AI headshots for software engineers

Software engineers have an awkward relationship with headshots. A formal corporate portrait looks out of place in tech, and a cropped selfie looks like you did not try. What works is in between: clearly you, well lit, and dressed the way you actually dress at work.

One photo, many places

An engineer's face turns up in more places than most:

• LinkedIn, where recruiters and hiring managers look first. LinkedIn headshots.
• GitHub, Slack, Jira and your company's chat, usually as a small square avatar.
• The team or about page of your company's website.
• Conference talks and meet-up listings, next to your name and title.
• Your own site or blog, if you write.

Using the same picture across all of them is what makes you recognisable to people who only know you from a pull request.

What engineers wear

Wear what you would wear to an important meeting at your own company, not a banker's. Knitwear, a plain tee under an open jacket, or a simple shirt all read as professional in tech. Solid colours hold up better than logos and patterns, which compete with your face at avatar size. What to wear for a headshot.

Which background

A bright glass-walled office suits tech, and a city street works well for a more relaxed picture. Tell us you work in tech and your first pictures are taken in a bright glass-walled office. For small avatars, a plain grey backdrop keeps the face clear when the picture is cropped into a circle or a square.

Cropping for avatars

Your pictures are 3:4 portraits, framed so your face sits comfortably in the upper middle. That crops cleanly to the square or circle that GitHub, Slack and most tools use, as long as you choose a head-and-shoulders framing.

How it works

Upload 8 to 20 ordinary photos from different days, choose the clothes, places and light you want, and see one headshot of your own face free before paying. Each picture in your set is a different photograph, directed on its own, not one picture in several jackets. How the AI headshot generator works.

Questions

Is a suit a bad idea for a tech headshot?

Not bad, just rarely right. It can read as out of place on a team page where everybody else is in knitwear. Choose it only if your company dresses that way.

Can I use it as my GitHub avatar?

Yes. Download the full-size picture and upload it; the service will crop it to a square or circle. Head-and-shoulders framing crops best.

Will colleagues be able to tell it is AI?

Not if it looks like you. The giveaways are smoothed skin, identical pictures and a face that is slightly off, which is why you check the likeness on a free headshot first.