Let’s stop name-dropping our corporate exes

GUEST: There’s a Silicon Valley trend that’s been bothering me lately. Open Twitter and you’ll see hundreds of tech bios that read a variation of:
Engineer at [company]. ex-@Apple, ex-@Google, @MIT
As a marketer, I understand the appeal. Association is a powerful tool that adds credibility and authority. But there are problems and dangers with this sort of self-identification.
For one, it can be taken the wrong way.
A while back, the Harvard Crimson ran an article about the dif