Wow! You made it. We bet you're reading this because you're stepping into a new phase of your career, found an interesting new interview or media opportunity, and want to better your personal brand.

Fear not. Tell that imposter syndrome to go away. Here's a super simple bio format to tell any non-traditional career path story - quick! Plus, you can learn from the best with some examples from apprentices at LinkedIn, Twilio, and Uber.

Step 1: Provide context on your position, team, the features and products you work on right now.

Step 2: Add a high level summary of your past career or career pivot, if applicable.

Step 3: Provide details about your education or training, including your apprenticeship. Don’t forget to mention your apprenticeship, so we can always encourage more companies to start more programs.

Step 4: Add some personal hobbies, interests, or adversities you overcame to show your personality, your life story, and material to connect with you.

Step 5: Contexualize the bio for the purpose or goal of the interview or media. What are the stories, themes or topics you want to share? How can you tie it all together?

Not sure how to put it into practice?

Here are 3 examples from non-traditional engineers at two different stages of their career. These bios were used across a total of 6 interviews.

Meredith Jones, LinkedIn

2018 Bio — Software Engineer

Meredith Jones became an Apprentice Software Engineer in the first cohort of their REACH apprenticeship in 2017, after attending Dev Bootcamp in San Francisco back in 2016 (Step 1 and 3). Before becoming a software engineer, Meredith was a clinical dietician for 7 years (Step 2). She has expertise in motivational interviewing and chronic disease management, and loved baking cakes for kids in foster care (Step 2 and 4). Meredith overcame depression, an eating disorder, and navigated a divorce solo at a very young age (Step 4). She studied Dietetics at Brigham Young University (Step 3). Meredith loves hiking, UI engineering in Ember, and photography (Step 4).

2021 Bio — Senior Software Engineer

Meredith Jones became a Senior Software Engineer at LinkedIn in September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic (Step 1). Meredith was an apprentice in the 1st cohort of LinkedIn REACH (Step 2). Before becoming a software engineer, Meredith was a clinical dietician for 7 years (Step 2). She studied Dietetics at Brigham Young University (Step 3). Meredith loves biking, the audio app Clubhouse, and Japanese culture (Step 4).

Roche Janken, Uber

2018 Bio  — Software Engineer

Roche Janken became an Apprentice Software Engineer at Uber in May 2016 after attending Dev Bootcamp in San Francisco in 2015 (Step 1 and 2). Roche transitioned into software engineering after a ten-year modern dance career (Step 2). While she was a dancer, she also had side hustles as a bookkeeper, a yoga instructor, and a project manager (Step 2 and 4). She studied Dance at the University of Michigan (Step 3). Roche loves dogs, nerding out about privacy, and her feminist mom (Step 4). Roche’s personal motto in 2018 was “Fake it till you make it, baby.” (Step 5)

2021 Bio — Senior Software Engineer

Roche Janken became a Senior Software Engineer at Uber in March 2019 (Step 1) Roche attended Dev Bootcamp in 2015, became an Apprentice Software Engineer and a Software Engineer at Uber in 2016 (Step 2). Roche transitioned into software engineering from a ten-year modern dance career (Step 3). In her years as a professional modern dancer, she also had side hustles as a bookkeeper, a yoga instructor, and a project manager (Step 2 and 4). She studied Dance at the University of Michigan (Step 3). Roche loves Great British Bake Off, a competitive game of Scrabble, and gardening in her yard in Oakland with her dog and her wife (Step 4). Roche’s personal motto in 2021 is “I’ve got nothing better to do.” (Step 5)

Lupita Davila, Twilio

2018 Bio — Software Engineer I

Lupita became an Apprentice Software Engineer at Twilio in the 1st cohort of their Hatch program in July 2017 after attending Dev Bootcamp in San Francisco (Step 1 and 2). Before her career pivot, Lupita was a web designer (Step 2). She originally studied Computer Science at UC Santa Barbara, but dropped out of that major, and barely finished her degree in Statistics while working multiple jobs (Step 3). Lupita made her way back into software engineering as a Facebook F8 Scholar, and has always been an active member in Latinx communities like Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Techqueria (Step 3). In her free time, Lupita enjoys playing the ukulele and doing photography (Step 4).

2021 Bio — Software Engineer II

Lupita is a Software Engineer II on the Growth Engineering team at Twilio (Step 1). Lupita is one of the founders of the Latinx at Twilio Employee Resource Group, building and growing an inclusive Latinx community at Twilio (Step 1). This episode is dedicated in honor and celebration of the lives of Oliver Davila, Lupita’s father, and Evelia Arevalo, Lupita’s grandmother. We know you’re both watching over Lupita with pride and joy (Step 5).