Here's a career tip many engineers don't think of:
Career tip many engineers don't think of:
— Swizec Teller writing a book on software rewrites (@Swizec) January 12, 2022
Work for a company whose strategy involves building a brand. At least in your ideal niche, mass consumer is best.
you want their brand to market *you*
When your company (or client) uses brand as a strategy, that helps you. Because a human is going to read your resume and your resume is a marketing asset.
Brands are pernicious little things. They weasel into your brain unnoticed.
When a credit card logo shows up on a tip tray, you give a bigger tip. Even seeing a credit card logo somewhere in the room makes you spend more. No really. The effect is reversed if you've been in serious credit card debt before.
Even as an interviewer I've noticed that recognizing a past company on your resume makes me go "Oh hey that's cool! I've heard of them before!". And it changes the feel of the first 3 minutes together. You get a reputation bump.
That's why I no longer look at resumes for on-site interviews. Focus on the task at hand. No bias. 😇
But the initial phone screen that gets you to an on-site? That's all about what you've done in the past and how. Brand helps.
I wanted to include a counter-example but I can't think of any.
A world of companies using direct sales and networking as a strategy ... but if you're not the target customer, you'll never know they're there.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
Cheers,
~Swizec
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