What can you do as a programmer to create your own brand?

Many people think that personal branding is just for celebrities or big organizations,  but every one of you is a brand. Have you ever been called a "great programmer" or a "go to person"  by your peers or coworkers? That description is part of your brand. Personal branding, by definition, is the process by which you market yourself to others. Social media tools have leveled the playing ground and have enabled you to reach incredible heights, at the cost of your time.

Here is the big picture of what you can do to create your own brand as a programmer

You need a shift of mindset, for example, from  "piling up of your certifications" to "creating blog posts as your learning tool". How do you learn from your blog posts? 1) Pick a technology, framework, key area, or a tool to learn? 2) Learn about what you had picked via online articles, blog posts, and good books 3) Apply it in a commercial, self-taught, or open-source project 4) Let the world know by blogging about it in your own unique style. Blogging will further increase your understanding and communication skills. 5) Share your blog post via the social media. Your blog post is your repository of your knowledge and experience for your future reference. This is a step process.

1) Pick --> 2) Learn --> 3) Apply --> 4) Let the world know --> 5) Share


Shift your mindset from ranting about "a badly written code at work",  "losing the jobs to offshore programmers" or feeling "frustrated about feeling stagnated at work" to positive emotions to inspire you to write your next blog post, create your own application or product, or ramp up your skills to get your next dream job.

Shift your mindset from "commuting to and from work without any light-bulb moments" to "jotting down the ideas that come your way on to your mobile memo" to further think about it at your leisure.

Shift your mindset from "browsing today's online news for 10 minutes as the first thing you do when you get to work" to "researching further on the idea that you had jotted down on your mobile memo ".

This list goes on. You need to make some sacrifices. You also need to be very patient as it can take 2+ years to get into the rhythm and see some "Wow moments like "Wow, I have 400+ followers", "Wow, my recent post has reached 6,000 unique readers", "Wow, my Google adsense income has doubled", etc. It is not easy to sustain your drive and passion as you will have more "ordinary" moments than the "Wow moments". You need to constantly motivate yourself. Consistently churn out unique blog contents, self-published books, new product/app ideas until things click to create more "Wow moments". You need to believe that "Something is about to Spark". You need to grow not just as a techie, but as an internet entrepreneur with good marketing and networking skills. List your strengths and passion to create your own branding. Collaborate universally with other like minded people.


Give others what they need in terms of  products, services, training, etc before you take what you need in terms of recognition, more followers, more customers, etc. Opportunities are limitless, and you are only limited by your imagination. Realize your strengths and harness them.


"Logic gets you from A to B. IMAGINATION will take you everywhere" -- Albert Einstein


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