How positioning makes you stand out from the crowd

The market for engineers is tough right now not gonna lie. But there's something you can do to stand out and shine through.

No, it's not more side projects.

No, not a portfolio either.

Nope, not even a shiny resumé or social media presence.

It's your positioning statement.

What do you do, for whom, how?

Think like a consultant. Your job isn't what you do day to day on the computer, your job is what you achieve for the organization or person that hires you.

Not "I write React code", everyone's resumé says that even if they wrote that one class-based component for a group project back in 2017, hated the experience, and never looked at client-side JavaScript ever again.

Forget about the technologies you know. What do you do with those technologies? What's your favorite company type? What industry fulfills you? What company stage fires you up?

Instead of "I write React", think "I build consumer web products for companies with early product-market fit who need to scale fast. I like React because of benefits X, Y, Z"

Add a specific industry and you're golden.

This creates a few opportunities:

1. People know who to intro when they hear about a thing. Oh yeah, that guy, they're the perfect fit for what you need
2. Recruiters know what sort of company/project you're looking for
3. Companies and teams understand what you bring to the table
4. You can focus your search. Reach out to perfect places, not all places

If you can show a history of success in what you do, that's what your resumé should be all about. A sales collateral that talks benefits to the exact person you care to reach, not a laundry list of boring tech words.

My partner used that approach to land a job out of 1000+ applicants. Molded her entire resumé to ooze one message – "I am an expert in the payments space". It works.

What's your thing?

Cheers,
~Swizec