[scarface_74]

I purposefully avoided “thought leadership”. When everyone is a thought leader - no one is. And 99% of thought leadership you find is vapid especially on LinkedIn.

And these days if you are just a commodity enterprise dev, it’s almost impossible to stand out from the noise.

Those were my Plan B jobs last year and the year before and it is a shit show out there right now and it’s worse than I have seen since 1996. Including in 2000 and 2008.

Luckily, in my more targeted niche, I was able to find a job quickly both times. But I would have been up the creek if it weren’t for my last three or four years of experience.

[chatmasta]

You’re right, “thought leadership” is a loaded term. Maybe “proof of passion” would be a better one. If you write about topics you’re working on, no matter how niche and no matter which forum (it doesn’t have to be a blog, it could be anywhere with your contact details attached), then eventually people will find you. I don’t blog, but I’ve had people email me because of obscure GitHub repos they found that helped them debugging a problem.

It’s ultimately a numbers game. The more you put yourself out there, the more likely something specific will resonate with someone at some point. The best opportunities often come from the smallest connections.

[mettamage]

This is a solid take. I played the numbers game with dating. It’s the same here