[throwarayes]

Think of yourself and your services as a one-person company. You need to always be marketing and doing sales. You never know when that one big client (your employer) might have layoffs (or you have a bad boss, or get stuck on crappy work, or whatever).

I don't put all my professional energy into my employer but hold some back for myself. I keep a constant public presence, write a lot, go to conferences, work on my own projects.

I think constantly about my positioning in the market. What's in demand? What problems need to be solved? Where are people stuck? What should I specialize in?

I take a lot of chats with folks who want general help, or just compare notes on what we're working on, or even straight up interviews.

It's constant work, but you can't trust the wiles of just one employer. It's like putting all your eggs in one basket as an investor. Be more diversified. Lately, they tech companies haven't proved loyal _at all_. They are always considering their options, so you should too.