We live in a very challenging world today. Although that might be true in various aspects of life, I am here focusing on the career perspective. Today, it’s harder to be a student than a decade ago. The expectations are phenomenal and sometimes may seem impossible. They are for sure causing a lot of students and graduates to suffer from stress and anxiety.
But, for this article, let’s focus on pursuing a career in tech, and all that we will talk about applies to all branches of the tech field. I will be mainly addressing Data Science-related branches. Data science is one of the well-known tech fields that has both high demand and high supply. It’s a field involved in every aspect of our life today—used in many applications to better our daily lives.
It is also an exciting and lucrative field to pursue. However, it is not easy to get into or easy to land a job in it. Getting a job in data science can be very competitive and could leave some feeling that they will never be good enough to get a job or are unhireable.
5 Reasons Why Having an Online Presence Is Essential For Data Scientist Success
That being said, there are steps that you can take that will increase your chances of getting hired and help you get in front of the companies you are targeting. One of the things you can do is build a solid online presence that tells your story and convince recruiters to make you an offer. But, what makes a solid online presence? In this article, we will go through 6 tips that guarantee a successful online presence.
Tip 1: Choose your platform wisely
Many forms of social media surround us; not all of them can help make our online presence professional and can help us build our brand. For programmers or data scientists, some social media platforms are better than others. Perhaps the most commonly used ones are YouTube, Twitter, GitHub, and a blogging platform, like Medium. These platforms enable you to showcase your coding skills, technical knowledge, and communication skills.
You don’t have to use all these platforms, of course, but you need to use the one that will enable you to deliver your voice the way you want it to be heard. Do you like making videos, are you comfortable in front of a camera, or know some editing? Then maybe try starting your YouTube channel. If writing is more for you, then start your blog and write about your experience.
No matter which platform you choose, make sure that you are making the best of it and always have a bigger picture in mind to work towards building.
Tip 2: Be consistent
Consistency is key. Don’t start a YouTube channel, post only one video, give up, or write just one blog post and then disappear. Instead, try to keep your presence consistent and under the same tone. The best way to deal with maintaining an online presence in your busy schedule is to make a schedule of posts, videos, or tweets you want to create ahead of time.
Make a schedule for your posting times, once a week, twice a week, or however often you feel comfortable. Then, take a day off every month and think of topics you want to write or record videos about and create a simple outline for those topics. This will help you save time later when you’re creating your content.
I know that in the beginning is going to be hard, and you won’t get much engagement. But, if you keep up the consistency and it will eventually pay off.
Tip 3: Control the narrative
Building an online presence is all about telling your professional story— painting a picture of yourself the way you want companies to see you. So, you need to make sure that the narrative you’re using is delivering the story correctly. Take some time to think about your blog or channel name, the types of content you will create, and the niche you will focus on.
You need to also think about the audience you’re targeting because your writing or talking style will differ based on that. For example, will you lean more towards creating academic content or more informal content for everyone? Again, setting the tone will help people better understand your presence and what you’re trying to achieve.
Tip 4: Find a good balance
You want your online presence to show that you’re putting a reasonable effort into building your image, but you need to ensure that it’s not selling the wrong impression. Think about it this way, and you start building your online presence, write 2 or 3 articles a day or shoot 2 or 3 videos. You think that quantity will lead to better visibility of your profile, but that’s not always the case.
When you’re building your presence, focus more on the quality of content rather than quantity. People will read a well-written blog or watch a well-made video. So focus on quality and try to find a good balance between the quantity of content you put out there and the quality of that content.
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Tip 5: Create a portfolio site
When a data scientist considers building an online presence, they will often divide their efforts into many platforms: LinkedIn, GitHub, Twitter, YouTube, and your blog. Although that is an excellent effort to show how diverse you are and how you can communicate through different styles, it is always good to have a portfolio website that connects all your online profiles.
Having a portfolio is an excellent way of having the whole story in one place. It will have general information about you, your professional interests, and the different forms of content you created online on various platforms.
Tip 6: Engage and ask for feedback
Again, building an online presence is about painting a picture of yourself professionally. Therefore, when you first start building your presence, it is essential to be open to feedback and engage with your audience. Read their feedback and think about it thoroughly, get what you can from it that will help you make better content, and discard the mean and unconstructive criticism.
The most important thing to remember is, no one starts at the top; you will need to work on your skills to be successful, so don’t let comments and criticism kill your enthusiasm and stop you from going further into your journey.
Final Thoughts
When I was first told I needed to work on my online presence, I didn’t understand what that meant. I then got deep into research mood, reading, studying, and asking people around me about what it takes to build a solid online presence. A presence that will put my skills in front of hiring managers.
An online presence includes presenting yourself on social media, like Twitter, Quora, and Instagram. Whether or not you have a portfolio website that contains all recruiters need to know about your professional background and skills. It also includes a teddy and organized Github profile with meaningful projects, a well-structured LinkedIn profile, and a blog or a vlog.
Now, having an online presence is not guaranteed to land the job, but it sure will help out your chances. Today, no respectable company will reject an applicant for the lack of online presence but may do so if the applicant has a negative presence. So, having a solid, focused, and consistent online presence can make job hunting a little less of a hassle.
I only hope that the tips in this article can help you build a solid presence that tells your professional story and help you land the role of your dreams.