Twitter was a passing fad and that the concept was silly. But the company asked assertively that I sign up and be active promoting the company's work, and my own. They pushed me to speak at small gatherings and they got me going to conferences and talking to heavy hitters in the front end development space.

I had solid Twitter followers. I had enough traffic to my site to pull in $200 a month in AdWords.

I've Made a Terrible Mistake

At the crux of it, I became complacent. I moved on from the afore mentioned conference-enabling-employer to a really interesting startup, riding on the success of my previous position and my personal brand out in the open. It was a big pay raise and I was doing exactly the work I wanted to do. I was pumped.

It was during the 9 month stint with the startup that I began to let my brand slip. I wasn't writing blog posts, I wasn't really contributing to any notable open source projects, I stopped working with jQuery UI. I stopped participating on Twitter in my field. I was happy with my job and my pay, and bought a tear-down investment home that sucked up every minute of my spare time. I was adulting, but I was neglecting the thing that got my career to where it was.

Unfortunately the startup folded on a random Wednesday. I was not prepared for it. Fortunately, and due in large part to my visibility to peers in tech, I was quickly scooped up by a Twitter follower I had never spoken to prior. After a few weeks of interviews, and several competing offers, I started working at Gilt.

I was again awarded an increase in benefits and I was doing insanely cool work. I mean the stuff that makes you want to skip sleep for a week, that makes eating seem like an inconvenience. And there again, I slipped into deeper complacency with regard to my brand.

The Sky is Falling

Gilt was always a tumultuous business; it's well-documented on a myriad of business websites and blogs. In late 2015 the company underwent significant layoffs. PANIC MODE. Then in early 2016 Gilt was purchased by a larger corporation. Without going into detail - lots of people were very unhappy.

After sticking it out for the first quarter, I decided it was prudent to start looking at what was out there. I was really excited; there were great companies hiring at competitive salaries and even though the field for remote work was narrow (I've been working remotely since 2009) it looked like I was in good shape. Fast-forward two months and I was still looking. I'd been passed up by numerous companies. Some passed straight up, and for some I didn't shine bright enough over other local candidates to warrant a hire. Let alone that I'd fallen into a maintenance culture with day-to-day work, which left me at a slight disadvantage as I wasn't up and up with the latest tech. But I'd always been able to convince folks that I could pick up easily what I didn't know (and I could/still can).

There was a deficit somewhere, and I had to identify it.

Mirror Mirror

After a significant amount of reflection and speaking with peers, I zeroed in on three conditions that were affecting my hiring process:

I was way behind on the latest tech.
I had become awful at interviewing.
My personal brand was non-existent.

Now see, I hadn't had to give a work example or perform a test project for evaluation - ever. Not a single time in my entire career before recently. Sure, I've done some live coding but that's never been a big deal. All of a sudden companies are asking me to build projects for interviews. Only a few took the time to look through my Github account and the work there. I had lost my brand, I had lost the wow factor. Another odd anomaly was that I hadn't received a single referral. Movement throughout my entire career had been through referrals.

I wasn't an attractive candidate. Nothing was making me stand out from the crowd. I didn't seem like an authority on what companies wanted, because I'd become an authority only on proprietary tech within my current position. I lost the edge.

And as such, I was cold-calling folks for interviews who had never heard of me, and who's recruiting gatekeepers weren't fluent in the work that I had been doing. Hell, some of them didn't even know what a "remote employee" was.

The Lessons, They Have Me

I quit looking for new opportunities. I decided instead to use the time I usually reserved for movies or heading to the bar to instead create a foundation for rebuilding what I had lost. And so I spent a few weeks recreating this website. I realigned to treat it as a weekly priority. I talked to a ton of successful bloggers in a range of niches and got solid advice. I spoke with some creative types on how to create a unique feel for the site.

I started publishing again. I started open sourcing and creating projects around segments of the work I was doing daily, and most importantly: whatever I was tinkering with on the side. I started posting to Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium, and Facebook. I got my ass into gear.

Important Things are Important

A personal brand in tech is so damned important. It's a window into who you are and what you're doing. It's a launchpad for anyone who wants to get to know you, before you know, actually speaking to you first. It's only been a few months and I'm already amazed how my work is making the rounds. It's a small audience, but it's an audience and I'm only going to continue to work to increase that.

Don't be me with cable tv, don't be this me. If you don't have an established brand, create one. If you have one, maintain it!

Cheers!

∙ ∙ ∙

Originally published at shellscape.org on November 18, 2016.

Pants Optional: Working Remotely

Andrew Powell — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 14:49:21 +0000

I've been working remotely for nearly 7 years now, and I couldn't imagine ever going into an office on a daily basis again. It's a magical setup that affords incredible freedom, and far more responsibility. I love working remotely, and I'm going to share with you my strategy for working in my own, pants-optional office.

I could never work from home, I'd never get anything done.

That's the response I typically get from anyone I've ever told about my setup.I've come to acquire several key lessons and skills that make working remotely a joy, so much so that I doubt I'll ever again take employment where reporting to an office is a requirement, if I can at all help it.

Never Say Never

The "I could never do it" response from folks isn't surprising. The last thing most of us want to do at home is think about work. In fact, many smart types will tell you that it's an unhealthy thing to do. And for those who work the typical 9 to 5 routine, I'd probably agree. But I live the software developer life, and I've come to find a method that makes it very easy to be successful remotely.

When Work Isn't Work

If work is work, you shouldn't be doing it from home. I'm lucky enough to do something that I'm fairly decent at, and that which I really enjoy. That's really key. Enjoying the work lets you turn on and off at will without contaminating your home with "the office". You'll be able to let ideas flow throughout the day and night. The official hours of your physical office will become more guidelines, whereby you need to stay available, but that which you're not constrained by.

Pants Are Actually Optional

Just don't forget them if you're planning on taking video conference meetings. You don't want to be that person that has to get up to shut the window and inadvertently shows off those new adventurous undies.

But in all seriousness, get comfortable. Choose a workspace that works best for you. Remember that you're not in an office! I personally choose to work from my dining table with lots of light and fresh Florida air. Some of my peers prefer a cordoned off basement office. Your workspace should be what keeps you the most comfortable throughout the day.

Part of a great workspace is surrounding yourself with things you love. My kitchen is about 20 feet from my laptop - my inner fat kid loves that. That also means that I have water and other beverages readily accessible. I've also got a solid TV on the wall and typically have Netflix going all day long. For me, some kind of white noise and the occasional mental break in close proximity keeps me sane throughout the day.

Creature Feature

Get a pet! They're an incredible stress reliever and amazing outlet for problem solving. Don't be afraid to be that crazy person who talks to their animals. Leelu frequently helps me out in a mental bind.

Communicate, Silly

Communication. Communication. Communication. You must go out of your way to communicate with your peers, your supervisors, even the person working at the reception desk in the office. There are reasons, of course:

Communication Builds Trust

Trust in you from your peers is key, and while it would be grand if we were all judged by our merits, many people can't trust until there's a base of communication that's usual and comfortable.

Communication Builds Rapport

Until you're in the office and have the chance at in-person face time with everyone you work with, you're the faceless (or single faced avatar) internet person who apparently gets paid by the same company bi-weekly. You may be fortunate and work for a company that has access to video conferencing, but even then you're still a floating head in a window. Great communication builds a familiarity with your peers that will ultimately aid in collaboration.

Frequent Communication Creates Value

Frequent communication is paramount. Vanishing for extended stretches of time has a negative effect. Remember that you're not in the office and people can't see what you're up to. For all they know you're out at the pool floating on a giant inflatable swan. When you reach out throughout the day, you're reminding people that you're there. When you share what you're working on frequently, you're reminding people of the work you're doing.

Hellooooooo

Working remotely can sometimes feel like a scene out of 28 Days Later. The feeling of isolation is something every remote worker needs to combat on a daily basis. Sometimes it's a slow day in the office, and others it's that the physical office is too busy. It's easy in that frequent situation to get discouraged, frustrated, or just plain bummed out. That's a good opportunity to step away and right your ship.

Since us remotes are also neglected socializing throughout the day, make up for that deficit when work is done for the day. I'm a social guy and staying in or isolated for too long gets me stir crazy. I make a concerted effort to socialize after-hours. Befriend some bartenders or others that work outside the 9-to-5 cycle. If you've a family, visit with some neighbors or take the kiddies out for something fun around other people.

Halt, and Catch Fire

Take breaks. Take lunches. Take naps. Decline meetings. Run errands. Play with the dog. Go for a walk. Go for a run. Get a hobby and indulge it. Watch an episode of The Walking Dead. Have an adult beverage if you feel the urge. I personally never like to work for more than two hours straight. Halting keeps me fresh and keeps me sane.

Stopping and taking a breath is one of my keys to the gig. Those incredible freedoms I mentioned earlier come into play here. Of course this depends on the company you work for and the folks above or around you in the hierarchy, but take advantage of the ability to do throughout the day what those in an office aren't able to. Just bear in mind that your responsibility to the work doesn't end. If you're going to play a little hookey, remember to make time later to cover your deliverables.

Expand Your Organizational Skills

When no one's available to chat, you don't always have the luxury of stopping work and waiting. You'll have to develop solid organizational skills that will allow you to revisit things that need discussing, or to resume tasks that you're blocked on down the line. A great degree of self-management is necessary regardless of the kind of management structure you're working in. A cautious level of independence will go a long way. You won't always have the time or the opportunity to discuss choices, problems, or solutions with your peers. Which brings us to...

Peer Dependencies

(That's a poor NPM pun, for the nerds reading this)

Your peers are going to mean success or failure in a remote gig. When interviewing, make sure you're asking questions as well. You'll want to interview the folks doing the interviewing to make sure they know how to work with remote developers. Some companies are freshly wading into hiring remotes, others are seasoned, and yet others have no idea what they're getting into. Management should be on board with and see value in remote employees. It also helps to jump into a gig with peers that have experience working with remotes. Talk to the folks that will be managing you and your projects to get a feel for how they expect to work with you. Never be afraid to share your ideas early on.

Time For a Whisky

I hope that the lessons I've learned can give others in or considering remote work something to think about and help out if needed.

If you've been thinking about remote work, there are a plethora of resources
that can help:

@RemoteTeams
CultivateNow
Awesome Remote Jobs
Remote-friendly companies
WeWorkRemotely
Remote OK
Jobspresso
Working Nomads

And those are just a few. Good luck!

Cheers!

∙ ∙ ∙

Originally published at shellscape.org on November 28, 2016.