Three lengths, three use cases:
50 words — Twitter / quick blurbs
Maya Chen is a senior backend engineer at Acme, focused on real-time pricing systems. Previously at BetaCo. MIT '20. Based in NYC.
Use for: Twitter bio, conference speaker thumbnails, anywhere with a tight character count.
100 words — LinkedIn About / company directory
Maya Chen is a senior backend engineer at Acme, where she leads the team that builds the company's real-time pricing engine — a system that processes 12K events/sec at 99.99% uptime. Before Acme, she spent three years at BetaCo working on data infrastructure for ML pipelines. She holds a Bachelor's in Computer Science from MIT and is based in Brooklyn. Outside work, Maya is a co-organizer of the Brooklyn Backend Engineering meetup and runs a small newsletter on distributed systems patterns.
Use for: LinkedIn About section, company team page, podcast guest bio.
150 words — Speaker bio / conference program
Maya Chen is a senior backend engineer at Acme, where she leads the platform team responsible for the real-time pricing engine — a system serving 50,000 enterprise customers at 99.99% uptime. Before Acme, Maya spent three years at BetaCo building data infrastructure for ML pipelines, and started her career at GammaTech as a backend engineer working on distributed storage. She holds a Bachelor's in Computer Science from MIT and is based in Brooklyn, NY. Maya speaks regularly on distributed systems and reliability — recent talks include QCon NYC 2024 and StaffPlus Summit 2025. She co-organizes the Brooklyn Backend Engineering meetup and writes a small but well-read newsletter on systems patterns. Off-screen, she's an avid climber and reluctant runner.
Use for: Conference speaker pages, panel discussions, book contributor pages.
What to include
- Current role (company + title)
- One specific accomplishment or focus area
- One previous role if relevant
- Education (if relevant for the audience)
- Location
- One personal note that humanizes (hobby, side project, place)
What to skip
- Generic adjectives ("dedicated," "passionate," "results-driven")
- Buzzwords ("synergistic," "innovative," "thought leader")
- Listing every job
- Vague self-praise
First vs third person
- Third person: more professional. Default for speaker bios, company pages, conference programs.
- First person: warmer. Good for LinkedIn About, personal websites, casual blogs.
How to update
Every time:
- You change roles
- You complete a major project worth referencing
- A specific number changes (e.g., system scale, team size)
- You speak somewhere notable
The bigger pattern
A short bio is a small but compounding signal. People read it before meetings, before podcast appearances, before speaking gigs. Tight and specific wins.
Sorce auto-applies to 5M+ open jobs — 40 free swipes a day. Build your career, then build your bio around it.
For more: career trajectory, how to find LinkedIn URL, professional email example.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What should a short bio include?
- Current role, one specific accomplishment or focus area, and one personal note (location, hobby, or distinctive thing). Keep it third-person.
- Should I use first or third person?
- Third person reads more professional for bios on websites, conference programs, and speaker decks. First person works for LinkedIn About sections.
- How often should I update my bio?
- Every job change, major project, or annual milestone. Stale bios are worse than outdated ones.
- Should I list every job in my bio?
- No. Pick the most relevant 1-2 roles; recent and current matter most.