I am not going to lie to you, the market has been rough out there. There are layoffs across different companies, which creates competition that makes people, who are new to tech, harder to get their foot into the door (since you are competing with those with more than 10+ years of experience).
Not only that, AI is making it harder for everyone to stand out since everyone can use AI to do anything. People are using AI to make their Resume stand out, and projects have a higher standard than before.
As a person who has been in Tech before and during the AI Era, I have seen this in real time. It's quite fascinating and scary to think about how tech is moving fast. Although I know what I was up against, I never thought how fast technology can change overtime within a few years.
I recently sat down and thought about those who are trying to get their first job in tech or even currently trying to find a job. Knowing that some are deep into their career and definitely those who are new in tech. Either way, the market is tough especially for newcomers.
This makes me ponder the question: How can you stand out in Tech?
Let's investigate further.
The Answer with many Branches
In other words, no clear straightforward answer.
Before AI, the advice given to you was to make projects that demonstrate your learning, use the tech stack that companies are using, leetcode, etc.
Now with AI, you can do all of these things really quickly. Regardless of the project, you can easily vibe code it in seconds, tech stack doesn't seem to matter if you can vibe code it, and leetcode...well...
What I am trying to say is that advice of standing out in tech changes overtime. Too quick actually where it's hard to determine which advice is "correct".
It's hard to know if the advice was useful because you tend not to get feedback, especially in actual interviews since you tend to either get ghosted or rejected. Sure, you could argue on getting feedback on sending your friend's resume, mock tnterviews and such. However, their advice is based on their experience. Everyone's experience is different and it's highly likely that it would not apply the same to the place you are applying for.
Following the Herd
I want to bring in a game analogy that best demonstrate the tech market right now, which is Yu-Gi-Oh!
The main idea of Yu-Gi-Oh is you having a good deck. I can talk about the mechanics such as Normal and Special Summons, Link Summons and such but to keep it simple, let's keep it as that.
In the Yu-Gi-Oh community, you tend to hear about which deck is currently the "meta" (popular) in terms of win rates and usability. Overtime, the meta changes as new cards gets release, ban-lists, etc.
Let's say you have a deck that is currently popular in the competitive space. Two days later, turns out that the official ban-list makes your deck obsolete and a new meta deck emerges as a result. Therefore, you switch to a new deck and discard the old one you have. If you are playing Yu-Gi-Oh in real life, this cost money since it's not cheap to build a deck, especially from scratch. Same thing if you are playing online such as Master Duel.
Now bring this analogy to the tech market. You listen to what everyone else is saying and you start taking that advice. Maybe everyone else is saying that Python is in High Demand. As a result, you spend your time and effort into learning Python and building projects with it. Then, people quickly start to say that "Python is no longer in demand. It's now JavaScript". As a result, you then learn JavaScript with your time and effort..again.
Do you see the problem? I hope you do xD
The issue is that you are following what everyone else is doing. It doesn't have to be a programming language, it can just be anything. Mixing in to a fast paced tech market makes it dangerous because we are blindly following advice due to our eager of not falling behind. This can range from hoping to find a tech job before graduation to finding a tech job to pay necessities.
My Point?
AI can do anything, the job market is cooked, tech is moving fast...
This sounds hopeless for sure, because how can you stay up-to-date at this speed?.
You don't
Maybe the small 1%. However, I have witness many individuals who have successful accomplish their mission in tech with the impossible odds in their hands. Many people I know from college got their first role in tech despite in the AI era and those who are seeking employment eventually found another role in tech. Either way, they aren't perfect.
They only know what they need to look for because they know themselves and what works for them.
Early on in my career, I have fallen into this mistake where I always follow what everyone else is doing. This ranges from making sure your GitHub Contribution Graph is all green, Resume follows this strict quota, etc. If I heard someone use a method that works for them, then I put myself in disillusionment that it will work for me, which it doesn't.
I realized later, even recently, that I have been doing what everyone else is doing. If you think about it, your not really standing out if everyone else is doing it.
I realized the question was never "What do I need to stand out". It's What do I need for myself to standout?
Although there is no clear answer of how you can stand out in tech, there are a few things you can think about that help you get a good start to think about. These steps are in order and is based on what it has helped me.
1. Self-Reflection
There is a video I watch that I believe best describe the feeling in the tech market:
Though, the one thing I want to mention in this section is this quote:
There are only two ways people change.
Heavy Self Reflection and Improvement
They are forced to change by circumstance.
The unfortunately reality is that I see a lot of people, time to time, where they do the bare minimum just to get by. A great example is students doing the minimum just to get a degree.
No internships, no projects, no connections...
Maybe it flies by in the 1900's, but this is not feasible in this era. The expectations has never been higher and it's expected for each individual to do more than what it's required for them.
A good start is to think about what you will be in 5 years. It doesn't have to be a correct answer of course, but think about "If I bring my current knowledge, the same as is, into 5 years time, will I be satisfied?"
2. Take Advice as a Grain of Salt, regardless of how useful it may sounds.
This is really important. The advice given to you may not always fit to what you are needing.
Back then, I had the notion that decorating your resume helps you stand out in the market. Although it's true in a sense, I found out the hard way that it doesn't really apply to the tech market specifically. Decorating your resume causes the ATS to not parse properly, which leads to rejections even though you are qualified for the position.
The point is: If you are given an advice, stop and think about it before taking on that advice. If it turns out it doesn't work for you and it doesn't benefit you, don't do it and find an alternative.
3. Use the Environment to your Advantage.
Just Look around. See what everyone else is doing and use that to your advantage.
I will give you a freebie one (but it's gonna go obsolete so lol).
Everyone is Vibe Coding a Full Stack Application. Maybe it's a Full Stack Restaurant App for example. You see a lot of people doing something like this since you are snooping at everyone's GitHub.
With the information presented to you, how can you stand out? Maybe instead of building a Full-Stack Application like everyone else, maybe start building that rarely anyone is building, like Arduinos!!
There you go. Surprisingly believe it or not, this is a small example. This can scale all the way to the whole tech market in general. The whole idea is to look around and see what is happening currently and use that to your advantage on making yourself stand out.
These three things should allow you to get a good start on thinking about "What do I need for myself to stand out"?
Maybe these advice doesn't work for you directly, and that's okay. I want you to at least start and think about where you are currently at, and make goals for yourself to stick to.
For me, I realized I needed to put myself out there. I know that cold applying to companies is not the solution and I thought to myself ways to gain connections. One of which is blogging! Almost one year later, I am grateful of where I am at now!
Keep in mind that this is optional. No one told me to do this other than myself. If there is something you are seeing and telling yourself that this is optional, do it anyway. I learn that you may never know what opportunities comes later. If it turns out that ultimately, nothing happens. At least you did it, learn and grow from it instead of no progress.
Instead of following of what everyone else is doing to stand out, maybe start knowing yourself. That way, you know what you need to do.
That is what makes you truly stand out and someday, someone will see that.
I want to hear what you think! Was this advice helpful? Any thoughts? Feel free to also comment below of where you are at in tech and if you need any assistance! Also, if you have any advice in tech, I would love to hear from you as well!
See ya later :D
Top comments (3)
A lot of gifts! :)
Indeed there is! Having Gifs in articles makes it look nice :)
Thanks for stopping by Star!
Well you clearly have talents, because this article is very entertaining! I would say you already know how to stand out from the crowd :D
Jokes aside - the only thing I can say (and it's not very original, but still) is that, as a developer, you should have your 'basics' covered - have a good grasp of the fundamentals, because those won't quickly become obsolete ...
And yeah, developers who have a good grasp of when (and how) to use AI in the SDLC (software development lifecycle), and in organizations in general, will have an edge - but, how to acquire those skills ... ?