Posting a puff piece about yourself on a tech news site feels... something though.

Almost everyone you see who has a personal brand that is popular on the conference circuit is willing and able to do this kind of self promotion. It’s not for me, but I don’t see it as objectionable because I see it as part and parcel of the role, and I think the role is a valuable one that should continue to exist. Technologies benefit from having some well known and well liked “names” behind them, and it gives them the confidence to try something new instead of the old thing which moves the industry forward.

Perhaps, but I suppose I'd personally nudge a friend to post it for me? Maybe humility isn't valued much in the Valley, but coming from elsewhere it feels off.

This is a side of me I would like more people to see. The whole person. So I submitted the article. I grew up in the South and don't live in the Valley. It required a bit of humility to even share this side of me, it's very personal, and in someways, not very flattering, but I wish I knew that successful people also come from very average backgrounds.

I'm going to flag this as lazy flamebait, but I hope you think hard about why you felt compelled to post this in this comment thread and then not do so in the future.

Personally I find the idea of asking a friend to post a self-promotional link without disclosing the affiliation, because I'm too "humble" to post it... quite the opposite of humble.

I got a bit fed up with the amount of 'I love Kelsey' tweets he shared today too. Felt a bit much.

Many of those Tweets reminded me how much I've grown as a person. Those Tweets reminded me that I made the right choice treating everyone with respect and in some cases helped them in their own careers.

It was my way of saying thank you and hoping those stories would inspire others and bring a little joy to their day.

I'm very glad he's getting the attention and hope he keeps getting it. He's an inspiring fellow, and I'm happy that he will be the one who will inspire some folks out there to enter tech.

Oh I'm not arguing that he's had an outsized impact on a lot of people, it just felt like he was clapping himself on the back for the entire day.

Humans are weird. We like seeing people succeed against hardship and enjoy reading success stories. But the enjoyment of their success can’t be to excess, otherwise people will see them as unscrupulous or arrogant. Not a slight against you or OP just interesting that we have our own individual thresholds of what kind of self congratulating is acceptable until it turns sour

Oh come on, he's just proud. It's a nice emotion!

Probably an imitator or clone. (:laughing:)

It's me, Kelsey Hightower.

Hi Kelsey! I love your origin story. You've come a long way. Do you mind if I introduce you to a friend of mine? He's not publicly famous but he hustles pretty hard and he's a great friend... I think you two would get along really well. (I'll get in contact with you on twitter)

Make it happen.

Apparently you've already had coffee with Mark T. Small world innit?

Your Udacity course https://youtu.be/zZ2NgJ2-A4c was my first taste of k8s and really got me excited about it. I eventually decided to focus and specialize around it and couldn't be happier. Thank you!

exactly what a clone would say!

My thoughts exactly.