In this article, I'll share the insights I've gained to help you optimize your profile so that you can achieve similar success.

Hello, my name is Michael. Like many others, I am a self-taught web developer on a journey to transition from my current career into the tech industry.

Although I haven't finished learning front-end web development, I am already earning side income by writing articles and providing code reviews. How did I accomplish this? One of the ways is through an optimized LinkedIn profile, which helps bring monetary opportunities directly to me.

In this article, I will share with you what I learned from having my LinkedIn profile reviewed by employees from LinkedIn and Microsoft, recruiters, and a tech celebrity during livestream events. 📺

Why should you optimize your LinkedIn profile?

Having a LinkedIn profile in today's industry is arguably just as important as having a resume/CV.

By optimizing your LinkedIn profile, you will not only stand out from the crowd of other web developers but also help attract recruiters, hiring managers, and additional opportunities directly to you. 💸

How you should treat LinkedIn

Unlike other platforms, LinkedIn is a professional work-related platform, and it should be treated as such. Refrain from posting personal social content, your opinions on controversial subjects, and anything else that may hinder your reputation.

You have a right to voice your opinions, but you should consider posting them on other social media platforms. It is not in your best interest for potential hiring managers to dismiss you from employment opportunities simply by judging you based on your posted content. 😬

LinkedIn Profile Sections

To optimize your LinkedIn profile, I will guide you through each of the following LinkedIn profile sections:

• How to Optimize your LinkedIn Profile Picture and Banner
• Open to Work Banner
• Headline Section
• Location Setting
• Featured Section
• Activity Section
• Summary (About) Section
• Experience Section
• Education Section
• Licenses and Certifications Section
• Projects Section
• Skills and Endorsements Section
• Recommendations Section
• Honors & Rewards (Accomplishments) Section
• Creator Mode

Additional tips:

1. Post external links in the comments
2. Change the default profile URL to your name
3. Separate Profile for separate languages
4. LinkedIn Learning
5. LinkedIn Skill Assessments

💡 Tip: Did you know many recruiters are not programmers? Keep this in mind to better optimize your LinkedIn profile.

How to Optimize your LinkedIn Profile Picture and Banner

In this section, you'll learn how to optimize your profile picture and banner on LinkedIn to make your profile look more professional.

How to Optimize your Profile Picture

Your profile picture is easy, so we'll start with that. Since the absence of a picture or an avatar in its place may be perceived as a red flag to hiring managers, use a real picture of yourself (don't be shy). 😏

Use a close-up picture of yourself in professional clothing, as you would in an interview, from the shoulder area up, and a professional-looking or blank background.

How to Optimize your Banner Image

For your banner, your goal is to convey a clear picture of your desired job role.

When creating a custom banner, here are things to consider:

• The banner image should reflect your desired job role, not contradict it.
• Other people viewing your profile may not be programmers.
• Everyone will not recognize tech icons without the corresponding names.
• Add contact information as an alternative method to be reached.
• Incorporate a hobby to spark conversation.

Banner Image

An unintentional mistake I made was to use on my blog's logo as a banner, which included the word "self-taught" in big letters. Danny Thompson brought to my attention during a livestream review that it wasn't in my best interest to broadcast that I am a self-taught developer, as it can be seen as a red flag to hiring managers.

Other banner image mistakes include unrelated tech images such as nature scenery or having no banner at all. Remember, you want your banner to reflect your desired job role.

Another thing to remember is that other people viewing your profile may not be programmers, so including icons alone without corresponding names, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and React logos, may not be recognized by everyone.

Adding contact information

Another thing I learned while having my profile reviewed is that recruiters have a limited number of monthly LinkedIn InMail credits available to reach out to potential candidates. So, adding your contact information to your banner, such as your website, email, and phone number, creates an alternative means of reaching you without having to utilize their InMail credits.

Conversation starter

This will not be for everyone, but it is definitely worth mentioning. Recruiter Taylor Desseyn told us of a developer who incorporated his time as a sound engineer for the Backstreet Boys in his LinkedIn banner. This caught the attention of a recruiter who contacted the developer due to their music industry experience, ultimately securing them a tech job. So, if you have a personal, non-tech-related experience or hobby that could potentially spark a conversation, consider including it.

💡 Tip: Recruiters have a limited number of InMail credits, which they use to reach out to potential candidates. Providing your contact information in your LinkedIn banner provides an alternative method for others to get in touch with you.

Open to Work Banner

If you are feeling brave, you can display an "OPEN TO WORK" banner that proudly displays your availability to everyone.

However, since this is a delicate topic, and everyone's situation varies, there is an option that allows you to maintain the privacy of your open-to-work status. There will not be a displayed banner, but recruiters will know you are available to work. 🤫

To set the "Open to Work" banner on LinkedIn, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your LinkedIn account and navigate to "Edit job preferences."
2. Fill in the fields, such as job titles, location types, start date, and employment types.
3. Now, for visibility, choose whether to share your open-to-work status with all LinkedIn members or only with recruiters. Selecting the first option will display the "Open to Work" banner on your profile picture, while the second option keeps it private.
4. Click "Save" to apply the changes.

Note: Please proceed with caution when selecting your open-to-work status, regardless of whether you choose to display the banner or not, as LinkedIn has a disclaimer stating they cannot guarantee complete privacy. Use this feature at your own risk.

Headline Section

In your headline section, briefly describe yourself by adding keywords that match the job role you seek and your skill sets. In my case, I entered "Technical Writer | Front-End Web Developer | React | JavaScript | CSS | HTML | Scrimba Code Reviewer."

Of course, you can get more descriptive and tell a little about yourself, but the main goal is to provide specific keywords.

The reason for including keywords related to your skills and desired job role in your headline ensures that you appear in relevant search results of recruiters and employers.

Location Setting

For my LinkedIn location setting, I initially set it to Brooklyn, New York, which is where I am based. When LinkedIn employee Austin Henline reviewed my profile, he explained that setting my profile to Brooklyn limits the searches I appeared to just Brooklyn.

By modifying my LinkedIn location from Brooklyn to the New York City Metropolitan Area, which includes Brooklyn, I substantially expanded the range of job searches in which I appear.

To optimize your LinkedIn location setting most effectively, select the broadest range that encompasses the specific location where you live or desire to work.

How to change the location setting on LinkedIn:

1. Click on your profile picture or the "Me" icon at the top of the LinkedIn homepage.
2. Click "View Profile" to access your profile page.
3. In the "Intro" section, click the pencil icon to edit your information.
4. In the "Location" field, enter the desired location or select from the suggested options.
5. Click "Save" to apply the changes.

💡 Tip: Optimize your LinkedIn location setting by choosing an area that covers a broad radius, ensuring your profile appears in more job searches.

Featured Section

The Featured section is the place to proudly display your achievements, awards, best original projects (not direct copies of tutorial projects), and similar content to showcase yourself in the spotlight. This section is arranged horizontally, scrolls like a carousel, and enables you to rearrange and pin your most recent content to the beginning/top.

Examples of content to feature include:

• Testimonials received
• Awards or recognitions received
• Published articles or blog posts
• Appearances (such as Livestream events)
• Presentations or conference talks

Keep in mind that others viewing your work might not be developers, so be sure to provide clear descriptions and context for each featured item, including the technologies used if applicable (such as React, Tailwind, JavaScript, and so on).

You can optimize your Featured section by including all relevant materials that demonstrate your skills and experience. Additionally, include content that you believe will effectively grab the attention of recruiters and hiring managers.

I display all of my colorful article thumbnails with external links to each, in the Featured section, transforming it into a visually appealing scrolling magazine rack. 📰

💡 Tip: Showcase your best content in the Featured section to capture the attention of recruiters and hiring managers, and remember to update it frequently.

Activity Section

It's vital for you to keep your LinkedIn profile active because a profile without activity will display a "hasn't posted lately" message in the Activity section. Recruiters and hiring managers are hesitant to reach out to profiles without activity because they are uncertain whether their attempts to make contact will be successful.

You can keep your profile active by:

• Creating posts: Share updates, articles, or insights to showcase your expertise and engage with your network.
• Leaving comments on posts: Interact with others by providing valuable feedback, asking questions, or sharing your thoughts on their content.
• Sharing posts: Amplify the reach of interesting content with your network, helping spread valuable insights and knowledge.
• Attending LinkedIn Livestream events: Participate in live video events hosted by industry experts, companies, or influencers to learn, network, and engage with others (Taylor Desseyn has great ones).
• Publishing articles: Write long-form content on LinkedIn to demonstrate your knowledge, share your experience, and establish yourself as a thought leader in your field.

Having an active profile will increase your visibility to recruiters and hiring managers, and since they know you frequently use the platform, they will not be hesitant to reach out to make contact with you.

💡 Tip: Keep your profile active to avoid the "hasn't posted lately" message in the Activity section, which may discourage recruiters and hiring managers from attempting to contact you.

Summary (About) Section

Everyone seems to have various opinions about what to put in your About section. From what I gathered through my profile reviews and research of LinkedIn documentation, the overall idea is to craft it like an elevator pitch.

So, what is an elevator pitch? An elevator pitch is a short speech briefly describing your background, skills, goals, and unique value, typically around 30 seconds to 1 minute (the length of time spent in an elevator with someone).

If you alternatively prefer a more detailed approach to crafting your About section, I recommend following the guidance of LinkedIn employee, Austin Henline. He advises providing five paragraphs that contain the following:

1. A hook: A captivating opening statement that grabs the reader's attention.
2. Your past: A brief overview of your previous experiences and accomplishments.
3. Your present: A description of your current role, responsibilities, and ongoing projects.
4. Your future: A statement outlining your career goals and aspirations.
5. Your skills: A list of your relevant technical and soft skills showcasing your expertise.

To further optimize your About section and make it more visible in search results of potential employers, be sure to incorporate plenty of relevant keywords, as this section is also keyword-searchable. You can incorporate web developer keywords such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, responsive design, UX/UI design, accessibility, performance optimization, etc.

The Mistakes I made

To further improve your LinkedIn About section, consider the constructive feedback I received from recruiter Molly-May Gallagher. Enhance your LinkedIn summary by clearly stating desired work, highlighting key technical skills, focusing on relevant experiences, detailing current role technologies, and removing unrelated information for a concise, impactful summary.

Also, be sure to clarify your desired job roles to avoid confusion. Alishah Novin from Microsoft pointed out that listing multiple roles, like technical writing and front-end development, as I did, can make your true passion unclear, leading to potential missed opportunities.

💡 Tip: Include keywords relevant to your industry and desired job role in your About section to increase search results visibility.

Experience Section

To best optimize the Experience section of your LinkedIn profile, list your experiences relevant to the job roles you are currently seeking (not all of your unrelated tech roles). For each experience listed, be sure to include details for each, including company name, duration, and a brief description of your responsibilities and achievements.

For example, I will share a tech-related experience I included. Since I work part-time remotely as a paid code reviewer for Scrimba, in addition to a detailed description of the job role, I added the following keyword searchable skills: React, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and Teaching. I also linked to a playlist of my recorded code reviews so that others can see a demonstration of my skills.

💡 Tip: If you are currently in college or recently graduated and lack work experience, you can highlight your volunteer experience, club experiences, and projects in your profiles Experience section.

Education Section

In the Education section, list the degrees and diplomas you have earned, along with the schools, colleges, or universities you have attended. You also have the opportunity to include any additional relevant information, such as participation in activities, societies, or honors you have received.

To best optimize the Education section, emphasize relevant coursework, highlight achievements, and explain the impact of education on your career trajectory as it relates to computer programming.

💡 Tip: If you have a time gap between jobs due to a career transition or break, you can create a positive spin on it by adding supplemental work experience such as completing Bootcamps, earning certificates, studying, and freelancing.

Licenses and Certifications Section

This section lets you showcase your professional certifications, licenses, and achievements. As a web developer, I'm sure you have completed many online courses that issued certificates from schools such as freeCodeCamp, Scrimba, Sololearn, and similar. You can add each of your earned certificates in this section and link to them (I have my linked certificates stored on GitHub).

To add a certification, go to your LinkedIn profile, click "Add profile section," select "Licenses & certifications," and enter the required details such as certification name, issuing organization, issue date, expiration date, and associated credential ID.

Projects Section

As a developer, you are definitely going to want to utilize this elusive yet extremely valuable LinkedIn feature, the Projects section. I wasn't even aware this section existed until LinkedIn employee Austin Henline revealed it during a YouTube Livestream.

The Projects section allows you to showcase your work, giving you an opportunity to demonstrate your skills and expertise. For each project, be sure to include a brief description and the technologies used _(remember, not all recruiters and hiring managers are programmers)_. You can also provide a link to the deployed project or repository, which allows others to view it.

I decided to showcase my deployed Tetris project. I followed freeCodeCamp's game tutorial, taught by Ania Kubow, and took it to the next level by adding styling, sounds and music, a scoring system, and more.

When users click on the link to the deployed project directly within the LinkedIn app, they are instantly mesmerized as they suddenly take control of the falling tetrominoes trying to clear completed solid rows. My hope is that they become momentarily lost in the game, and when it ends, they click back to my profile and think, "We have to hire this guy!"

To access the LinkedIn Projects section and add projects:

1. Click on "Add profile section".
2. Click on "Recommended".
3. Choose "Add projects".
4. Fill in the project details, such as the project name, description, and date.
5. You can add your top 5 skills used in this project.
6. You can add media such as images, documents, sites, or presentations
7. Click "Save" to add the project to your profile.

💡 Tip: To best optimize your LinkedIn profile, include unique projects in your Projects section that will captivate and draw the interest of recruiters and hiring managers.

Skills and Endorsements Section

The Skills section enables you to showcase your abilities, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and allows others to endorse each skill mentioned.

Be sure to add skills that are most relevant to the job roles you are seeking, and prioritize obtaining endorsements for them. The more endorsements you accumulate, the more credible you and your profile appear to potential employers.

Recommendations Section

Be sure to utilize the Recommendations section of your profile by asking others you have worked with to provide them. Just like receiving endorsements for your skills, having recommendations will also help increase your credibility and will make your profile more appealing to recruiters and hiring managers.

You can also write and provide recommendations for fellow LinkedIn members in your network.

Honors & Awards (Accomplishments) Section

In your LinkedIn profile's Honors & awards section, you can showcase your achievements, awards, and recognitions. Be sure to add ( and earn ) relevant honors and awards, as this section demonstrates additional credibility to potential employers, further optimizing your LinkedIn profile.

Honors & awards may include:

• Coding competition awards
• Scholarships and grants
• Community leadership roles
• Technical writing achievements
• Speaking achievements
• Mentorship roles

Creator Mode

If you are a content creator, turning on LinkedIn Creator mode provides additional tools such as a "Follow" button, analytics, profile topics, and a set of creator tools that you can use to optimize your LinkedIn profile further.

Follow button

The Follow button provides LinkedIn members with an alternative option to connect with you. Once you surpass five hundred connections, a "500+ connections" displays, whereas there is no limit to the number of displayed followers.

Analytics

Analytics includes your post impressions, profile views, followers, and your search appearances. You will gain insights into your content's performance by selecting date ranges from a week to a year and choosing from a list of demographics. This information will help you clearly understand who is engaging with your content, allowing you to make informed decisions about your content strategy.

Profile topics

Creator mode allows you to showcase five "Profile Topics" that highlight your expertise, making it simpler for audiences to understand your focus, enhancing credibility, and attracting a targeted audience.

Creator tools include:

• Collaborative articles: Jointly written articles by multiple authors on LinkedIn.
• LinkedIn Live: Real-time video streaming feature on LinkedIn for engaging audiences.
• Audio Event: Virtual audio-based discussions or presentations on LinkedIn.
• Newsletters: Periodic publications sent to subscribers, sharing updates and insights.
• Follow link: Button on LinkedIn profiles for users to follow and receive content updates.

The collaborative article is a new feature where the LinkedIn team creates an AI article, and invites select members to participate by adding their valuable insights.

As an active LinkedIn member, I was recognized and invited to participate. As I continue to add value to these collaborative articles, I currently have a "Top Writing Voice" badge displayed. However, I hold this badge for a minimum of 60 days, and if LinkedIn members stop finding my insights valuable, they will take the badge away. (No pressure, right? 😅)

At this time, collaborative articles are by invitation only, but they mentioned LinkedIn members who engage with them by liking or reacting to them will be considered.

Attribution: LinkedIn logo by LinkedIn Corporation, used under fair use for informational purposes.

Additional tips

In this section, I included a few additional LinkedIn tips I have learned that are worth sharing with you.

They include:

1. Post external links in the comments

When sharing content that is located on other platforms using links, do not put the link directly in your LinkedIn post. Instead, add external links in the comments of your LinkedIn post. This tip came from a LinkedIn employee who explained that doing this significantly improves your post's reach/performance on the platform.

2. Change the default profile URL to your name

For a more professional URL, you have the option to change the default one created to your name. My original URL was "https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-larocca-9315a3202/". I have since changed it to "https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljudelarocca"

Here are the steps to changing your profile URL:

• Click on your profile picture or the "Me" icon at the top of the LinkedIn homepage.
• Click "View Profile" to access your profile page.
• In the "Intro" section, click the pencil icon to edit your information.
• Scroll down to "Edit public profile & URL" on the top right and click it.
• On the new page, under "Edit your custom URL," click the pencil icon next to your current URL.
• Enter your desired custom URL and click "Save" to apply the changes.

3. Separate Profile for separate languages

If you speak more than one language, you may be filling out your profile multilingually. Doing so will quickly deplete your allotted character limit for each section and may cause confusion for others viewing your profile.

As an alternative, you can create separate profiles for each language. Maintaining a profile for each language provides the advantage of personalizing them to attract diverse job opportunities in their respective languages.

Here are steps to add a profile in another language (desktop/laptop version only):

• On the top right, click on "ME."
• Then click on "View Profile."
• Finally, on the right, click on "Add profile in another language."

4. LinkedIn Learning

With a premium membership, you can access LinkedIn Learning, an online educational platform offering a wide range of courses. Upon completing these courses, you will receive LinkedIn Learning certificates, which optimize your LinkedIn profile by displaying your skills and professional development to prospective employers and connections.

You can take advantage of a free trial period to explore the platform by signing up for a one-month LinkedIn Premium membership. _(You can take LinkedIn Learning courses from Dylan Israel, a successful graduate of freeCodeCamp and a LinkedIn Learning instructor.)_

5. LinkedIn Skill Assessments

Skill Assessments are FREE tests offered by LinkedIn to evaluate your proficiency in various skills. A corresponding badge will be added on your profile when you pass a Skill Assessment test. If you fail the test, no worries! You are allowed to retake them after three months.

LinkedIn advertises that candidates who complete Skill Assessments are 30% more likely to get hired, so they are definitely worth trying to attain. Programming LinkedIn skill assessments you may be interested in include HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React.js, Angular, jQuery, and Vue.js.

To get an idea of what taking these tests are like, you can watch Kyle Cook's (Web Dev Simplified) recorded Livestream YouTube videos taking them.

Kyle Cook (Web Dev Simplified) LinkedIn Skill Assessments:

• LinkedIn HTML Quiz
• LinkedIn CSS Quiz
• LinkedIn JavaScript Quiz
• LinkedIn React Quiz

Special thanks

Special thanks to Scrimba and the industry experts who reviewed my LinkedIn profile and provided valuable, constructive criticism, which enabled me to optimize it, resulting in a continual flow of opportunities coming directly to me:

• Danny Thompson - Tech Celebrity!
• Austin Henline - LinkedIn
• Taylor Desseyn - Recruiter
• Alishah Novin - Microsoft
• Molly-May Gallagher - Recruiter
• Leanne Rybintsev - Scrimba Livestream host

Conclusion

As a web developer, having a LinkedIn profile is equally important as having a resume. Creating and optimizing a LinkedIn profile will help you stand out from the competition, draw the attention of recruiters and hiring managers, and attract a wealth of opportunities directly to you.

Once you have created and optimized your LinkedIn profile, you must stay active on the platform, as inactivity can be seen as a red flag for recruiters and hiring managers. You can stay active by interacting with posts through creation, commenting, and sharing them. You can also attend and participate in LinkedIn Livestream events to keep your account active.

Remember, LinkedIn is a professional platform and should be treated accordingly. Refrain from posting, commenting, or engaging in any form of communication that could potentially damage your reputation.

You can further enhance your LinkedIn profile by increasing your credibility. Make sure to include your honors and awards, consider taking LinkedIn Skill Assessments and courses, and ask for endorsements and recommendations from your network. Also, be on the lookout for new features you can take part in to boost your credibility, such as collaboration articles that award exclusive badges.

Most importantly, don't just take my word for it: regularly update your profile, discover what works best for you, and also observe how others have effectively optimized their LinkedIn profiles. If you or someone else has further optimization tips that I haven't covered, please share them so that we can all have the best-optimized profiles, leading to daily opportunities coming directly to each of us.

Other articles I've written related to LinkedIn

• LinkedIn Profile Optimization With Austin Henline
• Revamp Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile: Expert Tips to Get Noticed and Hired
• LinkedIn Review with Danny Thompson
• Create a LinkedIn profile that gets noticed by tech recruiters
• How to use LinkedIn as a developer to get a job in tech

Let's connect! I'm active on LinkedIn and Twitter.

You can read all of my articles on selftaughttxg.com

LinkedIn is sort of a love-it-or-hate-it kind of platform.

Some people love it for the opportunities it provides and the ease with which it facilitates professional connections.

Other people hate it because it often seems like it has a veneer of genuine connection while the substance is mostly self-serving networking.

In reality, both of these extremes have a degree of truth to them.

LinkedIn is not a magical solution where you can create an account and instantly be discovered by hundreds of companies eager to throw money at you.

But it is also not the cesspool of recruiters and fake networkers sending out spammy connection requests all day.

Despite what you might think about the platform, the reality is that, when used correctly, LinkedIn provides an excellent opportunity for you to stand out, get noticed, and get hired, even if you don't have professional experience.

The key lies in the when used correctly part of that sentence.

So today we're going to go through some strategies that you can can use to leverage LinkedIn to get you that crucial first job.

We'll cover both profile setup and connection/networking strategies. These will help you increase your visibility to recruiters and employers searching for developers, and start to form relationships with people in the industry who can bring you valuable opportunities.

I love examples, so I'm going to walk you through this using an example as if I was a new React developer trying to get my first job.

You can follow along using your specific situation and goals.

How to Set Up your LinkedIn Profile

The main goal with setting up your profile in LinkedIn is to make it easier for the right people to find you, mainly recruiters and employers.

Recruiters are not the only people scouring LinkedIn for good candidates. Small agencies and other small companies that may not have the resources for a recruiter also use LinkedIn in order to find good talent.

We want to be visible to both groups of people here, so when they are searching for someone matching your skillset they find you.

Let's go through each component of a strong LinkedIn profile.

Use the Right Keywords

It all starts with the keywords. Your keywords are how you are going to structure the content of your profile. We'll include these keywords in relevant parts of your profile where it makes sense. But we'll make sure to maintain readability so you don't sound like a robot and still appeal to the humans actually looking at your profile.

Some keywords I might want to include might be React, GraphQL, and Node if I'm going for a full-stack JS developer position.

I like to go more specific and put the specific technologies I am learning and want to work with, rather than going too broad, like JavaScript.

At the same time, there's a balance here. You can also go too narrow and put things that not a lot of people are going to be searching for.

An example of something too narrow might be Next, Firebase, and Tailwind. Those are very specific technologies and the likelihood of someone searching specifically for those is less than React.

But, somebody who knows React and can demonstrate some basic proficiency in a few different stacks based in React will be appealing to someone even if the specific stack they are using differs from your specific stack.

The main thing we want to communicate here is that you have knowledge using certain technologies you want to work in while communicating the fact that you are capable of learning others.

For this example I'm going to go with React, GraphQL, and Node as my keywords.

Compose Your Intro

The intro portion of your profile is comprised of your photo, headline, banner image, name, location, and your URL.

It forms the first impression people will get of you and your profile, so it's important to get it right. Let's go through each component of the intro section one at a time.

First, the big three.

These first three components are what will show up anytime you interact with anyone on LinkedIn or show up in someone's feed.

They are the only parts that people will see even if they don't click through to your profile, so make them count.

Your Name

Pretty self-explanatory. Use your real first and last name. Nicknames are fine, as long as that is what you would go by if you were to get hired somewhere.

Keep it consistent across all your profiles and your website if possible, as this strengthens the branding aspect of your online presence.

Example: My name is Kenneth Rogers but my LinkedIn says Ken Rogers because that is usually what I go by, and that's what I go by on all my social media profiles.

Profile Photo

Your profile photo is an important part of your profile.

There's some disagreement about whether or not you should have a photo of yourself in your social media profiles.

Some people think it can cause unnecessary unconscious bias in people who look at your profile.

While this may be true, let's look at the alternative.

Whether we like it or not, having an empty spot where you profile photo gives the look of incompleteness.

So the unconscious bias is unavoidable. It's part of the process, whether we like it or not.

I think having a high-quality photo is a much better decision that leaving it empty or using something that is not actually you.

For the photo, the basics apply.

Clear, high-quality headshot, preferably smiling, with a neutral background that is not distracting.

If you are able to do so, hire a professional, but I realize not everyone can do that.

Luckily smartphones have amazing capabilities these days. By asking a friend who knows what they are doing or by learning a bit about phone photography yourself, you can take a great picture that gives a good first impression.

Make it so that if someone met you in person after looking at your profile, they would easily recognize you. No pets or family, just a clear headshot of you.

Headline

The headline is one of the most important pieces of your LinkedIn profile.

Even though it's short, it has a high impact on your search visibility and on whether or not somebody will click through to learn more about you.

So what makes a good headline? It needs to appeal to both human readers and the LinkedIn search engine at the same time.

That means it needs to be clear and concise in communicating exactly what it is you do (or want to do).

One thing I do not recommend doing is putting words like "Junior", "Aspiring", or "Student", in your profile.

If you currently create things using code, you are currently a developer, you just may not have an official job title.

Get rid of any language that says you are not currently a developer. It's not about lying, we're not going to fake any experience you don't actually have.

It's about having confidence in your abilities and yourself to call yourself what you are, a developer: someone who creates things with code.

Your headline should include your specialty (what you want to work in) and your unique value proposition (what you specifically bring to the table).

The first part is pretty self-explanatory, but how can you have a unique value proposition as a brand new developer?

This can be as simple as what you want your specialty to be or unique things you have accomplished with past projects.

Do you have an interest in accessibility and did you build a project that incorporates accessibility? That's a recipe for a compelling headline that helps you stand out.

Something like, "React developer building highly-accessible web applications."

We've got one of our keywords in there, potentially two if you identified accessibility as a keyword, and it clearly communicates the value you bring to the table for companies.

For my profile, I'll go with "Building excellent user experiences in React and GraphQL".

I want to be a React developer and I have a passion for crafting excellent user experiences.

For you, this might be clean code, well-tested code, and so on.

Choose something that you uniquely focus on that adds value to organizations.

This doesn't have to be technical, either. If you come from a background that utilized other soft skills that are relevant to development, integrate that in there.

Let's say you used to work in customer service, so communication is one of your strong skills.

You might make your headline "Building React applications that effectively solve client problems" because your communication skills allow you to ensure that you are clear on the client needs and the tools you build accomplish that task well.

Something to decide here is which part of your headline you want at the beginning. Only the first 65 to 80 characters will be shown in search results and content feeds depending on if you are on mobile or desktop.

So you need to decide which aspect of your work is more important and put that first.

Banner Image

Customizing your banner image is another one of those little details that communicates that you took the time to customize your profile and really care about how it looks.

There are two options for your banner image.

If you can find a stock photo or a photo you took that communicates something about you, you can use that.

For example, I live in Colorado and love the mountains, so I might choose a mountain photo.

It does not necessarily have to communicate something professional about you, but it shouldn't be generic.

For example, don't use a picture of a computer with code on it, since that doesn't do anything to differentiate you from other new developers.

The other option is to create your own banner image that communicates your career goals.

Lots of consultants do this, and I have something similar on mine.

You can do this using Canva or hire someone on Fiverr.

Some things you could put on the banner:

• Icons of the tech you work with
• Another picture of you with an overlay and some text describing what you can bring to the table

Here are a few examples of this:

Here Justin highlights his primary professional driver and lists his website.

This is a great example if you have a specific mission that drives you to code.

As you can see, the banner image doesn't have to be fancy or complicated, simpler is usually better.

Here's what mine looks like:

Personally, I would go with this second style of banner, where you have some text describing what you do, over the first. It gives more clarity on you as a person.

Although if you are having trouble coming up with something like this, a beautiful picture that still communicates something about you is better than the default.

URL

Customizing your URL is one of those little details that takes 10 seconds but adds that little bit of polish to your profile.

Change your URL to some form of your first and last name. You can also add in initials and other forms of your name if necessary.

For example, I usually go by Ken Rogers or Kenny Rogers, but those were both taken so my URL is https://linkedin.com/in/kennetharogers, which uses both my full first name and my middle initial.

Summary

Opinions vary on the best length for a summary, but I am personally inclined to recommend shorter summaries.

One thing I've noticed is that people feel like they need to include their entire life story in their summary or in places like their portfolio site about page.

Think about your online profiles like online writing.

In writing, the only goal of the headline or introduction is to get the reader to read the next line.

Your goal with your LinkedIn headline and summary is not to get hired, it's to get the person viewing your profile interested enough to just take the next step. That might be sending you a DM on LinkedIn, sending you an email, or visiting your portfolio site.

This job hunt process should be viewed in this step-by-step manner. It helps keep you focused on what each component is best used for and avoids overwhelming people with too much information too soon.

So how can we apply that to your summary?

You want to hook the reader in on the first two lines of the summary, since LinkedIn requires you to hit the "Show More" button in order to view beyond that.

To make this a bit easier to write, I like to use the following structure:

• Hook
• Mission
• Expertise
• Proof
• CTA

In the hook, you want to use something unique and interesting about you and open up a loop that can only be closed by reading further. This is how you'll get the reader to read your entire summary.

I like to integrate something from my background and why I got into coding here. You can also hint at something that happened to you during that process that gets explained later in the summary.

So if I was doing this for my example, I might write something like this:

"It was many late nights spent coding after driving a forklift all day before I built my first web app. But when I did, I learned something unexpected about myself."

This captures the reader's attention by showing that I am motivated to learn and dedicated to doing so, briefly mentions I've built something from start to finish, and hints that I learned something, which we'll continue explaining in the mission section.

"I learned why I truly love to code. That particular app was built to solve a small problem I had in my life, consistent journaling, and by completing it I realized the immense satisfaction I get from building something real, that makes someone's life easier, using nothing but code and my own effort."

Now we're starting to get into why I actually code. This is more important than people realize. Hiring, as much as some companies try to make it, is not an automated, robotic process.

It's people who will be looking at your profile, reaching out to you, and hiring you. You need to connect on a personal level in order to catch someone's attention.

Now let's dive into our expertise by moving into talking about how we actually accomplish the "what" and "why" listed above.

This is another spot you'll want to use those keywords you chose earlier. In this example, I chose React, GraphQL, and Node. With that in mind, here's how I might write this section of my summary.

"I'm obsessed with solving complex problems using React, GraphQL, and Node by building web applications with an emphasis and accessibility and usability."

Anyone can say these things, you also need to back it up with proof. That means you need to have a built a complete project or two using the exact tools and concepts you discuss in this section.

We'll go into that in just a second, first let's round out this section with a clear CTA so readers know what we are looking for.

"I'm currently looking to contribute my skills to a team where I can prove my skills while growing in my capabilities. If you are looking for a competent, highly-motivated developer, let's chat. You can reach me at email@example.com or by DMing me here on LinkedIn."

This gives people a clear action to take and shows them exactly what you are looking for.

Now, on to that proof we were talking about.

Rather than just listing it out here, I like to include links that link to a project or two, and maybe a piece of writing that showcases the attributes you've written about here.

You can utilize the "Featured" section for that.

Featured

The featured section is simple but very powerful.

What I recommend doing here is linking to a project or two that lines up with the skills and attributes you listed in your summary, and maybe a piece of writing or two that does the same.

For the projects, don't just link to a live version of the project or a GitHub page. You should have a dedicated page on your portfolio site that walks readers through how and why you built the project.

Building a portfolio site is outside the scope of this guide, but I highly recommend reading Josh Comeau's book on building great portfolio sites.

Experience

What can you put in the experience section when you don't have any experience?

There is almost always relevant experience that can be used even if your other jobs were in another field.

Learning how to communicate they ways in which your soft skills learned in other fields are relevant to web development is going to be critical here.

What I recommend doing is looking at this list of skills that virtually every employer values. Then see which of those you had to utilize in your previous jobs and how that translates to being a good developer.

Be sure to list any specific accomplishments and awards you received as well as concrete examples of demonstrating those skills.

For example, I used to be a server and drove a forklift before I became a developer.

A couple of skills from that list that I had to use quite often were communication and adaptability.

So let's see how I could integrate that into my experience.

I might write something like this in my server experience section:

"Simultaneously served multiple tables while ensuring their orders were correct and guests were satisfied. Adapted to changing demands by performing multiple duties such as hosting and bussing as restaurant traffic increased and decreased throughout multiple shifts."

This is a simple example, but it communicates that I am able to handle multiple responsibilities while maintaining good communication and customer service, and that I am adaptable and willing to help out the team even if it means doing a job that is not necessarily my primary function.

One mistake I see a lot of people make is just stating that they have certain skills instead of showing it with examples. This is one way to do that.

If you have done any freelance work, you can also put that here as relevant work experience if you did it under a company name, or even your own name.

Make sure to focus on results delivered to clients or employers. If you can, list specific things you accomplished and how that contributed value to the organization or person you worked for.

Education

If you have formal education or a bootcamp under your belt, you can put that here.

Besides that, put any course work you've completed here. Things like Udemy courses or freeCodeCamp curriculum certificates should be included here as well. Any structured training program or course you've taken should be included in the Education section.

Skills

For your skills, I recommend choosing the top three based on the keywords you've chosen. These top three are the most crucial and will be used to filter your profile.

As for the rest, my preferred rule of thumb is to include any skills you have used to build a complete project.

Don't list every piece of tech you've ever touched here, as that is a subtle hint to employers and recruiters that you are desperate to get whatever job you can. And it's virtually impossible for someone to be proficient in that many things.

Recommendations

If you can get them, recommendations are great. Try to get recommendations from people you have worked for in the past.

These aren't required as getting them depends on external factors, but get one or two if you are able to.

How to Amplify Your Reach on LinkedIn

You've got your profile nailed down, now it's time to get it in front of people.

The other half of LinkedIn is using it properly in order to meet the right kind of people and get on their radar as someone who will be a valuable addition to their organization.

You have the foundation in place in your properly created profile, now you need to get it in front of as many eyes as possible.

You've optimized your profile to take advantage of LinkedIn's search functionality, but you don't only want to be passive in this process.

You also want to be active in getting in front of the right eyes.

This isn't going to be some awkward process. We'll mostly just be connecting with people and posting content.

You won't have to send any DMs or try to sell yourself on LinkedIn.

This is a two-part process:

1. Connecting with people
2. Writing compelling content

How to Connect with People on LinkedIn

Let's talk about connecting with people first.

You want to be intentional about the people you are connecting with. The best way to do that is to connect vertically.

Most people focus a good chunk of their networking on horizontal connections. This means that they connect with people at the same level as they are.

There's nothing wrong with this, and I'm not saying you shouldn't do that. But your effort is better spent on people who are either in a position you want to be in, or are in a position that hires people like you.

So a good place to start is to start looking up companies you admire and would want to work for, and start connecting with employees at that company, people that currently do what you want to do, and people in charge of hiring at that company.

As you do this, LinkedIn will start to suggest relevant people to connect with, making this process a lot easier and faster.

I have conflicting feelings on connection request messages. On one hand, I understand the value of customized messages, but on the other, I actually tend to see better acceptance rates with the default message. So I don't write custom messages anymore.

This is something you'll want to experiment with for yourself.

Try both and see what works better for you. For your custom messages, keep it simple and say you are a new developer looking to connect with other people in the industry.

That's it. You don't need to send a personal DM or try to form a friendship with them now. You're just trying to grow your network and increase your visibility. The long-term connection is going to come in the form of creating valuable, interesting content.

How to Write Good Content and Share it on LinkedIn

So how do you write engaging content on LinkedIn that makes people want to learn more about you?

My favorite method is to be working on a project, and write about what I'm learning during your process But – and this is an important distinction – write about it from the perspective of a teacher/authority.

What I mean by this is that instead of writing "I learned this today" write "Here's how to do this."

And LinkedIn is better for high-level, conceptual types of content rather than overly technical types.

So write about the high-level lessons you are learning, rather than the technical things themselves.

So let's say I was working on a project using Gatsby and after a bit of struggle, I figured out how to turn it into a PWA without following a tutorial, just the docs.

I might write a post along these lines:

"Today I managed to accomplish turning my Gatsby site into a Progressive Web App without following a tutorial.

Tutorials and courses are great, but the real learning occurs when we struggle through implementing a solution on our own, dealing with the inevitable bugs and setbacks along the way.

Whenever you're slogging through a problem and struggling to come up with a solution, know that struggle is your brain adapting to a new situation and learning.

This is where real growth happens."

You want your content to communicate the fact that you are learning every time you build something, and that you are constantly on a journey of discovering the best ways to be a developer, and share those insights with others.

This gives people a great insight into how your mind works and what kind of a developer you will be.

By consistently creating content like this and getting it in front of the intentional connections you've been making, you can start to build a profile for yourself that will help you stand out among other new developers.

Slowly, you'll start to have people reaching out to you who are interested in hiring you. And then when you start to see job openings show up for these companies, you will already be on their radar as someone who is competent.

The key to coming up with great content is to learn to see inspiration everywhere. As you are browsing Twitter, working on projects, reading articles, listening to podcasts, and so on, start writing down content inspiration and ideas you have.

Then, set aside some time every week to write your content for the week and try to post a new piece of content every day.

Wrapping Up

By following these steps you will drastically increase your chances of being found on LinkedIn and building new relationships with people in the industry.

It's not a magic bullet, but it is one piece of a strong job-hunting strategy and an important piece of the puzzle when hunting for that first job, which can be very challenging.

For the rest of the roadmap, Lever.so can help. It's a step-by-step course and mentoring community designed to help new developers land their first jobs, regardless of experience or education.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest talent pool with 3 million active job listings. Let me show you how you can tap into this treasure trove of job listings to find your first — or next — job in tech.

Why Use LinkedIn?

Recruiters will not find you on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram. Instead, 94% of recruiters will use LinkedIn to vet potential candidates. Almost half of all recruiters only use LinkedIn for social outreach.

Over 20,000 US companies use LinkedIn to recruit. Most of these companies will be using recruiters to fill these open positions. You want to get the attention of these recruiters because they can put your resume in the hands of the hiring managers at these companies.

How Do Recruiters Use LinkedIn?

Recruiters use a product called LinkedIn Recruiter to tap that pool to fill the 3 million active job listings.

LinkedIn Recruiter is the tool that allows recruiters to seek candidates that meet the job requirements for positions they are trying to fill. Here are some of the benefits recruiters receive with this product:

Access to Everyone

Users can see all the information in a person’s profile only if they are a 1st level connection. The amount of information you can see is reduced if the contact is a 2nd level connection. You have limited information you can see for a 3rd level connection.

LinkedIn Recruiter allows recruiters to have access to people on LinkedIn that users of the site do not have. With this product, recruiters have direct access to everyone on LinkedIn.

You don’t have to reach out and become a connection to a recruiter for them to see and access your profile. Instead, they will see this information. You just have to structure your profile in a way that makes it easier for them to reach out to you about open positions.

Advanced People Search

LinkedIn Recruiter allows recruiters to hone in on the perfect hire using LinkedIn’s powerful search tool. This tool allows recruiters to search for candidates based on their:

• location
• industry
• current position
• past position(s)
• skills

7 Requirements to Become a LinkedIn All-Star

Now that you understand what resources are available to recruiters using LinkedIn Recruiter, you need to improve your profile so that you can easily be found by recruiters looking to fill open job positions.

LinkedIn provides different levels for your profile based on the information it contains. The highest level is a LinkedIn All-Star. If you meet all 7 requirements to reach All-Star level, you will find yourself on the radar of recruiters. Here are the 7 requirements to become a LinkedIn All-Star.

• A profile picture
• Your industry and location
• Up-to-date current position
• Two past positions
• Your education
• Your skills
• At least 50 connections

Profile Picture

LinkedIn does not specify what you should or should not have in your profile picture. Regardless it should be something that is professional in nature. Here are some examples of very poor profile pictures:

Examples of bad profile pictures

Industry and Location

When you edit the top section of your profile you will be able to enter your current location and the industry in which you work. Your location is defined by a zip code that you provide.

If you are looking to move to a new area for work, be sure to specify the zip code for that area as your current location and not where you are currently living.

You will select your industry from a drop-down list.

Current Position

The next step is to enter your current position where you work. When you enter this position, you are able to enter a description of the work that you do at that company.

I would recommend that you use keywords that are relevant to the position that you want in the description of the work that you do. The reason being that recruiters will search for selected keywords. You want to make sure your description includes those potential keywords.

Two Past Positions

LinkedIn requires you to have two previous job positions listed in order to meet the requirements for All-Star status. If you are trying to break into a new industry, it is ok to list past positions that were not in this industry.

If you are a recent graduate or somebody that does not have two previous positions, you can meet this requirement by listing a job where you might have worked on a part-time basis while you were a student.

Education

You must list something for education. If you did not attend college, then you may list your high school. If you only completed an associates degree, then list that university. If you only completed a semester or two at a university, then list that university. If you did not attend a university then you can include online training sites like FreeCodeCamp, CodeSchool, Udacity etc.

Your Skills (minimum of 3)

Skills is another area that recruiters are able to search for using LinkedIn Recruiter. I would recommend putting in all the skills that match the technology area that you want to get a job.

You have the option of ordering this list. I would put the skills that you definitely are seeking in a job at the top. The other reason for having the most important skills listed first is when people view your profile, LinkedIn will give them an option to endorse you for your skills. They will only be shown the top four listed skills.

At Least 50 Connections

You need to make connections to at least 50 people. If you are just starting out with building your LinkedIn profile, it may seem impossible to get 50 people to connect with.

If you graduated from a university or high school, you can search LinkedIn for people who graduated from the same school. You can then reach out to them and ask them to connect with you.

You can get your family members to be your connections. You can also ask your co-workers and friends to connect with you.

If you are still struggling to find 50 connections, then search people that have the title of “LION”. LION stands for LinkedIn Open Networker. A LION is a LinkedIn user who understands the power of having a large LinkedIn Network. LIONs will connect with almost anyone on LinkedIn regardless of whether they know, trust, or even respect the person. You can easily find at least 50 LIONS on LinkedIn and connect with them.

Having Recruiters Contact You

If you have met all the requirements for All-Star status, then your profile will start appearing in searches that recruiters create with LinkedIn Recruiter. Once their search returns your profile, the recruiter will send you InMail to see if you are interested in the opening they are trying to fill.

If you are interested, respond to the recruiter. The recruiter will collect your resume and submit it to the hiring manager at the company.

This is how you can use LinkedIn to get your first — or next — job in tech.

More Articles

Here are some other articles that I have written you might be interested in:

Why Company Culture is Important to Your Career as a Software Engineer
_The impact of a company’s culture is reflected in a company’s ability to achieve their goals and productivity levels…_medium.freecodecamp.orgHow to program a calculator with jQuery
_Previously, I showed you how to use CSS border-radius property to create the following calculator. Now I will show you…_medium.freecodecamp.orgHere are 5 Layouts That You Can Make With FlexBox
_The CSS Flexible Box Layout — Flexbox — provides a simple solution to the design and layout problems designers and…_hackernoon.com

When people think of applying for jobs, they often think of simply applying online.

However, it’s not always the best strategy, because that’s pretty much what everyone else does.

Instead, there are four other ways to apply for jobs that are particularly effective. I’d recommend these strategies when applying to software engineering jobs, but I think they are effective for other types of jobs, as well. They are:

1. Using LinkedIn
2. In-person networking
3. Getting referrals
4. Career fairs / recruiting events

I’ve personally used a combination of these strategies to land job interviews with various tech companies, including Facebook, Yelp, and Evernote.

I have also used them to get job offers from multiple software companies, including Microsoft and Google.

In this article, I’m going to walk you through exactly how to use each of these strategies. I’m also going to give you some tips and tricks along the way.

But first… One thing to keep in mind.

As I mentioned in my previous article about getting software engineer jobs, the best strategies are different depending on the size of the company you’re applying to.

If you’re applying to a small to medium-sized company, I’d recommend focusing on LinkedIn and in-person networking.

On the other hand, if you’re applying to larger, more popular companies such as Google and Facebook, using referrals and career fairs on top of simply applying online is more effective.

Now, with that in mind, let’s go through all four strategies.

1. LinkedIn

In my opinion, using LinkedIn is the best way to apply for software engineer jobs at small to medium-sized companies.

Here’s how I would use it.

Step 1: Find a job opening

First, find a job opening you are interested in on the company’s website or by using websites like Indeed and LinkedIn.

Use keywords like “software engineer” with the location you want to work in on Indeed and LinkedIn.

Using this strategy, suppose you’ve found at least one job opening that you’re interested in.

Let’s say you’re interested in this software engineer job at Palantir.

Step 2: Find recruiters

Then, instead of simply applying online, I would first find recruiters at this company. You can do this fairly easily on LinkedIn. Just search for keywords like “recruiter ”.

Ideally, you should be able to find 6–10 recruiters from this company.

If the company is tiny (<10 people or so), you might want to target non-recruiters as well. Try engineers, the CTO, and even the CEO if you’re applying to a tiny company.

Step 3: Add the recruiters on LinkedIn

The next step is to either send connection requests to the recruiters you’ve found on LinkedIn, or message them there.

Adding them is easier, and it’s free. However, LinkedIn might stop you from adding people if you add too many people in a short period of time. At that point, you might need to switch to LinkedIn messaging, which might cost a little bit of money.

Anyway, once you find 6–10 recruiters from the company you’re interested in, I would just send all of them connection requests at the same time. I wouldn’t add any custom message here to make this process as easy as possible.

If you send 6–10 connection requests, about 2–5 of them should accept your requests within a week or so.

Step 4: Send a custom message

After the previous step, suppose 2–5 people accepted your connection requests. This is a good sign, because this means that they use LinkedIn at least somewhat actively.

Then, send them a message like the following:

Hi ,

Thank you for accepting my connection request.

I’m thinking of applying to this position I found on your website:

I’m about to graduate from a 6-month coding bootcamp program that covers full-stack development in JavaScript.

I was wondering, would I be qualified enough for this position? If not, is there anything I can do to better prepare myself?

Regards,

In this example message, you are asking about the following two points:

• Am I qualified for this position?
• If I’m not qualified yet, what should I do?

By asking these questions, you’ll have a better idea about where you stand in the job market, as well as what you can do to improve your position.

At the same time, this is a good way to start building connections with key people in the industry.

Of course, customize this message so that it better fits your particular situation and your voice.

Step 5: Send a follow-up message

Once you send this message to the 2–5 people who added you back on LinkedIn, you should be able to receive 1–2 replies.

If they say you’re qualified enough, then it’s great. Apply for this position online. Then, if you don’t hear back from them in two weeks, send them a message like this:

Hi ,

As you suggested, I applied to the position about two weeks ago.

I was just wondering what the status of my application might be?

Regards,

After the initial message, if they say you’re not qualified, that’s fine, too. Ask them what you can do to better prepare yourself if you haven’t yet. Then, if you’d like, follow their recommendation to increase your chances next time.

If you follow their recommendation, you can message them in a few months again and let them know about the progress you’ve made. Then, ask them again if you’re qualified enough.

After all of these steps, chances are, you’ll be able to start getting job interviews. If not, at least you should be able to start building meaningful connections and get better ideas about what skills to work on.

Recap

Here’s my 5-step strategy for getting a job interview through LinkedIn.

• Step 1: Find a job opening
• Step 2: Find recruiters
• Step 3: Add the recruiters on LinkedIn
• Step 4: Send a custom message
• Step 5: Send a follow-up message

I like to think of these steps like a sales funnel. You start with 6–10 recruiters at each company. Then, only 2–5 of them will accept your connection requests. Out of those people, only 0–2 of them will reply to your message.

Note that you can follow this strategy for multiple companies at the same time.

So, for Step 1 (find a job opening), you should find 5–6 positions at the same time. If you follow the rest of the steps simultaneously for all 5–6 positions, you should be able to get at least one good lead.

Then, just repeat Step 1 (find a job opening) through Step 5 (a follow-up message). Meanwhile, keep increasing your programming skills by building interesting projects on the side.

2. In-person networking

In-person networking is also very effective for getting a job, particularly for small to medium-sized companies.

For this, use your interests as a guide.

For example, let’s say you like iOS development. Then, look for iOS-related events near you on services like Meetup.com and Facebook Events.

You can just search for terms like iOS, mobile development, and React Native on those sites.

Then, go to one of the events near you.

Once you’re at one of the events, your focus should be learning as much as possible. If there’s a presentation there, see if you can learn anything from it. If there are people in the industry there, see if you can learn anything from them.

Also, make sure to talk to people individually. If you are not sure what to say at one of these events, you can use something like the following:

First, wave at someone who’s not talking to anyone else to get their attention. Then, say:
Hi! How are you?

• Good, how are you?
  Good. So, what’s your name? OR — So, what brings you here?

Then, use your curiosity as a guide for making conversation. If you don’t feel comfortable with the person you started talking to, just find someone else.

At some point, they’ll probably ask you something like, “What brings you here?”

At that point, you can explain that you’re there to learn more about the industry/technology, and that you’re also looking for a job.

If they know about local opportunities, chances are, they’ll tell you about it.

My piece of advice here is to not just ask for help, but also to offer help when you can. For example, volunteering for local organizations is a great way to get to know people in the industry in your area.

3. Getting referrals

Getting referred by your friends is also a great way to land job interviews, whether you’re applying to small companies or large companies.

If you have friends who work at one of the companies you want to work at, that’s great. See if they can refer you there.

If not, there’s still a chance to use this strategy.

There’s an interesting story about this in Rejection Proof, a book about overcoming the fear of being rejected.

In it, the author’s wife tries different strategies to get a job at Google.

One of the most effective strategies she tries is using LinkedIn to build connections. Through LinkedIn, she asks for help from a number of people who work at Google. Some of them are so impressed by her initiative, they end up referring her to the company. Eventually, that’s how she gets the job.

Now, if you feel like you’re up for it, I’d suggest that you try the same strategy.

First, find key people in your industry — for example, software engineers at companies you want to work for.

Then, use a similar strategy as the one I mentioned earlier in the LinkedIn section. First, add them on LinkedIn. Then, send custom messages to the people who add you back.

You might want to send them a message like this:

Hi ,

Thank you for accepting my connection request.

I’m in the process of preparing myself for a software engineer position at .

I feel like you’ve been in a similar position as myself since you also went to a JavaScript-based coding bootcamp.

Could you maybe tell me a little bit about how you prepared yourself for your position after graduating?

Please don’t worry about replying if you’re busy. Either way, thank you for reading this message!

Regards,

A few things to note here:

• If you are targeting a large, popular company, I would contact non-recruiters. Recruiters at large popular companies usually don’t reply, probably just because they get too many messages on LinkedIn.
• In my message above, there’s quite a bit of customization — for example, “I saw that you also went to a JavaScript-based coding bootcamp.” This will let them feel like you care about them, too.
• You should ask a specific question instead of just asking them to “pick their brain.”
• At the end of a message like this, I like saying something like, “Please don’t worry about responding if you’re busy.” This will make them feel more at ease about this message. This is especially important if you’re contacting non-recruiters, since replying to your message is not part of their job.

Once you make the initial contact that way, ask for one more piece of advice. Thank them for their advice, follow it, and follow up again in a few months.

Then, show the progress you’ve made based on their advice. Eventually, if you feel like you’ve made a solid enough connection, ask for a referral.

4. Career fairs / recruiting events

Using career fairs / recruiting events at universities near you is also an effective strategy, both for small and large companies.

Even if you don’t currently go to a university, you can still attend one of these. Sometimes they’re held at public places.

Also, if you find one that’s held at a university where you’re not a student, you can still try going.

Often times, these events don’t check for student ID’s. So, just try going to the event, and talk to the companies there. Then, explain to them that you’re not a student but that you’re still looking for a job.

If you’re new to these events, you might not be sure what to say exactly. If that’s the case, here’s a script you can use:

Hi! Do you have any open positions for entry-level software engineers?

• Yes. We have this and this positions.
  Hmm, I would like to apply for this position, but I’m not sure if I’m qualified enough... Could you maybe take a look at my resume?
• Sure. Okay, I think you might be qualified. Let me pass this to our recruiter.
  Thank you. Do you have any advice on how to better prepare myself for this position, based on my current skill level?

If you don’t know anything about the company you want to talk to, you can just say the following at the beginning:

Hi! I was just wondering, could you explain what your company does?

• Hi, our company does X and Y.

Your goal at one of these events should be to give out at least 7–15 copies of your resume. Bring 20 copies just to be safe.

Then, talk to one company after another without spending too much time on any one of them. If you give copies of your resume to 15 companies, you should be able to get at least 2–3 interviews as long as you have a solid programming foundation.

By the way, if you need some advice on how to prepare your resume, I have an article about it here.

Recap

Now, let’s quickly review what we discussed in this article.

The four best ways to apply for software engineer jobs are:

1. Using LinkedIn
2. In-person networking
3. Getting referrals
4. Career fairs / recruiting events

If you’re applying to small to medium-sized companies, focus on LinkedIn and in-person networking.

If you’re applying to larger, more popular companies, focus on getting referrals and using recruiting events on top of simply applying online.

Use all four strategies, and focus on what works the best for you.

Additional resources:

• My article on preparing your software engineer resume
• How to get a software engineer job at a top tech company

Okay, good luck, and thank you as always for reading my article!

If you have any questions about this or anything else, please feel free to let me know in a comment below or on Instagram or Twitter (@ykdojo on both).

Introduction

Sometimes, we want our users to log in using their existing credentials from third-party applications, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, and so on. In this article, we are going to look into the authentication of an ASP.NET Core app using a LinkedIn account.

Prerequisites

• Install .NET Core 2.0.0 or above SDK from here.
• Install the latest version of Visual Studio 2017 from here.

Create MVC Web Application

Open Visual Studio and select File >> New >> Project. After selecting the project, a “New Project” dialog will open.

Select .NET Core inside the Visual C# menu from the left panel. Then, select “ASP.NET Core Web Application” from the available project types.

Name the project LinkdinAuth and press OK.

After clicking on OK, a new dialog will open asking you to select the project template. You can see two drop-down menus at the top left of the template window. Select “.NET Core” and “ASP.NET Core 2.0” from these dropdowns.

Then, select “Web application(Model-View-Controller)” template.

Click on Change Authentication button, and a “Change Authentication” dialog box will open.

Select “Individual User Account” and click OK. Now click OK again to create our web app.

Before running the application, we need to apply migrations to our app.

Navigate to Tools >> Nuget Package Manager >> Package Manager Console.

It will open the Package Manager Console. Put in the Update-Database command and hit enter. This will update the database using Entity Framework Code First Migrations.

Press F5 to run the application. You can see a Home page as shown below.

Create the LinkedIn app

Navigate to https://www.linkedin.com/developer/apps and sign in using your LinkedIn account. If you do not have a LinkedIn account, you need to create one, as you cannot proceed without one.

Once you have logged in, you will be redirected to the My Applications page similar to the one shown below.

Click on the Create Application button to navigate to the Create a New Application page. Here you need to fill in the details to create a new LinkedIn application.

• Company Name: — Give an appropriate name. Here we are using the name DemoCompany.
• Application Name: — This is the name of your LinkedIn application. Give a proper name of your choice.

Note: Do not use the word ” LinkedIn ” in your product name. You will be prompted with an error “The application name cannot contain LinkedIn” and you won’t be allowed to create the app. This means “LinkedinAuthDemo” is an invalid name. Refer to the below image.

• Application Description: Give a proper description of your application.
• Application Logo: you need to upload a logo for your application. If you do not have a logo, just upload any image. Please provide your application’s logo image in PNG or JPEG format. The image must be square and at least 80 x 80 pixels, and no larger than 5 MB in size.
• Application Use: Select an appropriate value from the drop-down.
• Website URL: Provide the URL for your public website. For this tutorial, we will use a dummy URL http://demopage.com.

Note: If you use the URL format www.demopage.com, you will get an error “Please enter a valid URL.” Always use a URL format such as http://demopage.com.

• Business Email: Give your email id. If you do not want to provide your personal email id, then you can also use any dummy email id such as xyz@gmail.com
• Business Phone: Provide your contact number. For this tutorial, I am using a dummy phone number 123456789.

Do keep in mind that all the fields in this form are required, so you need to provide appropriate values to all of them. Once you have furnished all the details, click on the Submit button. If there is no error in the form, your LinkedIn app will be created successfully and you will be redirected to the application homepage.

Here you see the Client ID and Client Secret fields in Authentication Keys section. Take note of these values, as we will need them to configure LinkedIn authentication in our web app.

In the Authorized Redirect URLs field, provide the base URL of your application with /signin-linkedin appended to it. For this tutorial, the URL will be http://localhost:52676/signin-linkedin. After entering the URL, Press the Add button adjacent to it to add the value. Refer to the image below:

Configure your web wpp to use LinkedIn authentication

We will be using a third party Nuget package AspNet.Security.OAuth.LinkedIn to implement LinkedIn authentication in our Web app. Open NuGet package manager (Tools >> NuGet Package Manager >> Package Manager Console) and put in the following command. Hit enter to install it.

Install-Package AspNet.Security.OAuth.LinkedIn -Version 2.0.0-rc2-final

This NuGet package is maintained by aspnet-contrib. You can read more about this package here.

We need to store the Client ID and Client Secret field values in our application. We will use the Secret Manager tool for this purpose. The Secret Manager tool is a project tool that can be used to store secrets such as password, API Key, etc. for a .NET Core project during the development process. With the Secret Manager tool, we can associate app secrets with a specific project and can share them across multiple projects.

Open our web application once again and Right-click the project in Solution Explorer. Select “Manage User Secrets” from the context menu.

A secrets.json file will open. Put the following code in it.

{    "Authentication:LinkedIn:ClientId": "Your ClientId here",    "Authentication:LinkedIn:ClientSecret": "Your ClientSecret here"  }

Now, open the Startup.cs file and put the following code into the ConfigureServices method.

services.AddAuthentication().AddLinkedIn(options =>{    options.ClientId = Configuration["Authentication:LinkedIn:ClientId"];    options.ClientSecret = Configuration["Authentication:LinkedIn:ClientSecret"];    options.Events= new OAuthEvents()    {        OnRemoteFailure = loginFailureHandler =>        {            var authProperties = options.StateDataFormat.Unprotect(loginFailureHandler.Request.Query["state"]);            loginFailureHandler.Response.Redirect("/Account/login");            loginFailureHandler.HandleResponse();            return Task.FromResult(0);        }    };});

In this code section, we are reading the Client ID and Client Secret values from the secrets.json file for authentication purposes. We are also handling the event of “OnRemoteFailure” in this code section. Hence, if the user denies the access to their LinkedIn account, then they will be redirected back to the Login page.

So finally, Startup.cs will look like this.

using System;using System.Collections.Generic;using System.Linq;using System.Threading.Tasks;using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity;using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;using LinkdinAuth.Data;using LinkdinAuth.Models;using LinkdinAuth.Services;using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication.OAuth;  namespace LinkdinAuth{    public class Startup    {        public Startup(IConfiguration configuration)        {            Configuration = configuration;        }          public IConfiguration Configuration { get; }          // This method gets called by the runtime. Use this method to add services to the container.        public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)        {            services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options =>                options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection")));              services.AddIdentity<ApplicationUser, IdentityRole>()                .AddEntityFrameworkStores<ApplicationDbContext>()                .AddDefaultTokenProviders();              services.AddAuthentication().AddLinkedIn(options =>            {                options.ClientId = Configuration["Authentication:LinkedIn:ClientId"];                options.ClientSecret = Configuration["Authentication:LinkedIn:ClientSecret"];                  options.Events= new OAuthEvents()                {                    OnRemoteFailure = loginFailureHandler =>                    {                        var authProperties = options.StateDataFormat.Unprotect(loginFailureHandler.Request.Query["state"]);                        loginFailureHandler.Response.Redirect("/Account/login");                        loginFailureHandler.HandleResponse();                        return Task.FromResult(0);                    }                };              });               // Add application services.            services.AddTransient<IEmailSender, EmailSender>();              services.AddMvc();        }          // This method gets called by the runtime. Use this method to configure the HTTP request pipeline.        public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)        {            if (env.IsDevelopment())            {                app.UseBrowserLink();                app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();                app.UseDatabaseErrorPage();            }            else            {                app.UseExceptionHandler("/Home/Error");            }                          app.UseStaticFiles();              app.UseAuthentication();              app.UseMvc(routes =>            {                routes.MapRoute(                    name: "default",                    template: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");            });        }    }}

And with this, our application is ready.

Execution Demo

Launch the application and click Login in the top right corner of the homepage.

You will be redirected to http://localhost:52676/Account/Login, where you can see the option to login using LinkedIn on the right side of page.

Clicking on the LinkedIn button will take you to the LinkedIn authorization page. There, you will be asked to fill in your LinkedIn credentials and authorize the LinkedIn app to use your LinkedIn account.

Put in your LinkedIn credentials and click on the Allow access button. The application will take few moments to authenticate your LinkedIn account. Upon successful authentication with LinkedIn, you will be redirected to a registration page inside your application where you need to fill in an email id to tag with your account.

Give an email id and click register, and you will be redirected to the homepage again. But this time, you can also see your registered email id at the top right corner. Hence, we have successfully logged in to our ASP .NET Core application using LinkedIn.

Conclusion

We have successfully created a LinkedIn app and used it to authenticate our ASP.NET Core application.

You can get the source code from GitHub.

Please note that secrets.json file contains dummy values. You’ll need to replace the values with the keys of your LinkedIn app before executing it.

You can also find this article at C# Corner.

You can check out my other articles on ASP .NET Core here.

See Also

• Authentication Using Google In ASP.NET Core 2.0
• Authentication Using Twitter In ASP.NET Core 2.0
• Authentication Using Facebook In ASP.NET Core 2.0
• Cookie Authentication With ASP.NET Core 2.0
• ASP.NET Core — Two Factor Authentication Using Google Authenticator

Originally published at ankitsharmablogs.com