An Engineer's Guide to Linkedin 💼
A simple guide for Engineers and Leaders on how to leverage LinkedIn for Career Growth
Luca here! After the one on salary reviews, which got a fantastic reception, this is another article written together with Nicola, on one of the topics he is an absolute authority on: using Linkedin.
Nicola grew his Linkedin account from 3,000 to 24,000 followers in about 8 months, which is way better than I could ever do myself.
He also earned the rare Top Voice 🏅 badge, which grants him even more exposure and benefits.
In this piece, he shares strategies, tips and tricks that can be helpful to any engineer or manager to get the most out of Linkedin 👇
Nicola here! As an engineer, I understand well the challenges some of us face when it comes to self-promotion and curating our public image.
I’ve been there multiple times, and it feels intimidating to let others know who you are.
However, having conducted numerous interviews and continuing to do so today, I've also experienced the disappointment of finding little to no information about a potential candidate on their LinkedIn profile.
Some do not even have a profile at all.
So, it's not that you can't be an excellent engineer or leader without LinkedIn, but it certainly makes it more challenging to discover you and get an idea of your capabilities.
Moreover, during the past 8 months, I've actively used this platform to share my writings, expand my network, and, of course, grow my newsletter.
Through this journey, I've learned an incredible amount of things that I've decided to share with you today, to demonstrate why something that may have once seemed pointless or optional is now, in my opinion, essential.
Specifically, I will cover:
🏆 The Importance of LinkedIn — and why you should care about it.
🗺️ Strategies — for leveraging LinkedIn as an engineer.
🛠️ Practical steps — to optimize your presence on LinkedIn.
💡 Tips and tricks — based on my first-hand experience.
Let's dive in!
🏆 Why you should care about LinkedIn
As of today, LinkedIn is the only relevant social network dedicated to professionals, estimated to have around 1 billion active users.
Here are the three main reasons to invest in it:
👥 Networking — you can connect with peers and exchange opinions in a professional environment.
🛠 Jobs — you can find job opportunities and hire talent yourself.
📚 Learning — depending on who you decide to follow, LinkedIn is rich with interesting content for your personal and professional growth.
My last 8 months on Linkedin
I joined LinkedIn in 2008 after bootstrapping my first company, but at that time, Facebook was still a decent place for business, so I was more focused on it. Then I completely put aside social networks for more than a decade, and returned just recently, mainly to LinkedIn.
When I logged in last July, my follower count was at ~3,000.
Today, after 8 months, it’s 24,000+, and I can also say that my posts receive good and genuine engagement.
While follower count and number of likes are mainly vanity metrics, I can confidently say that LinkedIn in the last months has helped me improve many aspects of my Engineering Leadership journey:
I met 100+ interesting people, and with some of them, I even built friendships.
I exchanged many opinions and had pleasant discussions that enriched myself and helped me look at situations from different perspectives.
I improved the way I communicate with others, not only on LinkedIn, but also in my job and other situations.
My English vocabulary dramatically improved.
I started to gain authority on the topics I write about.
💼 Active vs Passive Experience
So, as engineers or leaders, should you all become content creators on LinkedIn?
Absolutely not.
LinkedIn, like other social networks, can be experienced in various ways, from passive to active engagement.
Passive engagement is about observing and learning:
👀 Observe — maintain a presence on the platform while being merely an observer.
📚 Learn — consume LinkedIn content without engaging.
Active engagement is about interacting and creating:
💬 Interact — engage with content produced by others.
✍️ Create — produce and share your own content.
However, regardless of how you intend to use this platform, there's one first essential step you should always take: carefully curate your LinkedIn profile.
The way you curate it should be influenced by your career stage and objectives.
So, the first and most important step is to define your goal and the desired outcome you seek from this platform.
Let me give you a few examples:
1) Are you seeking a new job as an Engineer?
You can adopt a passive strategy by tailoring your profile to clearly showcase your skills and experience, emphasizing the areas where you're seeking employment.
2) Are you a manager looking to attract talent?
Consider a more active strategy, engaging with developers and leveraging your profile to attract potential candidates.
3) Do you want to grow your audience and become an authority in a specific space?
In this scenario, your profile becomes crucial. You'll also need to start producing your own content to establish your expertise.
🛠️ Curate your Profile
Your LinkedIn profile is your business card, the first thing that anyone stumbling upon LinkedIn sees. For this reason, it is crucial to take care of it and make it presentable.
There are tons of LinkedIn gurus and influencers out there; I don’t feel like one of them, and getting you thousands of followers and likes is not the aim of this guide.
But in the last months, as every good engineer would do, I did experiment a lot with my LinkedIn profile, and I believe that there are some minimum requirements to ensure at least a decent presence on the platform:
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