How to Market Software Engineering

Creatives.? When the corporate world uses that word, they’re inevitably talking about designers, product leads and marketers– quirky, artsy types who have soft skills, who talk to clients, who use tools like Figma, and who we all assume are empathetic, original, inspired, inventive.? Charming little elves.

Enterprise engineers on the other hand: trolls.??

One group works in the sun.? The other– a cave.

One needs to sit with the business– hallowed be their name— while the other can’t sit far enough away— out of sight… preferably off-continent… and once SpaceX is ready, offworld.

One group are artists who benefit from autonomy.? The other– leather-skinned, chain-smoking trade-unionists who need to be managed with batons.

Mark my words– without better marketing, coding will become even more depression-era-factory-chic and then it’s just a matter of time before the Jersey mob gets into the Python business.?

“Puttin’ the IT back into fuggedaboutit.”

[It’s the last two letters Bob.]

It’s time to sell engineering in the enterprise as an art form; to market a new creative class that rivals the ones with EQ and deodorant.

I know.? It’ll get the same sideways looks that physicists get when they talk about the beauty of mathematics.??

Bohr-ing!

[He was a famous physicist, Bob.]

And… since we all suck at marketing, I suggest we rally around a vendor with marketing cred.? I don’t care which one.? We just need them to do for engineers what Adobe does for old school creatives.? Love them. Celebrate them.? Put them on stage.? Invest in creating a community for them.? Pay waaay waaaaaay too much for Figma.

You get the point.

The Book Behind The Angst

I came to this conclusion because I just finished reading what’s turned out to be one of my favorite new books of 2022– Sebastian Mallaby's The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future .

I picked it up thinking that I would learn a little something about venture capital.? What I got instead is a history of technology startups.? And recurring, crushing personal regret.??

“Wait, I remember wanting to work for them.”??

“And them.”?

“And them.”

[Jeez.? I have made no impact in this world.? Aside from two ugly kids.]

But do you know what kept me reading???

I noticed that throughout the entire history of software, the only positive marketing for hackers and hacking has come from a specific kind of venture capitalist.? The Paul Grahams and Marc Andreessens of the world.? Former software engineers… turned entrepreneurs… turned VCs who hate VCs… turned engineering community boosters… for profit.

Think about it.

Who coined the phrase “software is eating the world” or wrote a masterpiece called A Unified Theory of VC Suckage ???

Software engineers who appreciate other software engineers.??

Not just for their sparkling personalities.??

For their world-changing abilities.

The Answer

I was hoping you wouldn’t get this far in the piece.? Because– like every influencer on social media– I’m not even mildly qualified to dole out marketing advice.? Or any advice for that matter.

So… let me do what any good software engineer would do when stuck.??

Oh heavenly Google, answer my prayer.

[0.50 seconds]?

Your search - "how to market software engineering" - did not match any documents.

?–

Faith. Lost.

There is no Google!

Postscript One–? I Can’t Leave It There So…

1. If you’re an engineer– especially a young one– read Mallaby's book.? And think seriously about turning 54 one day (like a certain blogger you know) and being filled with regret.? Don’t get me wrong.? Given the macroeconomic outlook for the next year, today is *not* the right time to quit and find a startup to join.? But… once you appreciate the history of startups… you’ll realize that it *is* the best time to start one.?

2. If you manage engineers in a large enterprise, treat them better.? Waaay better.? Like the artists they are… or aspire to be.? Don’t be the reason they keep rereading that first suggestion (above). Know that developer experience matters. Their pay matters.? Their path up matters.? And every minute they’re in a meeting is a blight on their souls.

3. If you’re a software company and have a ton of cash (or stock) and want to be Adobe-for-developers– for instance if you have the word Git somewhere in your name– start buying up the little players who are actually improving developer experience.

In the spirit of VC-ness, here are 9 potential buys.? Not 10.? 9.? Because I left off the obvious one you’re thinking of.? [See – a reason for your inner nerdling to visit the comments section!]

In no particular order:

Okteto : because why wouldn’t you do your development in the cloud… in a remote development environment… ditching the need for a beefy laptop that your company is too cheap to buy you anyway.

Crossplane : so engineers can easily build control planes without writing arcane distributed systems code for months.

LaunchDarkly : because feature flags pave the way for developers to build better, more reliable software.

Snyk : to help developers shift security left… whatever that means.

Privacy Dynamics : because who doesn't need to anonymize a few million rows of data? Who doesn’t need to get access to prod data in a way that’s safe, privacy-aware, and secure?? Who?? Tell me!!

Mongodb : so the best-named product in the industry gets its due.

Chainguard : because who doesn’t want to secure their software supply chain?

TabNine : so you can pair-program by yourself.

Deepsource : to help developers shift vulnerability and vulnerability prevention left.? Again with the shifting left.

Postscript Two: Postscript Harder

Mallaby's book also got me thinking about why engineering in a large company always feels like you’re mixing oil and water.??

The history of venture capital demonstrates that software– at its best– has always been about flipping the world upside down.? In contrast, large companies– given their size and power– are wholly focused on keeping their world from flipping over.??

Small– defined by its agility– doesn’t need overwhelming structure.? While large– because of its lumbering scale and speed– demands it.? Resulting in the engineer’s mortal enemy: bureaucracy.??

Said slightly differently, small values art and the artist; it celebrates all the creative classes but most of all— engineers.? Large protects itself against them.?

Because what is art if not a challenge to the status quo?? A provocation.

Small stands in defiance of exactly the status quo that large protects.??

Oh and before we romanticize startups too much - a final reminder from the book:??

The history of venture capital also shows that small’s goal is to one day become large and to protect the new status quo.

[Cue The Circle of Life]