Personal Brand
Returning to the survey, I personally believe that building a personal brand is one of the soft skills of an IT professional. After all, not only resumes and portfolios can indicate the professionalism of a specialist.
How it works
Everyone wants to work for a good company and be highly valued. We instinctively strive for self-affirmation in the form of respect and recognition from colleagues, high compensation that is reviewed annually, and comprehensive development—you can always do better, be more productive, and be faster. Horizon after horizon we want to overcome if we can see what's next.
A personal brand is a tool that serves to achieve one's own goals. This is experience and reputation, a complete image of a professional, which we form and try to convey to the professional environment. Based on this, people think about us, and our work is noticed. The brand increases interest in the skills and abilities of a specialist — a kind of passive search tool for projects/people/funding. It works like a deposit: a little time and effort on a personal balance sheet, where little by little a name is formed, and competencies, reviews, opportunities, and requests from grateful clients and eager recruiters are collected.