Please visit the accessible blog version: http://www.last-child.com/students-brand-dream-job/ I had the opportunity to visit many colleges and meet with the students as a Yahoo! Developer Evangelist. During these visits, I worked with students and helped them prepare their first hack, set up a private server, and begin their process of establishing their unique identity on the web. Creating an online “brand” is critical for college students, as companies have a large pool of applicants to choose from and you need to make sure your resume rises to the top. I believe this is especially important for students with a disability, as this online brand can open doors and provide better opportunities than cattle-call recruitment fairs. Over the years, I’ve also been a part of resume screening and job interviews for dozens of positions. From this vantage point I've learned a candidate’s resume is just a starting point. I search their online history to find what they’ve learned from their classes. A candidate that only has a resume is not going to be impressive as one that also has a blog, Twitter, GitHub, and other points of reference. With that in mind, I visited UC Berkeley recently to give this presentation. It’s a topic I’ve discussed many times over coffee with interns, students, and my family.

1. on the internet…
Ted Drake, Principal Engineer
Intuit Accessibility

2. Ted

3. artsy
fartsy

4. San Diego Museum of Art

5. Standards-
Based Web
Development

6. Laying the Foundation
• Blog: tdrake.net
• Networking at conferences
• CSS, HTML, JavaScript Forums
• Comments on other blogs

7. YAHOO!

8. Jennison
Asuncion

9. Toronto
• Bank employee
• Meetup leader
• Accessibility Camp
organizer
• GAAD
• Influential Twitter
• Conferences

10. LinkedIn!

11. Kevin
Chao

12. Most Connected Student
• Very influential Twitter account
• Great interest in technology
• Provided constructive accessibility feedback
• 500+ LinkedIn connections
• Visited Bay Area and invited to every major
company

14. Own your online persona

15. Google: Your Name

16. What do you see?
• Who else has your name? Are they more
prominent?
• Is there something bad?
• Does it represent you?

17. Would you hire
yourself?

18. Now add your focus

19. Connect Your Content

21. Own your content

22. YourName.com

23. WordPress

24. Twitter

25. LinkedIn

26. GitHub

27. Community Participation
• Meetup
• Lanyrd
• SlideShare
• SpeakerDeck
• YouTube

28. • Hack Days
• Start Up Weekend
• Bar Camps
• Volunteer Opportunities
• Community Organizing
Social Activities

29. • Facebook?
• Instagram?
• Vine?
• Yelp?
• Flickr?
Professional Tools?

30. Dirty little secrets

31. Nobody cares about
your school assignments

32. We will look for signs
of bad character

33. The Internet is
Permanent

34. Independent projects are
more important than
grade point average

35. Bad grammar and
spelling will kill your
potential

36. Connect with Me
• Blog: last-child.com
• Twitter: @ted_drake
• LinkedIn: draket
• Slideshare: 7mary4
• YouTube: 7mary4responding
• GitHub: 7mary4