In the competitive world, the new generation of tech professionals is using various ways to market themselves. Building your niche in a particular technology is the best way to get highlighted as a developer. Therefore, we are here highlighting five ways to help you develop a niche in the software development.
Stay ahead of the curve
The technology is constantly changing. It was enough to know just C++ or Java a few years ago. But today, the tech development world is full of dynamic feature sets. You need to narrow down to a technology that interests you the most. Choose what kind of development environment you are comfortable to be in for many years of your career. Never stop learning, set some time aside each week to update your knowledge in that technology. You can find plenty of learning resources online. Many open source forums, discussion threads are full of latest knowledge.
Build a portfolio
The easiest way to be known is to showcase your work. You can highlight your own work on the Internet. Something as simple as thumbnails full of your past work can help other users understand your expertise in a niche technology. If you haven’t done any client projects yet, start with building something yourself or, for a local organisation to feature it in your portfolio. You can also use tools like ReputationDefender to manage your online reputation.
Open source projects
A lot of developers turn away from open source because they think they cannot make money from it. However, in reality, the open source projects can lead to lucrative opportunities. You can get benefitted in multiple ways by contributing to open source projects. The collaborative effort of development can help you build a reputation among peers in the same niche technology. By contributing to open source projects, you will also gain a lot of experience. If your open source project reaches a certain level of attention, you are most likely to get lucrative professional opportunities. The best way to begin with open source is to start using a Git platform like GitHub or GitLab.
Develop communities
There are plenty of developer groups available both online and offline. These groups are more like a community of programmers following the same passion. These groups give a lot of insights to the difficulties of the same niche development environment. If you help out other folks in the community, they will definitely recommend you within their network. You can find a lot of niche developer groups on Meetup or Facebook.
Social media
Social media is the best way to generate word of mouth. It is possible to get global attention by accurately leveraging the power of social media. Initially, you should start with updating your LinkedIn page with the latest updates about your projects. Get your clients or employers endorse you for the specific skills. You can promote your niche skills with the little to no initial investment using social media. Also, you can have your own blog dedicated to your niche expertise and keep updating it with latest developments.
Being a niche developer means having the ability to hustle and acquire excellent skills. You need to produce a great solution with the technology and also let the people know that you are available to do even greater things.
