How To Grow Your Personal Brand and Boost Your Career With Online Courses

Want to stand out from all the other developers like Wes Bos or Kent C. Dodds did? Want to connect with people in tech and discover more relevant professional opportunities? Then you need a personal brand.

If you are reading this article, the chances are that you already know what a personal brand is, and probably that you also know that it is important to build one as a software developer. But even if you don't, no worries, we will walk you through why personal branding is so important as a software developer and how you can use online courses to build your brand.

Ready to start building your personal brand as a software developer? Let’s go!

Why is personal branding so important for software developers?

If you are looking to move your career forward, get your dream job, or have more clients if you are a freelancer, then personal branding can help you with that. Actually, for anyone looking to succeed in our digital world having a strong brand and online presence is important, more than that, it has become a necessity.

Indeed, even if you have, as a software developer, skills that are in demand, you need to stand out from the crowd and differentiate yourself from the increased competition in tech.

Building your personal brand will increase your visibility online as you’re regularly and consistently sharing content online—whether it’s with 280 characters on Twitter, lengthy blog posts, YouTube videos, or online courses. Over time, this regular content-sharing will increase your visibility, help you connect with new audiences, and get you more opportunities in your life and career.

Personal branding also helps to position yourself as an expert and thought leader in your field. Just look at how Wes Bos and Kent C. Dodds (to name a few) have become some of the most popular guys in web development. They have hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter; they always get invited to speak at conferences and appear regularly in podcasts and live shows to talk about their field of expertise. They became the voices in web development in the tech community, and they did it by building their personal brand over the years. Indeed, they constantly share educational content (either paid or free) and make sure they are part of the discussion, which is contributing to their personal branding.

The best of all of this is that you can do the same. Anybody can share content and have an online presence. And as Wes and Kent did, a great (and probably the best) way to stand out and position yourself as an expert is by actively creating online courses to share your expertise, build your brand, and drive revenue.

Ways you can use online courses to build your brand

With the COVID-19 pandemic, we've seen a shift in almost all markets from physical to digital, where more businesses, experiences, and interactions in our life are going online.

E-learning is one of the sectors that has succeeded the most during the pandemic and continue to experience growth. People are eager to learn new skills and grow their career through online education. Plus, the technology that powers online learning is getting better as well, giving instructors the tools to create more engaging and interactive courses to deliver the best learning experience for their students.

That's why there's never been a better time to build your brand through online courses. So, let's look at some of the options you have to use online courses to build your brand depending on your goals.

• Increase your visibility and stand out from the crowd. If your goal is to get more job opportunities or more clients (if you are a freelancer), creating free online courses is a great way to showcase your technical and communication skills and generate leads. In addition, it can boost your visibility and online presence and makes you easily discoverable, which is crucial to stand out and get more opportunities. For example, as a software developer, you could create and offer mini-courses to give your potential clients a glimpse into your paid services. Online courses are also really great to put on a resume. By doing so, you'll stand out for sure during screening and interviews.

• Increase your credibility and authority. Obviously, one of the main benefits you can get from creating online courses is to become a thought leader and expert. So, if this is your goal, offer your expertise to your audience through online courses by choosing a niche topic within your field. Most often, those courses are premium and very high-quality and provide a lot of value to your students. They also serve the first goal listed before.

• Generate scalable revenue and passive income. Creating courses online is also an excellent way to generate a steady and scalable income stream you could reinject in building your business and personal brand. Once again, if you are a freelancer, having online courses helps you grow your business without taking more time (once launched) on your already busy calendar. And if you are working full-time for a company, it gives you an extra income stream and helps you build your professional presence and identity outside of your current job/employer.

Key takeaway and next steps

Remember, creating online courses as a software developer can only benefit you and your personal brand. You'll get more visibility online, differentiate yourself from the crowd, help you become an expert in your field, and give you an extra revenue stream.

At AlterClass, we believe that giving software developers the tools to create engaging and interactive online courses can be a driver to helping individuals find success in their careers. So, we invite you to join us on that journey.