What Should I Do to Stand Out in Tech?

Let's be honest with each other, developers, vibe-coders, and techies alike. The tech market out there is really rough. Companies are laying off their staff, creating more competition and making it difficult for new developers to get their foot in the door, especially when you're likely to be competing against people with years of experience (I'm talking about 10 years' worth).

Not just that, AI is making it wayyy easier for anyone to catch the eye since literally anyone can do almost anything with AI. People are using AI to create their resumes, build new projects, create workflows, automate tasks, and generally stand out. This, in turn, raises the standard for everyone.

As a techie who has been in the AI space before and during the AI era, I have seen this happen in real time. It is quite interesting and freaky when you think about how fast tech is moving. While I can't say I wasn't expecting some evolution in the tech space, I didn't think technology could change this much in just a few years.

I've recently been thinking about those who are trying to get their first job in tech, or even those currently looking to land a job or role. This includes people who are already deep in the tech space as well as those who are just getting started. Either way, the market is tough, especially for beginners and newcomers.

The Medusa Solution

Yeah, you thought right.. there's no single answer.

Before AI, the general advice was to build projects that demonstrated what you were learning. So, you could build calculator apps, consume weather APIs, etc. This was usually provided you were using the tech stack companies were working with, or even grinding LeetCode problems.

Now, with AI, you can do all of these things really quickly. Regardless of the project, it can be vibe-coded in seconds. The tech stack doesn't really matter here if you can vibe-code it and solve LeetCode problems well.

The point I'm trying to make is that the advice on standing out in tech changes with time. And it changes so quickly that it's actually hard to determine which advice is "correct".

It's difficult to know whether the advice was useful because you don't really get feedback, especially during actual interviews, since you're more likely to get ghosted or rejected.

Yes, you could argue that you can get feedback on your friends' resumes, do mock interviews, and so on. However, their advice is mostly based on their experiences (just like mine is). And everyone's experience is different, so what are the chances that the same thing that happened to me will happen to you too?

You see, the experience might not apply to the same situation or scenario.

Following the Herd (Not the Dead 😅, walking dead fans will relate better)

Let me bring in a couple of analogies that I hope will best demonstrate the tech market right now.

I'll assume that a lot of us reading this have interacted with TikTok at some point in our lives. You know how you check in one day and there's a trending sound, a dance challenge, or something else, and everyone is hopping on it. A couple of days later, you check back in and there's a different trend, a new sound, or a new dance step.

One I clearly remember is the viral TikTok sound trend, Papaoutai, from earlier this year (there were a lot of videos using the sound).

Now, let's bring this analogy into the tech market.

You listen to what everyone else is saying, and you start taking that advice. Maybe you hear that everyone (the walkers, sorry, another Walking Dead reference) is moving towards Python. You end up joining them and becoming a walker yourself, heading towards Python, picking up a lot of skills and building projects along the way.

Then the word spreads that the walkers are switching to JavaScript. Now you pick up JavaScript skills and still build projects with your time and effort... again.

Do you see it now? I hope you do. 😅

The problem isn't that you're bad. The problem is that you're doing what everyone else is doing (walking, sorry 😁).

You should be doing you.

It doesn't have to be in tech alone or even involve a programming language. It could be anything. That new instrument you're learning to play, or driving (I'm kidding. Drive safe, please).

Blending into a fast-paced tech market makes things a tad more dangerous because we blindly follow advice due to FOMO, or, in this case, the Fear Of Not Falling Behind (FONFB).

This could range from hoping to find a tech job before graduation to finding a tech job just to pay for necessities.

My Point?

AI can do anything, the job market is cooked (maybe you are too), and tech is moving fast.

This sounds hopeless, for sure. Because how can you stay up to date when things are moving this quickly?

You don't.

Maybe the top 1% can. However, I've seen a lot of individuals who have successfully accomplished their goals in tech despite the seemingly impossible odds. A couple of people I know have gotten their first roles in tech despite the AI era, while others who were seeking employment eventually found other roles in tech.

Either way, they're not perfect.

They just know what to look out for because they know themselves and what works for them.

Early on when I started, I fell into the mistake of following what everyone else was doing. From making sure my GitHub contribution graph was all green to ensuring my resume followed some sort of pattern, I was always trying to keep up.

If I heard someone talk about something that worked for them, I would immediately assume and hope that it would work for me too. Which, as you might have guessed, it didn't.

I realised later, even recently, that I've been doing what everyone else is doing. If you think about it, you're not really standing out if everyone else is doing the same thing.

I realised that the question was never, "What do I need to do to stand out?"

It's "What do I need to do to stand out?"

More importantly, what do I need to do for myself to stand out?

Although there's no clear answer to how you can stand out in tech, there are a few things you can think about to help you get a good start. These steps are in no particular order, and they're based on what has helped me.

1. Self-reflection!

This comes first because, to stand out, you must first admit that you're not as good as you think you are, and that there is something new worth learning.

There's a video I'll share that I believe best describes how things feel in the tech market:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSmLRK0liVg

So, for this section, I'll leave you with this:

There are only two ways people change:

• Through deep self-reflection.
• When they're forced to change by circumstance.

Unfortunately, a lot of people would rather do the bare minimum just to get by. A great example would be students doing the bare minimum just to get a degree.

No internships, no certifications, no projects, no connections...

Maybe it worked in the 1900s, but not today. The stakes have never been higher, and it's expected that each individual will do more than what's required of them.

A good start is to think about what you want to be like in five years.

I know a lot of us don't like asking questions like this because we expect there to be a correct answer. But the truth is, you don't have to have one.

Just think about it: "If I bring my current knowledge, as it is, into the next five years, will I be satisfied?"

2. Take Advice with a Grain of Salt, Regardless of How Useful It May Sound!

This is really important. The advice given to you will most likely not always fit what you need it for.

I used to think decorating your resume would help applicants stand out in the tech market. Although that's true to some extent, I've come to realize that it doesn't always apply to the tech market.

Decorating your resume might cause an ATS not to parse it properly, which could lead to rejections even when you're qualified for the position.

What I'm saying is this: if you're given advice, stop and actually think about it before acting on it. If it eventually doesn't work for you or benefit you, don't do it. Find an alternative.

3. Have Something Ready to Show. In Essence, Don't Just Walk, BUILD!

Yeah, I don't think I can overemphasize this enough.

You should build and keep building. However, when I say build, I don't mean creating another calculator application or consuming a weather API. Trust me, recruiters have seen plenty of those and are probably tired of seeing them.

Build something that can demonstrate your capabilities to a recruiter.

Don't just build another website or web app simply because you want to build something. Find a reason.

Why should you build a new website? Is it to strengthen your design skills, typography, or layout?

Why should you build a new web app? Maybe it's because you want to learn more about database queries, data caching, network requests, routing, middle-ware, etc.

This doesn't just show what you've done; it also shows how you think. And trust me, your thought process matters more than the finished product.

That's what people pay top dollar for.

4. Observe the Current Environment to Your Advantage!

Look around you. Take a look at what everyone else is doing in the tech space and use that to your advantage when trying to stand out.

This will take a LOT of time since it can range from observing projects to understanding how everyone feels about the current market.

I'll give you one last one (yeah, a freebie):

Everyone else is vibe-coding an invoicing application. Maybe it's a full-stack restaurant application (definitely not Chowdeck. That takes some real hardware and brainpower), for example.

You come across a lot of people doing stuff like this because you're snooping around everyone's GitHub activity.

With the information presented to you, how can you stand out?

Maybe instead of building a full-stack application like everyone else, you could start building something that hardly anyone else is building, like projects with Arduinos!

There you go!

Surprisingly, believe it or not, this is just a small example. This idea can scale all the way to the tech market in general. The whole idea is to look around, see what's happening, and use that information to your advantage when figuring out how to stand out.

These four things should give you a good starting point for thinking about the question: "What do I need to do for myself to stand out?"

Maybe this advice won't work for you directly, and that's okay. I just want you to at least start thinking about where you currently are and set goals for yourself to work towards.

For me, I realised I needed to put myself out there. I knew that cold-DMing companies wasn't necessarily the solution, so I started thinking about other ways to build connections.

One of those ways was blogging!

A couple of months later, I'm grateful for where I am now.

Keep in mind that this is optional. No one told me to do this other than myself.

If there's something you're seeing and telling yourself is optional, do it anyway. I've learnt that you may never know what opportunities might come from it.

And if it turns out that nothing ultimately happens, at least you did it, learnt something, and grew from the experience instead of making no progress at all.

Instead of following what everyone else is doing to stand out, maybe start by getting to know yourself. That way, you'll know what you need to do.

That is what makes you truly stand out, and someday, someone will notice.

I want to hear what you think!

Was this advice helpful? Any thoughts? Feel free to comment below about where you are in tech and whether you need any assistance.

Also, if you have any advice about working in tech, I'd love to hear from you!

See you later! 😁