Value · Your starting point · lesson 0.4 open
What you cannot say in public
The confidentiality rules that protect your current contract and how to still prove competence.
Promise: you can prove seniority in public without naming clients or risking the contract that pays your bills.
Why it matters
Every senior engineer has a great story they cannot tell. Those who tell it anyway lose the contract; those who say nothing are left without proof. The way out is disciplined middle ground.
Three levels of specificity
| Level | Example | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Forbidden | client name, project name, people's names, repository name, rate | never in public content |
| Ceiling | "a US tech company", "one of the largest companies in the world" | posts, presentations |
| Proof | "cut data reads on a Spark job by 98%", rounded numbers | posts, CV, LinkedIn |
Watch out for veiled attribution: "a global sporting goods brand" points straight to the client when your profile shows their name. The test is: would someone viewing my profile guess the client from this text? If so, raise the level of abstraction.
CV and LinkedIn are not content
A resume and LinkedIn usually name employers and clients. That is normal, but it can clash with a publicity clause in your contract. Read the clause and, if in doubt, ask for written authorization. Lesson 6.3 shows how to identify this clause.
In chains with more than one link, your contract with the consultancy may be more restrictive than the end client's contract. Read your contract, not what you assume about the client's.
How to prove without naming
- Round internal numbers ("billions of rows", "98%").
- Describe the problem, not the system: "experiment report that used to take weeks and now takes hours".
- Show the reasoning and generic code, never the client's code.
Write three pieces of proof at the "Proof" level and run each one through the veiled attribution test. Keep all three; they feed into lessons 1.3 and 2.4.
Common mistakes
- Posting a screenshot of a dashboard or PR with the repository name visible.
- Recounting "what happened to so-and-so" even without naming them.
- Publishing the rate you charge: it exposes both you and the client.
Checklist
- Do my three pieces of proof pass the veiled attribution test?
- Have I read the publicity clause in my contract?
Lessons cited by number that are not in the library yet open later.
Checked on 05/10/2026. Educational content; tax and legal: confirm with a professional.