Code is a depreciating asset 📉

Reputation is compound interest 📈

Let me tell you a story about two engineers. Let’s call them Alice and Bob.

They are identical on paper. Both have 10 years of experience. Both are Senior Backend Engineers. Both know Java, Spring Boot, and AWS inside out. Both are currently earning $150k.

If you looked at their git commits, you couldn’t tell them apart. But there is a massive, invisible difference between them.

Bob believes his job is to write code. He puts his head down. He crushes Jira tickets. He optimizes database queries. He creates elegant architecture. When he finishes work, he closes his laptop and disconnects. He doesn’t have a Twitter account. His LinkedIn profile hasn’t been updated since 2019. He thinks “personal branding” is for salespeople and narcissists. He relies entirely on his hard skills.

Alice believes her job is to solve problems and document the solution. She does the same work as Bob. But once a week, she spends 30 minutes writing about what she learned. She shares a post about a nasty memory leak she debugged. She comments on a discussion about microservices vs monoliths. She connects with other engineers in her city. Over 5 years, she builds a modest audience—nothing crazy, just a few thousand people who respect her technical opinions.

Then, the market turns.

A recession hits. Their company loses funding. On a Tuesday morning, both Alice and Bob get the dreaded “mandatory all-hands” invite. They are laid off.

This is the moment reality crashes down on Bob.

Bob enters the “Cold Market”. He updates his resume. He applies to 50 jobs on LinkedIn. He realizes that “10 years of Java experience” isn’t as rare as he thought. He is now competing with 5,000 other laid-off engineers who also have 10 years of Java experience. He is a commodity. He is a row in a database that an automated ATS system will likely reject. He waits for months, watching his savings drain, wondering why his “hard work” isn’t paying off.

Alice enters the “Warm Market”. She doesn’t even apply. She posts a simple status update: “Sadly, my journey at Company X ends today. I’m looking for new challenges in Backend Architecture.”

Within 48 hours, her DM inbox is full. Not from recruiters spamming generic offers, but from Engineering Managers who have been reading her posts for years. They know how she thinks. They know she understands distributed systems because they read her analysis last month. They trust her before they even meet her. Alice has three offers by Friday.

The hard truth about “Skills”

We love to think that tech is a meritocracy where the best coder wins. But that is a lie we tell ourselves to feel safe.

In software engineering, your hard skills are a depreciating asset. The framework you mastered 5 years ago is now legacy. The specific domain knowledge of your current company becomes worthless the moment you leave. You are running on a treadmill that never stops just to stay relevant.

Bob invested 100% of his energy into an asset that depreciates. Alice invested 95% in code and 5% in Reputation.

Reputation is the only career asset that enjoys compound interest. It travels with you. It doesn’t care if React gets replaced by Svelte. It doesn’t care if the economy crashes. If 500 people know you are smart and reliable, you will never be unemployed.

Why Alice wins

Why did Alice get lucky? It wasn’t magic. It was math. There is a concept called Surface Area of Luck, defined as:

Luck = [Doing] x [Telling]

Bob’s score was high on “Doing” but zero on “Telling.” 100 x 0 = 0. His luck surface area was non-existent.

Alice had a multiplier. By publishing her work, she decoupled her value from her time. While Bob was sleeping, his resume was sitting in a digital pile. While Alice was sleeping, her articles were being read by a VP of Engineering in London, a Founder in New York, and a Team Lead in Berlin. Her “Proof of Work” was fighting for her 24/7.

How to Start (The 5% Rule)

If you are reading this and thinking, “I hate marketing, I just want to code,” I have good news. You don’t need to change your personality.

You just need to apply the 5% Rule:

• Spend 95% of your time being a great engineer. (Do the work).

• Spend 5% of your time telling people about it. (Document the work).

If you skip the 95%, you are a fraud. If you skip the 5%, you are a hidden treasure that might never be found.

Don’t create “content.” Document your reality.

• Did you spend 3 days fighting a CORS error? Write about it.

• Did you refactor a messy class? Share the before and after.

• Did you disagree with a popular tech trend? Explain why.

You are not your code

If you define your value solely by the lines of code you produce, you are putting your career in the hands of market conditions you cannot control.

You need to shift your mental model. You are not just a coder. You are a media company of one, and your product is expertise.

This doesn’t mean you need to become a “LinkedIn Influencer.” You don’t need to post cringe-worthy selfies or motivational quotes. You just need to create a Proof of Work.

When you write about a technical challenge, you are creating an artifact that works for you while you sleep. You are creating insurance.

So, the next time you feel guilty for spending 20 minutes writing a post instead of closing a ticket, remember Alice and Bob. Writing code keeps you employed today. Writing about code ensures you are employed forever.