The job search isn't about being good. It's about being good and noticed.

You learned to code. You can build. You solve problems. You're competent. You’re hard-working. 

And you're still not getting hired.

So you blame the market. You blame AI. You blame hiring managers for being "gatekeepers."

You don't blame yourself for doing the one thing that actually matters: telling people you exist.

Let's be honest about what's happening here.

You're avoiding marketing yourself because it feels gross. Like you're being fake. Like you're "selling" something. And that word—selling—makes you uncomfortable because somewhere along the way, you absorbed the idea that good work speaks for itself.

It doesn't.

Here's the truth: You're in a marketplace.

Marketplaces are imperfect meritocracies. At different points, merit matters, but often perception matters more.

In a marketplace, there are sellers and buyers. Hiring managers are buyers. You're selling a solution to their problem. 

And in every marketplace that has ever existed, the product that gets noticed is the one that gets marketed.

Think about it for a second.  How many places sell better burgers than McDonald’s? And how many sell more?

Yep. Two different answers.

Here’s the problem, as it applies to you.

You’re good. And nobody knows you exist. 

That's not a character flaw. That's a market failure.

If your code is sitting on GitHub and nobody's looking at it, it might as well not exist. 

If your experience is buried in a LinkedIn profile that reads like every other self-taught engineer, you're invisible.

If you send applications into the void with a generic message, you've already lost.

This isn't unfair. This is how markets work.

A great product with bad marketing will never win.

An average product with great marketing will be commercially successful.

So here's where you're wrong about marketing.

You think marketing is BS. That's manipulation. That if you're actually good, you don't need it.

Wrong.

Marketing isn't BS if you have substance. It’s mandatory.

If you're actually good at solving problems, then marketing is education.

It's showing the hiring manager what they can't see from your resume alone.

Think about it: 

1. How would they know you can think like an engineer if you don't show them? 

2. How would they know you understand their specific problem if you don't articulate it? 

3. How would they know you're different from the 200 other applicants if you sound like all of them?

They can't. So they assume you're all the same.

It’s not their job to find out if you’re different and a stand-out candidate.

It’s your job to prove you're not.

That's not manipulation. That's communication. That's education. That's marketing done right.

All hiring managers are desperate for great talent. It was only when I became one (back when I was a lawyer) that I realised how hard it is to hire right.

Good marketing is matchmaking.

So they have a problem. And you’re the solution. But they cannot be expected to know that until you show it to them.

And here's the part that really matters: Desire only comes after proof.

Recruiters don't want to interview you because your resume is clean. They want to interview you because you've shown the market—through your narrative, your questions, your understanding of their business—that you'll actually deliver their goals.

Proof creates desire.  Think about the last thing you bought - you bought it because you were convinced it would meet your needs, remember?

You can't expect someone to take a risk on you without evidence. Why would they? There's no shortage of engineers. You have to become someone worth taking a risk on.

That means raising your profile. Not because you're insecure or need validation. But because visibility is how you get attention. Attention is how you generate interest.

And then you show proof, which makes you desirable. 

It's how you shift from "one of many" to "wait, who is this person?"

My students who get hired aren't necessarily smarter than the ones who don't. 

They're better at showing up and shining through. Better at communicating their fit for the hiring manager. Better at making their competence visible and relevant.

They market themselves. And they get hired.

Here's what you're actually afraid of:

You're afraid that if you "market" yourself, people will discover you're not as good as you pretended. That's the real fear. Not that marketing is icky. That you're a fraud.

But you're not a fraud. You learned to code. You can build. You solved real problems in your projects. You understand logic and systems.

You just haven't proven it to anyone who matters yet.

So stop avoiding it.

Stop hiding behind "my work should speak for itself." Stop waiting for someone to discover you. Stop acting like self-promotion is beneath you. It's not beneath you. It's beneath your potential.

Start treating your job search like what it actually is: a market where you're competing for Attention, Interest, and Desire.

1. Get attention by having a clear narrative about who you are and what you solve.

2. Get interest by showing you understand the hiring manager's problem.

3. Get desired by proving you can actually perform.

That's not marketing. That's just being smart enough to play the game.

And the game is all that matters.

Ready to stop being competent and invisible,  and start being desirable and hirable? 

Four ways we can help you:

1. Wondering what learning to code actually means? 

Becoming a coder is much more than just "learning to code" some languages.  When I got hired at Google, for example, I didn't know 3 out of the 4 languages I had to write every day. 

Check out

👉 My FreeCodeCamp Course on YouTube -->  Before You Learn To Code (Video).

👉 Updated version (including Google and other big tech experiences) 

--> check it out here.

2. Inner Circle (Free Preview Included)

Our personalized, intensive mentorship program is designed to help career changers go from zero to software developer—and actually get hired. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re ready to commit, we’ll walk with you every step.

👉 Preview the Inner Circle Program -> free preview.

👉 Apply for Future Coders Inner Circle → https://www.matchfitmastery.com/inner-circle 

3. Career Change To Code Podcast

Driving? At the gym? Hiding in the bathroom? Perfect time to inject the best techniques for a career change to code directly into your brain via 

👉Drip tips directly into your brain with the Easier Said Than Done podcast: YouTube | Spotify 

4. Weekly Tips In Your Inbox

👉 Subscribe to this newsletter (it’s free).  I try and keep it to 3 minutes or less so you can read in the elevator, waiting in lines, in the bathroom...😝