Go Join Some Tech Slacks!

October 03, 2019

Today Joshua gives some simple advice as a starting point for our new mini series on marketing 101 for developers. This series is all about helping you get your name out there and get noticed.

Be sure to check out our new Slack community to meet others who are facing the same things you are and share your journeys!

• 00:00 Joshua

  Hey folks, welcome to Getting Apps Done, a mostly nontechnical podcast about building software.

• 00:10 Joshua

  I am Joshua and I am on my own today because Kel is off doing their civic duty sitting on a jury.

• 00:17 Joshua

  And last week we were talking about our shiny new websites and the reason we work on them. And uh, we wanted to start a small series of where we promised we would start a series of basically marketing one-on-one for developers because at certain points in your career, you're going to need to get some attention.

• 00:34 Joshua

  The old saying is it's not what you know, it's who, you know, I'd like to think it's probably both. But knowing people definitely helps and being able to get people to know you absolutely helps. So we wanted to go through some of the basics because I know certainly when I started my software development career, I was not very good at marketing at all.

• 00:56 Joshua

  In fact, I still would say that I'm not very good at it, but I'm much, much better than I was when I started. So I wanted to start sharing some of those things that we've learned over the years about how to get people to pay attention to you because that's an important thing when you're trying to find a job or when you are a freelancer and you're trying to find some work or if you've got a really great product idea. I know developers have really great ideas all the time and we build really great products that never see the light of day because a lot of times developers, I'm stereotyping someone here, but in general we're engineers. We aren't necessarily that great at getting attention.

• 01:28 Joshua

  So today I, I'm going to keep things fairly short because Kel's not here and I want to have a much bigger conversation next week when they're back. But for this week I want it to give some very practical advice. Something that I've been telling developers for awhile that I think is really easy to get started getting your name out there and is very practical and also very effective and the advice is quite simple.

• 01:51 Joshua

  Join some tech slacks.

• 01:52 Joshua

  It sounds really simple and for the most part it is. But there are a couple of key things here.

• 01:57 Joshua

  The reason I say to join tech slacks, particularly local tech slacks or if you're looking for remote jobs, there are remote specific tech sites out there, but the main goal here is to meet other developers because other developers work for companies that you're interested in working for or they might know about leads or they might have some leads that they can pass on to you. It's very important to know other developers because they can vouch for you, they can tell other people about you and them understanding what you are about, who you are and liking you is a really great way to get to know the right people who can help you get a job and as they are also developers, you've got a lot to talk about.

• 02:37 Joshua

  And don't be afraid if you aren't at a highly experienced developer. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, I would say one of the key things to all of this is letting people see you grow because that's much more important than knowing all the answers. We've said this on the podcast before. When I interview people, one of the key things that I'm looking for is to figure out how long it's going. Take me to teach them something that they can learn it, and if you are in these tech slacks and other developers see you on your learning journey and they see how quickly you're advancing, they can share that without the people. They can tell your prospective. Employers, I've seen this person start from zero and move up to here and that is really, really powerful. That's going to go a lot further than a lot of other things that you could possibly do.

• 03:22 Joshua

  Another great thing about these tech slacks is there aren't recruiters sitting in those tech slacks. They are talking to developers, they're paying attention to who's doing what. They know what's going on in the local tech scene. They talk to these companies as well and even better, they can actually put you forward for jobs if they think you're good for a particular role and in fact it's in their best interest to do that. Looking for... And that's one of the reasons I sit in these slacks is to keep an eye on talent because that's how they get paid. They get you a job, they get paid. It's a win win. So getting to know them, understanding who they are, letting them understand more about you and what you're capable of is absolutely a win for you.

• 04:00 Joshua

  And again, don't be worried about not knowing everything because they will know lots of companies that have lots of different need for different levels of developer.

• 04:07 Joshua

  You might be a perfect fit for one of those roles or 20 of those roles. Getting to know them is a sure fire way to get some attention and potentially find a job. Another great thing about it. It actually goes back to the first one, but if you're not looking for jobs, if you're looking for leads or if you aren't building a product and you need to get it out there, it's a really great way to talk to other people who are in a very similar situation. Other developers who have built products and advertised them or marketed them, other developers who are freelancers and find out how they get leads, how they market their product, what things have worked for them, what things haven't. Have a real discussion with them. It's a great way to share what you've learned as well as picking up new things from them.

• 04:52 Joshua

  Because when it comes down to it, I know marketing and sales and a lot of things, I used to think of them fairly negatively. I didn't see that they were a positive thing, but actually they're really about building relationships. When you go out to meet new people, some people you'll get along with and you might become friends. Some people you'll not necessarily get along with and you won't become friends and normally they don't go chasing you down, texting you all the time, emailing you all the time, putting ads up on every website that you see. They just naturally fades away.

• 05:23 Joshua

  And that's what a good marketing campaign should be. Either it's a good fit or it's not, they provide value or they don't and it ends at that state. And if you aren't doing that marketing, you have control of that. You can not nag people. You can try to find people who are a good fit that you can provide value to. And in general, as long as you're doing that, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

• 05:44 Joshua

  People are looking for solutions and if you can provide those solutions, that's good for them. It's good for you, but it's also good for them. So it's a mutually beneficial thing. And I think in all of the marketing discussions we're going to have or the next couple of weeks, we are going to be focusing on building healthy relationships, building relationships with people that are mutually beneficial.

• 06:05 Joshua

  Not chasing after everybody under the sun, trying to convince them to be your friend, but finding people who are a good fit already and learning how to communicate with them and getting their attention so that you can work with them and you can have that mutually beneficial relationship.

• 06:21 Joshua

  So go find some tech slacks if you are looking for a particular tech Slack. One good way to get started is to join our tech Slack. We talk about it all the time, but I obviously, as I'm talking about tech slacks, it seems like a really good opportunity to really go on about it.

• 06:35 Joshua

  Uh, you can join us at gettingappsdone.com/slack it's open to anybody. If you're developer, we'd love to have you. If you're not a developer, we'd love to talk to you about development when Mike bore you to death. But we'd love to talk to you about development anyway. So please do come join us, talk to us, ask us for any advice that you need. We are here to answer your questions and we're constantly looking for those questions so that we can answer them on the podcast as well, so we would love to have you.

• 07:03 Joshua

  Alright, I will put some transcripts up at gettingappsdone.com please be sure to check out my website at joshuagraham.info and Kel's website, even though they're not here today... at piffner.com. I would usually now tell you to go join the Slack. I'm going to tell you anyway, go join the tech slack at gettingappsdone.com/slack we would love to chat with you. We'd love to share marketing ideas with you. We'd love to hear about marketing, things that you've done, ways you've advertised products or gotten a job or find your leads if you're a freelancer. So please join us and let us know.

• 07:37 Joshua

  We post every Thursday, so we will be back next week with more marketing advice. As I promised. This is going to be a miniseries of marketing episode so developers can learn how to get their name out there.

• 07:48 Joshua

  So until next week. Thanks for listening.