The Weekend Build: Stop Polishing LinkedIn. Start Leading the AI Conversation.
In a market flooded with sterile profiles, the only way to stand out is to build something real - and it costs almost $0.
People love to say Agile is dead. You know what’s actually dead? LinkedIn for finding jobs.
Nate B. Jones convinced me of this. He argues LinkedIn is dead. He’s right.
I’ve scrolled my feed for the past year and seen the same thing every week: hundreds of talented people shouting into the void. They polish their “About” sections. They endorse each other for “Strategic Planning.” They post sterile updates about being “humbled to announce” another certification.
It’s heartbreaking. I was there. I was them. I will be them again. It’s not about if you get laid off, it’s when. And while they optimize for an algorithm that hates them, the actual builders, the ones getting hired, are doing something else entirely.
They’re building.
The Resume is Dead. Long Live the Repo.
Hard truth from the trenches: anyone can write anything on a resume. Nobody hires a PDF. They hire someone who acts like they can solve a problem.
In 2026, claiming “expertise in AI” on a static PDF is like claiming you’re a good driver because you own a car manual. Everyone says it. Means nothing. Even if your role isn’t “AI Developer,” proving you have hands-on experience to guide teams through what’s possible is the differentiator.
Y’all, you have to move from claiming competence to demonstrating it.
I saw someone in job transition recently who didn’t send a cover letter. She sent a link. “Chat with my resume here,” she said. I clicked. Clean personal site. A bot answered my questions about her project history, tech stack, even availability.
Step 1: Claim Your Land (Saturday Morning)
Stop renting your professional identity from Microsoft.
- Follow the guide to Build Your Website in an Afternoon.
- Use Design OS to separate your content from your code.
- Deploy to Vercel. Want a custom domain? Grab one from Namecheap or Porkbun. But you don’t need it. A Vercel address might say more about you than you think.
- Timebox: 3 hours. Don’t get stuck on fonts.
Step 2: The “Special Sauce” (Saturday Afternoon)
This is where you win.
- Follow the guide to Add AI to Your Website.
- Sign up for OpenRouter and grab an API key (the guide walks you through the rest).
- Build a Fit Assessment tool. This is a simple form where recruiters paste a job description, and your AI tells them how well you match the role, what gaps exist, and whether it makes sense to reach out. Let them pre-screen themselves.
- The Goal: A bot that answers “How did you help your teams deliver more predictably (and faster)?” better than you do in an interview.
Step 3: Polish and Ship (Sunday)
- Add your portfolio to the site (your Agentic IDE can help).
- Write one blog post about what you just built. You can even start a Substack, like I just did.
- Put the link in your LinkedIn bio.
- Never touch your LinkedIn “About” section again.
Stop Waiting for Permission
The market is brutal. I see it daily. The people suffering most are playing by old rules. They apply hundreds or thousands of times only to get a rejection months later. They wait for recruiters to find them. They wait for permission to be great.
Don’t wait.
Build your own platform, control the narrative. You’re not a row in a database. You’re a builder with a deployed project.
Like I always say, data is that third person in the room without an ulterior motive. And the data says personal profiles drive 5x more meaningful conversations than company pages. Why? Because it’s real.
Your Turn
This isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s career insurance.
I know what you’re thinking. “Fred, does this mean I stop applying on LinkedIn?” No. You still play the game. Fill out the forms. But no one discovers your personal site accidentally. That’s why you put it in that “Website” or “Portfolio” field. That little field everyone leaves blank or points to a generic PDF? Paste a link to your own platform.
That’s the difference between a resume that gets scanned and a candidate that gets remembered.
You have a choice this weekend. Spend three hours tweaking keywords on your profile, hoping the algorithm notices you. Or spend those three hours building something that proves you don’t need the algorithm at all.
Stop optimizing. Start building.
This is your weekend. This is your chance to stop waiting and start building. I believe in you.
If you run into problems, reach out. I’ll help you fix it.
Continue Your Journey
Your Website in an Afternoon: Build a personal website workflow from design to deployment using GitHub, Vercel, and AI-assisted updates.
Adding AI to Your Website: Turn your static site into an interactive experience with a chat widget, fit assessment tool, and cost protection.