Across different roles and career stages, plenty of folks have lofty goals to build up their personal brand — and opportunities are more accessible than ever, whether it's spinning up a Substack, joining virtual conference panels, or hopping on the more casual Clubhouse stage.

But there's a wide gulf between getting started and stepping on stage or putting words to the page. Here on the Review, we've had this topic on our editorial wishlist for a while now, but have found it difficult to share concrete advice — so we were elated when we came across Anjuan Simmons.

He's an engineering leader over at Help Scout and has also carved out a robust side hustle as a prolific public speaker, while also writing about engineering and leadership concepts on Twitter and his own personal blog. He's taken the stage at conferences all over the world like GitHub Universe, LeadDev, and QCon.

The Engineering Leader’s Guide to Crafting a Personal Brand that Stands Out From the Crowd

"My writing and public speaking have made me a better leader because it holds me accountable. I’m on the record saying 'This is what I care about,'” says Simmons.

In this exclusive interview, Simmons pays special attention to convincing engineers this is a worthwhile pursuit, on top of learning new frameworks, catching up on Jira tickets, or taking on eng leadership roles. But folks all over the org chart that are curious about personal branding will benefit from his playbook — from finding unique topics, to crafting your talk track, plus his hard-won lessons on fitting this crucial work into an already jam-packed schedule. Along the way, he also busts some nagging public speaking myths.

As always, thank you for reading and sharing!

-The Review Editors

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