Michael Lin

The primary currency for career growth is the network of people who know who you are, what you do, and what you stand for. With the tools available to all of us, **building credibility and influence has never been easier**. 

Platforms like YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium, and Substack contain countless examples of engineers who are achieving incredible success because of their ability to connect with an audience.

Once you have influence, it becomes significantly easier to expand your network, build distribution channels, and grow a business.

This course is focused on how YOU can become an engineer influencer. We cover 10+ case studies of other engineer influencers and how to apply their strategies to grow and monetize your own brand.

An *engineer influencer* is an engineer who builds an audience on social media and uses that to kickstart their future startup or business.

Examples include:

- [Rahul Pandey](https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulPandeyrkp) - ex-Meta engineer, who leveraged his 60k followers on YouTube to launch Taro, a career-mentoring app that got into YCombinator

- [Gergely Orosz](https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz) - ex-Uber engineering manager, who used his Twitter following to grow his paid newsletter "The Pragmatic Engineer" to 140k readers in 18 months

- [Daniel Vassallo](https://twitter.com/dvassallo) - ex-Amazon engineer, who grew his following to 130k followers on Twitter and now teaches a highly successful cohort based class called "Portfolio of Small Bets"

Each of these engineer influencers focused on building their social media following first.

### **Is this course for me?**

If you're a 1) W-2 employee in tech and 2) interested in diversifying your income streams, then yes!

### **What if I'm not an engineer?**

That's OK! You can apply the principles I teach to any field. I also discuss a number of designers, PMs, and engineering-adjacent folks as examples as well.

### **How is this course specific to engineers?**

First, I strive to use other engineers as examples wherever I can in this course.

Second, this course addresses entrepreneurial mistakes that engineers are most likely to make. This includes:

- focusing too much on product building rather than channel building

- feeling intimidated about self-promotion

- not knowing how to make sales

- thinking they don't have the authority to speak on engineering

- always aiming for a VC-scale unicorn

Become An Engineer Influencer

Overview

Channel Selection

Content Strategy

Production Process

Smart Audience Interaction

Monetization Strategies

Conclusion

Social Media is a Sales Funnel

What Is An Engineer Influencer?

Michael's Backstory

Catering to Your Strengths

Top-Funnel Channels

LinkedIn and Twitter

Mid-Funnel Channels

Bottom-Funnel Channels

Community-First Approach

Storytelling

Advice, Passion, and Build In Public

Engineering Topics

Importance of Process

Tips on Writing

Headline/Preview Testing

Editing

Frequency

Limiting Beliefs

What If Nothing Works?

1,000 True Fans

Networking

Coaching

Consulting

Digital Products

Cohort Based Courses

How to De-Risk Quitting

Final Words Of Encouragement

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 4] - Strategy #2: Social Media is a Sales Funnel

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 1] - What Is An Engineer Influencer?

An engineer influencer is an engineer who builds an audience on social media and uses that to kickstart their future startup or business.

Examples include:

- [Rahul Pandey](https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulPandeyrkp) - ex-Meta engineer, who leveraged his 60k followers on YouTube to launch Taro, a career-mentoring app that got into YCombinator

- [Gergely Orosz](https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz) - ex-Uber engineering manager, who used his Twitter following to grow his paid newsletter "The Pragmatic Engineer" to 140k readers in 18 months

- [Daniel Vassallo](https://twitter.com/dvassallo) - ex-Amazon engineer, who grew his following to 130k followers on Twitter and now teaches a highly successful cohort based class called "Portfolio of Small Bets"

Each of these engineer influencers focused on building their social media following first.

This helped them build credibility, expand their network, and guarantee them a distribution channel for their future product.

Connect with Michael:

- LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-lin-tech/>
- Twitter: [https://x.com/\_michaellin](https://x.com/%5C_michaellin)
- Newsletter: <https://www.michaellinwrites.com/>

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 2] - Michael's Backstory

Michael saw the transformative power of influence after he left his job at Netflix. This video reveals the new opportunities enabled by cultivating an audience. Michael talks about which platforms he grew on, among Medium, LinkedIn, Twitter, a newsletter, and more.

Connect with Michael:

- LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-lin-tech/>
- Twitter: [https://x.com/\_michaellin](https://x.com/%5C_michaellin)
- Newsletter: <https://www.michaellinwrites.com/>

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 3] - Strategy #1: Catering to Your Strength

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 5] - Top-Funnel Channels

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 6] - LinkedIn and Twitter

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 7] - Mid-Funnel Channels

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 8] - Bottom-Funnel Channels

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 9] - Community-First Approach

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 10] - Story-Telling

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 11] - Advice, Passion, and Build In Public

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 12] - Engineering Topics

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 13] - Importance of Process

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 14] - Tips on Writing

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 15] - Headline/Preview Testing

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 16] - Editing

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 17] - Frequency

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 18] - Limiting Beliefs

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 19] - What If Nothing Works?

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 20] - 1,000 True Fans

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 21] - Networking

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 22] - Monetization Strategies

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 23] - Coaching

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 24] - Consulting

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 25] - Digital Products

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 26] - Cohort Based Courses

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 27] - How to De-Risk Quitting

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 28] - Final Words Of Encouragement

Congratulations, you made it to the end of the course, **Become An Engineer Influencer**! Connect with Michael:

- LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-lin-tech/>
- Twitter: <https://x.com/\_michaellin>
- Newsletter: <https://www.michaellinwrites.com/>

Feel free to share any feedback on this course with us at [team@jointaro.com](mailto:team@jointaro.com). 

Share + get support on the Taro forum: [**joinTaro.com/questions/create/**](http://joinTaro.com/questions/create/)