Reputation as Code
Published by Self-published · Tech
The companion book to branding.alexmerced.com, covering personal branding, reputation engineering, and career sovereignty for developers and tech professionals.
Who this book is for
Software engineers, data practitioners, DevRel professionals, and other technical contributors who want to be known for their expertise without becoming shallow influencers, plus career switchers who need to show credibility without an elite pedigree.
Table of contents
- Introduction: The Resume Is a Dead Format
- The Fallacy of the Job Board Lottery
- The Myth of the Overnight Authority
- Your Non-Linear Superpower
- The Discipline of Learning in Public
- Defining Your Niche of One
- Shipping Real Artifacts
- Systems Over Willpower
- The Waterfall Content Engine
- Responsible AI as an Output Amplifier
- Community as an Engine of Generosity
- The Stage: Speaking and Presentations
- The Path to Authoring Technical Books
- Turning Gravity into Opportunities
- Staying Curious for the Long Haul
- Conclusion: Show Your Work
Excerpt
On a Monday morning in early 2024, a hiring manager at a mid-sized data infrastructure company posted an open role for a developer advocate. The listing was live for four hours. When she paused the posting at noon to review incoming candidates, the applicant tracking dashboard displayed 842 submissions. Eight hundred and forty-two resumes. If she spent sixty seconds reading each submission without taking a bathroom break, drinking water, or answering an email, reviewing that single batch would require fourteen continuous hours of work. She did not have fourteen hours. She had thirty minutes between a sprint planning meeting and a customer demo.
