Building a Personal Brand in Tech

I constantly get recruiter reachouts from big tech companies and top AI startups- even when I’m not actively job hunting or listed as “Open to Work.” That’s because over the years, I’ve consciously put in the effort to build a clear and consistent presence on LinkedIn- one that reflects what I do, what I care about, and the kind of work I want to be known for. And the best part? It’s something anyone can do- with the right strategy and a bit of consistency. If you’re tired of applying to dozens of jobs with no reply, here are 5 powerful LinkedIn upgrades that will make recruiters come to you: 1. Quietly activate “Open to Work” Even if you’re not searching, turning this on boosts your visibility in recruiter filters. → Turn it on under your profile → “Open to” → “Finding a new job” → Choose “Recruiters only” visibility → Specify target titles and locations clearly (e.g., “Machine Learning Engineer – Computer Vision, Remote”) Why it works: Recruiters rely on this filter to find passive yet qualified candidates. 2. Treat your headline like SEO + your elevator pitch Your headline is key real estate- use it to clearly communicate role, expertise, and value. Weak example: “Software Developer at XYZ Company” → Generic and not searchable. Strong example: “ML Engineer | Computer Vision for Autonomous Systems | PyTorch, TensorRT Specialist” → Role: ML Engineer → Niche: computer vision in autonomous systems → Tools: PyTorch, TensorRT This structure reflects best practices from experts who recommend combining role, specialization, technical skills, and context to stand out. 3. Upgrade your visuals to build trust → Use a crisp headshot: natural light, simple background, friendly expression → Add a banner that reinforces your brand: you working, speaking, or a tagline with tools/logos Why it works: Clean visuals increase profile views and instantly project credibility. 4. Rewrite your “About” section as a human story Skip the bullet list, tell a narrative in three parts: → Intro: “I’m an ML engineer specializing in computer vision models for autonomous systems.” → Expertise: “I build end‑to‑end pipelines using PyTorch and TensorRT, optimizing real‑time inference for edge deployment.” → Motivation: “I’m passionate about enabling safer autonomy through efficient vision AI, let’s connect if you’re building in that space.” Why it works: Authentic storytelling creates memorability and emotional resonance . 5. Be the advocate for your work Make your profile act like a portfolio, not just a resume. → Under each role, add 2–4 bullet points with measurable outcomes and tools (e.g., “Reduced inference latency by 35% using INT8 quantization in TensorRT”) → In the Featured section, highlight demos, whitepapers, GitHub repos, or tech talks Give yourself five intentional profile upgrades this week. Then sit back and watch recruiters start reaching you, even in today’s competitive market.

A Simple, 7-Step Networking Strategy (Anyone Can Use!): 1. Networking, How Do You Even Start? Of all the job search challenges, networking can be the toughest. What do you say to a total stranger that will get them to reply? And how do you keep the conversation going after? I developed the “Advice Triangle Strategy” to help solve for each of those things. Here’s how it works: 2. Find A Contact A Few Steps Ahead Identify someone you want to network with who is a few steps ahead of you on the journey. “A few steps” can mean anything from:  - Has successfully made a transition you’re trying to make  - Is working in a job you aspire to work in  - Has more expertise / experience in a skill than you do 3. Reach Out And Ask For Advice With 2 Options Reach out to them using the following framework:  - Mention finding their info on LinkedIn  - Position them as an expert (call out experience, etc)  - Share your goals for leveling up  - Ask them if you should take “Action A” or “Action B” 4. Example Advice Triangle Message “Hey Austin, I came across your profile while I was looking for people who transitioned from healthcare to tech. Your experience going from medical devices to Microsoft really stood out to me. I’m looking to make a similar switch and am building my skills in tech sales. If you don’t mind me asking, would you recommend: A) Taking Hubspot’s digital sales course B) Getting certified in Salesforce” I know you’re busy so simply replying with A or B would be immensely helpful! 5. Take Action And Report Back When someone replies with a recommended action? Go take that action! When you’re done, follow up with them letting them know:  - You appreciated their advice  - You took action on it  - You learned X, Y, and Z Then Ask For More Advice! 6. Continue To Repeat The Cycle Now you’ve created a cycle where you always know the next step: - Ask For Advice - Take Action On The Advice - Report Back And Ask For More Advice Why does this work so well? 7. Why This Works So Well This strategy is crazy effective for several reasons:  - Offering two options makes it easy to reply to  - It positions you as someone who is worth investing in  - You’re actively skill building while you network  - You always have the door open for the next step in progressing the relationship Happy networking!

Demand gen is utterly broken. It's overly complicated & lacks the soul and creativity that consumers deserve. I promise there's a better way. Here's the 3-pronged content engine we're building for companies at storyarb: Principles: - Treat your content as the product, not as marketing for another product - Unique insights + Unique voice + Unique packaging = Unique content - Pick topics that make your Market of 1 better at their job Channels: 1) Deeply researched long-form content Purpose: create data-driven OR interview-based website content that is deep enough & insightful enough such that a reader feels the need to bookmark & reference later. Good examples: Lenny Rachitsky: "How the biggest consumer apps got first 1,000 users" - Lenny interviewed hundreds of founders, identified patterns, and broke down the seven strategies consumer apps used to grow. Carta: "State of Private Markets: Q3 2024" Report - Using tons of internal funding data by Carta customers to pull together trends in startup funding for the quarter. HubSpot: "My First Million's Business Idea Database" - Aggregating & organizing 57 startup ideas shared by past MFM podcast guests into an e-mail gated database 2) Editorial email newsletter Purpose: create the best industry read for your market of 1 that allows you to build an owned audience of current/future customers. Good examples: - Content Examined by Alex Garcia: the best read for consumer content marketers, which acts as a perfect nurturing tool for his community, course, and agency - Big Desk Energy by Tyler Denk 🐝: a window into building a high-growth startup as it's happening by the founder of beehiiv - Exploding Topics: a snapshot of 4 emerging trends (based on google search data) that founders & investors should be aware of. 3) Personal brand social content Purpose: allow your market of 1 to build a parasocial relationship with your company through 1-4 personalities (execs, founders, etc) who enable connection with your faceless brand. Good examples: - Adam Robinson: fully transparent monthly breakdowns of his companies' (Retention.com & RB2B) performance with lessons learned & plans to fix key issues - Peter Walker: Head of Insights at Carta uses first party data from the company to share unique startup ecosystem trends + his own POV - Kieran Flanagan: AI & GTM expert who shares deep marketing insights, playbooks, and predictions that help build his & HubSpot's brand If you want help building this 3-pronged engine at your company, shoot me a DM or email at alex@storyarb[.]com.

If your content isn’t doing as well as you wish it would, it’s probably because you’re focused on the wrong person…. You. The biggest mistake I see on social media is that many people use it like a megaphone instead of a mirror. They shout their news, their wins, their updates, but they never stop to think about what their audience actually needs or wants. If you want people to care about what you post, you have to make it about them. Here’s how to do that more consistently: ✅ Speak to a pain point: Instead of posting “I was promoted,” say A lot of people ask how to stand out and get promoted faster. Here’s what helped me the most. ✅ Be useful: Share what you wish you knew sooner, what others ask you about, or what you’re learning in real time. That’s the stuff people bookmark and come back to. ✅ Lead with the takeaway: Don’t bury the value under three paragraphs of background. Start with the point. Hook them early. ✅ Be generous with what you know: If you learned something the hard way, say so. If someone else taught you something, give them credit. This builds trust and it travels farther. ✅ Stop announcing: You’re not a PR firm. You don’t need to “announce” every event or accomplishment. Talk about what it means and why it matters. ✅ Talk like a human: Banish the corporate speak. If you wouldn’t say it out loud to a colleague, don’t write it in a post. ✅ Earn attention: We are never entitled to engagement. If people are scrolling past your content, ask why. And then fix it. You can still share your story. Just make sure it actually connects with the people reading it. Which of these do you need to start doing? #PersonalBranding #LinkedInTips #LegalMarketing

I built demand by talking less about myself. Wild, right? Turns out, most “authentic” content pushes people away. I learned this the hard way when I started building my brand. I used to think personal branding meant being real— So I shared my routines, behind-the-scenes pics, life updates. People liked it just fine... But they didn’t buy from it. Then I learned this: People don’t follow you for who you are. They follow you for what you help THEM become. So I stopped talking about me— And started talking to the version of THEM I used to be. Here’s what changed: 1. My posts stopped being digital diaries.        They became mirrors.        My litmus test for posting became, "Does this story connect with how my client feels NOW and where they hope to be?" (versus, "Will this be popular?")     2. I stopped trying to sound smart.        Instead, I focused on making people feel seen.        Sounding smart is an ego pursuit. It's about you, not your audience. Connecting is where the real value is.     3. I shifted from “here’s what I did” to “here’s what this means for you.”     That’s when I went from crickets… To DMs saying, “I feel like you wrote this for me.” The first article I got this about was a detailed one discussing how to build a brand without pissing off your employer. People LOVED it. I've since repurposed and updated it annually. (Let that be a lesson, too. When people say you really "got them" with your content, bookmark that post and repurpose it again and again) Don't forget: 1. Mirror your clients. Help them see themselves in your story. 2. Focus on being relatable, not just "smart." 3. Always keep the benefit to your reader front and center.

I've grown my LinkedIn audience to over 95,000 followers. Here's a breakdown of what you should do if you’re trying to build your brand on LinkedIn: 1) What is your end goal? Before you begin, define your goal. Do you want to become a thought leader in your field? Are you trying to land clients? If so, who is your ideal client? Speak to those people: What are people in your field looking to learn that you can teach? Create content that answers their questions. 2) What should you post? When starting out a lot of people feel imposter syndrome. To combat that feeling, document what you're learning. It gives you permission to teach on the timeline in an honest, guilt-free way. And there are always people behind you who will benefit from the information you share: Follow the 3 Es. Your content should be: • Educational • Emotional • Entertaining Educational is 'How To's' Entertaining is memes + personality Emotional is “choosing an enemy” or sharing a strong opinion. Next comes scheduling: It's a good idea to batch your content. Create a week's worth of content. Then schedule it all in Buffer, or Publer. Batch creating your content allows you to enter a flow state and avoid context switching. 3) Engagement You have content and then you have "distribution"—generating traffic. And one of the best ways to generate traffic is through engagement: Go to industry experts in your field and comment on their posts. They’ll sometimes hit you back. If they don’t, that's okay. You could always reach out to them and create more of a connection. But commenting on their posts serves an additional purpose: As thought leaders, they get a large amount of traffic on their posts. So you get exposure to people in their audience regardless. The combination of great content + engagement is where the magic happens. 4) It’s called a personal brand for a reason If you only talk about technical ideas you may only hit experts in your field. Your ideal clients aren't usually industry experts, that's why they'll hire you: So keep your content personal. Talk about elements of your life as well. It builds trust with your prospects. It shows them you’re a real person. 5) Networking Build real connections. I'd rather build fewer deep connections than collect a bunch of shallow acquaintances. Social media is a game changer for this: It allows you to find like minded people. You might not find people like this in your local neighborhood, but here on LinkedIn it's easy. Thanks for reading. Enjoyed this post? Follow Jordan Nelson And share it with your network.

How I get a 44% attendance rate on our webinars. This reigns true from SMB to Enterprise. Here are 4 reasons why. 1. The Three T's It stands for timing, topic, and talent. When you do a webinar, you need to nail all three. For example, I know that in February, a topic around prospecting with proven outbound SMEs in the space will generate a ton of traffic. The reason is that people want a big fat pipeline to start the year, and this is the best way to do it. 2. Person Led Invite When most people get invited to a webinar, it's in the brand's voice. • Faceless invite, so no personal connection • Looks like every other webinar invite • Easier to delete The invite to our shows come personally from my voice. It makes it feel like an exclusive Invite instead of another brand email. This has increased the registration rate, and the attendance rate is higher because it's more personal. 3. Conversation rather than presentation We have re-occurring guests, so people know we don't do death by PowerPoint. People want to feel like they are a part of the conversation instead of being talked to. • Be VERY tactical • Little to no high-level talk • Keep the webinar to 3-6 slides For our sales audience, we identified that the more tactical, the better. 4. Engaging Host The host will make or break your webinar. Being a great host is about involving the audience and keeping them engaged. • Call out great questions that people ask • Highlight a comment from the audience • Ask questions about what's happening in their world More people will show up when they talk about your shows being interactive because they feel they are being heard. P.S. Which one stood out to you?

This post details how we went from having zero contacts at large brands to sourcing partnerships with execs at PolicyGenius, Instacart, SoFi, hims/hers, Ramp, TD Bank and more. I spent the first 10 years of my career on the publisher side, so we had a slight head start there. But when it came to sourcing brand deals, we started from zero. Whether you’re a founder, an SDR, or just trying to invest in your network, these 5 steps will get you there: 1 - Start with what you have. Look through your network for people tangentially related to your target industry. Literally sift through every current contact you have on LinkedIn. Ask them for coffee. Pick their brain. I was learning about the PR industry in parallel with building my network - each meeting helped form our roadmap, while also building a network. People like helping people, but they don’t want to feel used. Be genuinely curious. Do this at least 10 times^. Step outside your comfort zone. If 100% of people say yes, you aren’t asking enough people for coffee. 2 - Parlay into more conversations. Every conversation should end with “who else should I meet with?” If you're charming and your goals are clear, this will lead to new conversations. Follow up (show them you listened), but don’t be a PITA. Networking is a long game, don’t bug them every 3 days. At this stage you are planting seeds, not picking flowers. 3 - Ask for feedback, not sales. No one wants to be sold, but everyone wants to feel like their opinion matters. Don’t lead with “wondering if they’d be interested in our product,” but instead “I want to get their feedback on what we’re doing.” This will make you 10x more likely to land meetings. 4 - Create Content. My posting on LinkedIn has directly led to over 20 deals for Stacker. But they did not come from people sliding into my dms with “hey can we work with you?” It was through connecting with interesting people in the space, them evangelizing what we do, and 2 months later introducing me to someone that they thought could be a client. If you plant enough seeds, some will turn into fruit. Editor’s note - do this yourself. People can tell when you’ve paid someone to write for you, and it’s turning into a huge turn off. I think if I paid an agency to write my content, I’d have twice as many followers, but half as many meaningful deals coming through. 5 - Nurture. Just because a conversation doesn’t end with “wow I should intro you to this potential client” doesn’t mean it won’t be valuable long term. People like to help people that they like. So cultivate relationships, put out into the world what you’re seeking, and trust that its a process. This post is about building a network that will reap deals over the mid to long term. These are not tips for how to close deals next week. Is it frustrating that this takes time? Sure. But I guarantee that if you start today, you’ll be in a much better place a year from now. Building a network is a snowball - gotta start somewhere.

I’ve spent years observing how the best tools and strategies can help you stand out and land your dream cloud role.  Here’s what I learned: *** 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘂𝗺: 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 Documentation is your secret weapon. Use Medium to share your cloud projects, showcase your thought process, and let your work speak for itself.  Don’t just describe the end result, explain your 𝗦.𝗢.𝗔.𝗥.𝗙 process:   • 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼: What problem were you solving?   • 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗹𝗲: What challenges did you face?   • 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: What steps did you take to solve it?   • 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁: What did you achieve?   • 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲: What didn’t work, and how did you adapt?  Tip: Add screenshots and detailed steps to make it even more engaging.  *** 𝗚𝗶𝘁𝗛𝘂𝗯: 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 Your GitHub profile is a testament to your growth and proof of your codebase.  𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁:   • Keep your commits consistent, regular updates show you’re improving.   • Add clear descriptions of your code and a READme file, what it does and why it matters.  Think of it as a portfolio that showcases both your technical skills and your problem-solving mindset.  Profiles with regular commits and well-documented READMEs are 5x more likely to catch a recruiter’s eye. 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗠𝗘? Use this GitHub README template to structure your project descriptions clearly and professionally.: https://lnkd.in/eWjmJqjC *** 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗚𝗣𝗧: 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 Explaining your projects doesn’t have to be intimidating. Tools like ChatGPT can help break down technical concepts into simple, digestible language.  𝗧𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁:   "𝘙𝘦𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 5𝘵𝘩-𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭.”  Your goal isn’t to sound like a genius, it’s to ensure anyone following along understands the value of your work.  *** 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗨𝗽: 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁  When it’s time to share your project on LinkedIn, storytelling matters. Craft posts that answer the reader’s unspoken question: “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲?”  For example:   • 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳: “Check out my new project!”   • 𝗧𝗿𝘆: “This is how I deployed AWS Infrastructure in less than 10 seconds.”  Build a story around how your project helped you solve 𝗫, 𝗬, 𝗼𝗿 𝗭. You’ll resonate more with your audience and inspire them to engage.  *** Landing your next cloud role isn’t just about showing what you’ve built, you have to be able to articulate how you solved problems and how you improved on solving that problem.  Don't forget, its all about building your 𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗗! Using tools that can make it easier for you to stand out. What's your tech stack that you use to build your brand on LinkedIn.

Most people treat networking like a numbers game. Send 100 messages. Hope one sticks. That’s not how my clients get into Google, Meta, or Stripe. Here’s the strategy I teach and it works because it’s human. 1. Get specific. Pick a few companies you’re excited about. Find people actually working on the teams you want to join. 2. Start the conversation the right way. Don’t lead with “Can you refer me?” Comment on their work. Ask a real question. Share something you’ve learned from their content. Show you’ve done your homework. 3. Make it easy to help you. Once there’s some connection, send a short message explaining why you’re interested and how your background aligns. Keep it tight and forwardable. This is the exact strategy that’s helped my clients land roles in some of the most competitive teams in tech. Because it’s not about chasing people. It’s about building real momentum one thoughtful message at a time.