How IT pros can make their personal brand stand out

It doesn’t take a marketing genius to know that building a brand is everything, even for IT professionals who want to expand their careers.

Just like networking, personal branding can help an IT pro make important connections, set themselves up for future jobs, and even develop a following. But how can they brand in a way that helps them stand out from the crowd?

What even is personal branding? IT Brew caught up with Joseph Liu, a career consultant and host of The Career Relaunch podcast, to break down what exactly personal branding entails.

“In a nutshell, personal branding is about defining and reinforcing who you are and what you want to be known for as a professional,” Liu said, adding that a strong brand can help a professional stand out from others in their industry, especially if they highlight unique skills and experience.

Angela Dugan, VP of product delivery at design and development firm Red Foundry, told IT Brew on the sidelines of Live! 360 Tech Con in Orlando that she views her personal brand as being a tech-industry thought leader who is “focused on people and culture.” Professionals may know Dugan for her candid blog posts detailing her career journey or her panels on topics like career transitions and imposter syndrome.

“People will say when they meet me that I’m so authentic, like I am the person I put up there on stage,” Dugan told IT Brew in a November interview. “When I talk about mistakes I’ve made, or the imposter syndrome I’m feeling, none of that is theory. That’s all me and I’m just putting it out there.”

Dugan thinks there are several reasons why professionals should consider nurturing their professional identity. She said personal branding has helped her land new opportunities, build a community within the tech industry, and even gain new clients.

Introverts rise! The idea of personal branding can be intimidating to a lot of people, according to Liu, who added it is a common misconception that branding only applies to influencers and extroverted people.

“I hope people don’t feel personal branding is limited to these very kind of outwardly facing…spotlight moments,” Liu said. “It doesn’t have to be. That’s one version of it.”

While Dugan said she is energized by being in a room of 300 people, she suggested that introverted or more reserved professionals can build their personal brand by finding a medium that suits them.

“I know a lot of introverts who podcast and blog because they have…a lower exposure to other people,” she said.

Liu added there are a number of internal and external moves that more reserved professionals can make to build their brand. “You could perhaps share a lesson that you’ve learned that relates to your skill set,” he said. “If you’ve just gone through a particular project and you’ve walked away with some key learnings, you can share that with your team on a Slack channel.”

How to stand out. Once an IT professional has decided to curate their personal brand, there are several ways they can differentiate themselves from others. Liu said they can choose how much they want to promote themselves and consider which outlets might suit them best, including podcasts, panels, and other types of industry events. Online opportunities to stand out include writing LinkedIn posts or posting on outlets like Substack or Medium.

“I would do something that you feel comfortable doing, and then just commit to some sort of a cadence that you feel is reasonable,” Liu said, adding that a daily online presence isn’t necessarily required for success.

Billy Hollis, partner at Nashville, Tennessee-based consulting firm Next Version Systems, said writing books helped to solidify and further his reputation in the industry. However, he also attributes his career to one other factor: his signature icy hair.

“By my 30s, it was all white or silver, and so I just left it like that,” Hollis said. “People kind of associate that with me.”

Hollis claims having a distinctive feature that “makes your silhouette stand out” can greatly further your brand (think: Steve Jobs’s iconic turtleneck). However, Liu said the average working professional may not need to commit to such a look to further their career, at least not yet: “For the everyday professional, it’s less about that, and it’s more about—it doesn’t sound as interesting—every day, putting in the work to showcase your skillset.”