The idea of making yourself into a brand is pretty weird. Some people shy away from it because it has this bad rap of being associated with “selling a product” or that you, as a person, are a product or belonging to an entity. In this day where everyone hates on humble braggers, or dislikes tasks that will be ongoing, it’s easy to see why some people do nothing about their personal brand. However, it’s impossible to deny the power of branding. From what we choose to buy to our beliefs and core values, our lives are shaped by someone or some company’s branding in some way. The decisions we make about things, ideas, or people as a result of the impressions we …

1. Personal Branding
-Necessity for DevOps Engineers
Presented by: Segzpair

2. Focus Highlight
Overview
Why so Important?
A deeper Insight
Extract...
Keynote
The Approach
Steps to Approach - 01 to 04
Step 01 - Define
Step 02 - Curate
Step 03 - Grow
Step 04 - Learn
Conclusion

3. Overview
The idea of making yourself into a brand is pretty weird. Some people shy away
from it because it has this bad rap of being associated with “selling a product” or
that you, as a person, are a product or belonging to an entity. In this day where
everyone hates on humble braggers, or dislikes tasks that will be ongoing, it’s
easy to see why some people do nothing about their
personal brand.
However, it’s impossible to deny the power of branding. From what we choose to
buy to our beliefs and core values, our lives are shaped by someone or some
company’s branding in some way. The decisions we make about things, ideas, or
people as a result of the impressions we …

4. Overview Cont.
...have is at the very core of how humans
interact with the world. Just as we use
these impressions to guide our decision
making, we must be conscientious of what
we as DevOps Engineers put out to the
world and what makes up our own brand.

5. Why so important?
01
Boost Thought Leadership
The lack of ownership is what makes branding so crucial, especially when it’s one
of the only things that sets you apart.
02
03
Internal Drive for Perfection
The will to grow self presence result in spending more time perfecting one’s
identity in a chosen path.
Stay Attractive - Personally & Company wise
The saying “looking good is good business” applies. Branding helps you stay
attractive within and without.

6. A deeper Insight
- What sets companies apart?
Goodwill - Oh yes! Goodwill is an intangible asset including value of company’s
brand name, solid customer base, good customer relations, good employee
relations, patents, proprietary technology, etc.

7. A deeper Insight
- What is setting you apart?
Your Voice - what makes you different is your
voice. Especially if people can hear it. Knowing your
personal brand helps EVERYONE, just apply the
right detail to “tell yourself”
“These days, when you’re talking to one person,
you’re talking to a thousand” - Anonymous

8. As DevOps Engineers, when we go from
place to place, we usually don’t have
tangible assets like an artist. Code is the
private domain of clients or the
organization we’re a part of and as a result,
we’re left with little to set us apart besides
title and some bullet points on a resume.
That lack of ownership is what makes
branding so crucial, especially when it’s one
of the only things that sets us apart.
“This practice of defining my
personal brand has not just let
me fully showcase the work i
do as an engineer, it’s helped
me cultivate and figure out
who I want to be to the world.”
- Neha Batra
Extract...

9. Keynote
Branding is the intentional strategy behind going
from the “you” now to the “you” you want to be
known as.
What is going to make your tree unique is
dependent on:
- Fertile Soil
- Root System
- Right amount of water
PS: You can grow whatever you want...

10. The Approach
Whether you’re coding, setting up
infrastructure, putting security and
processes in place, managing teams in the
midst of disaster or other related
engineering practice, think about personal
brand and make sure to follow these four
steps: Define, Curate, Grow, and
Learn.

11. Step 01
Define
Branding is a blend of how you feel and what other people feel
about you. It is however more focused on other people’s
perspective of you - the quicker this is realized the more relieving
it becomes.
To start off defining your brand, ask yourself the question “What do people
know me for?” if you struggle with this, go to your peers for feedback.
You can iterate between feedback and actions to learn more about your personal brand -
seek more to establish your strength when people commend your work.

12. Step 02
Curate
After getting feedback from your peers and colleagues, the next
step is curation. Fully understand what you want to be known for
and evaluating if it matches up with what people think about you in
your work, projects or anything else, utilize this info as your model.
Another way to conceptualize this step is thinking: “If you could start from
scratch, who would you want to be?” What you take away from this will
be your goal at the end of this entire branding process, known as the “future you”.
Try to end up with three things you want this future you to be known for.

13. Step 03
Grow
The next step is to grow into your future you. An important question
to ask is how you’re going to get from present you to future you.
Take the three things earlier mentioned, set goals and map to a
planned vision of the future self.
Make sure to have a clearly defined end result for each of these goals “You need to
know what success looks like” what’s the yardstick for measuring this?
It has to be properly defined.

14. Step 04
Learn
Analyse your success metrics and understanding how you’ve done. Put
an appointment on schedule to reflect internally or out loud with a
trusted friend or colleague. Reflection helps to figure out that next thing
that can be incorporated in the next iteration of personal branding
What’s key is to “Of course, learn to unlearn and relearn”
Remember to keep using social media and other available platforms to express yourself,
communicate your brand and showcase what you’ve got.

15. Conclusion
Now more than ever, for any career in tech to be successful….
...you have to think about cultivating a
personal brand and promoting it. By
creating a wealth of assets and
materials that define us in our
professional lives, we as developers are
able to define ourselves, set ourselves
apart from each other and grow in our
careers.

16. Thank you!
Got a question? Reach out:
Email: oadetimehin@terragonltd.com
Twitter: @Segzpair