A software engineer named Wael Samer posted a standard Dev.to introduction this week - profile photo, GitHub link, LinkedIn URL, promise to share and learn. It's identical to thousands of other intro posts on the platform.
This matters because it represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how technical platforms actually build careers. Dev.to isn't LinkedIn. Generic networking posts don't demonstrate capability.
What enterprises actually look for
When technical leaders evaluate early-career developers, they're looking for evidence of three things: problem-solving ability, communication skills, and consistent output. A "hello world" post provides none of these.
Dev.to's actual value proposition is different. The platform's Markdown support, SEO optimization, and community features work best for technical deep-dives - architecture decisions, debugging war stories, implementation comparisons. These demonstrate competence in ways that connection requests cannot.
The portfolio problem
Junior developers often conflate presence with portfolio. Having accounts on Dev.to, Hashnode, and Medium doesn't matter. What matters is content that shows you can:
- Break down complex technical problems
- Document decisions and trade-offs
- Write clearly about what you've actually built
Your GitHub profile README and repository documentation do more heavy lifting than platform introductions. Technical hiring managers scan commit history and code quality, not social pleasantries.
Pattern recognition
We've seen this cycle repeatedly - developers join platforms, post introductions, then go silent. The ones who build meaningful portfolios publish regularly on specific technical problems they've solved. They treat Dev.to like a technical journal, not a networking event.
The platform's open-source nature and community features reduce onboarding friction for sharing knowledge. But the friction they remove is technical, not social. You still need something worth sharing.
What works instead
Document your actual projects. Write about real implementation challenges. Compare approaches you tried. Show your work. Generic introductions optimize for likes from other people posting generic introductions - not the attention of people who hire developers.
The developers who get noticed write about what they've shipped, not what they plan to learn.