For a lot of us, marketing yourself as an engineer or founder feels unnatural. We're trained to fix problems and make cool shit, not talk about ourselves. Most of us would rather be writing software than posting on LinkedIn or going to networking events. But without visibility, nobody knows what you can do, and the best work goes unnoticed. New opportunities disappear along with it. Since I started marketing myself, albeit slowly, my opportunities have grown tremendously in ways that never would have happened otherwise.
As an engineer who's spent years building things, there's not much I hate more than having to market myself. It makes me feel awkward and uncomfortable. I think it's my Midwestern roots—I don't like to talk about myself, let alone talk myself up. It feels like bragging, and nobody likes a bragger. So I get why most engineers treat marketing like a necessary evil. It's not that we're actually bad at it (well, some of us are), but marketing forces us out of our comfort zone. It asks us to do the opposite of what makes us good at software. In software, we can reiterate until we know things are right before releasing anything. We can do PR after PR until our product is just right before letting the outside world judge us. Marketing ourselves forces us out of that safe and warm bubble.
When you're putting yourself out there you're being vulnerable. In the tech space, that means going to meetups, networking events, talking to strangers pitching yourself or your product. This brings up anxious thoughts: What if they don't like me? Are they better than me? What are they going to think of my product? These thoughts are ridiculous because nobody is actually thinking this, and you're just being paranoid. But fear not, you can get over this with time.
One thing that's particularly hard is writing blog posts and LinkedIn posts that disappear into the void without any replies or comments. When that happens, I question myself: "Do I really know what I'm talking about? Do people even care?" When marketing myself, there are no stack traces or failing unit tests to tell me I'm doing it wrong. Just an awkward wait while I wonder whether I was invisible or simply wrong.
Until Covid, I never had a problem with any of this. The last five years of working remotely as a solo developer have turned me into an introvert. I think many developers feel the same way. Remote work is great, but it's incredibly isolating and can hurt our social skills. Mine have taken a nosedive. For some engineers, this is just how things have always felt. That's why marketing ourselves can feel like hell for developers.
Good news, there's a fix
The fix is two parts: The first is to stop thinking of marketing as "selling yourself." Instead, treat it like documenting your process. Share what you've learned, what broke, and how you fixed it. That's not self-promotion - it's contribution. The same discipline you apply to code reviews or architecture diagrams can make your writing, portfolio, and outreach sharper and more credible. The second is to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Get out and go to tech meetups and networking events. They will awkward at first but from my experience everyone in the Minneapolis tech scene is super cool and very welcoming.
Start small: post one lesson a week, join technical communities, and treat your website like a changelog of your professional growth. Over time, that visibility will compound, and you'll gradually become more comfortable.
If you're an indie developer, consultant, or engineer looking for better jobs or more clients, you don't need to become a marketer. You just need to make your work visible and get comfortable talking to strangers. People can't hire you if they can't find you. Clear communication in your own engineering voice is the quietest, most effective form of marketing there is.