M
Milica Maksimovic
Guest
This interview is part of HackerNoon's Tech Marketer Interview series. Milica brings over 10 years of experience in tech marketing and currently heads growth at 3HCloud and NewServerLife. She is also a HackerNoon contributor and has worked for multiple clients as our Business Blogging partner. We're glad to feature her in our tech marketers spotlight!
I first applied for a “Technical Content Editor” position at a local CI/CD startup. All I knew was that I wanted to break into tech, and this position blended my love for writing with my curiosity about the tech world.
After two years of learning about Linux, containers, and DevOps infrastructure, I realized there was no going back
"I might be good at this moment" was triggered by the fact that I increased website visits 500%
The tech world has no constants. It changes abruptly, new trends come and go, and you need to accept that you will never keep up 100% with every aspect of this industry. If you try to keep up with everything, you will burn out.
Also, you'll need to learn how to handle burnout because it is inevitable.
The biggest challenge has always been communicating the value of marketing to engineering founders and managing their expectations. Engineers are used to measurable inputs and outputs, so they often expect every marketing activity to translate directly into sales. That puts a lot of pressure on marketers, but driving direct sales was never our job. Marketing builds the awareness, trust, and demand that sales then converts, and that rarely shows up neatly in a dashboard.
AI has made this harder in some ways. Many people in tech now see AI as the answer to every business question, and asking someone for feedback often turns into talking to someone else’s Claude these days.
But it has also created an opportunity. Direct human advice brings more value and beats generic/generated content any day of the week.
Reviews - I can now see which angle feels a bit off faster, before I actually ask a human to review the work.
Dull tasks - we can now offload small & operational things to AI.
Market research - 10 agents working in parallel can research competitors and their activities much faster than I can.
Translating decisions made during calls into text - praised be AI!
I hate rage baiting as a distribution strategy. A lot of people write crazy blog posts or have strong messaging on social media. "This is wrong", "This is the old approach", "Stop doing this!".
Every time you disagree with someone in the comments, you're simply feeding the algorithm. Substack, LinkedIn, and X all reward engagement, and outrage is the cheapest form of engagement. Arguments generate threads, and threads generate reach.
The math is very simple, numbers go up for sure, but I get a stronger connection to brands and influencers who don't do it. If you’re negative all the time, that negativity ends up attached to your product too. It's hard to put it into words, but I dislike this practice.
Marketers will have to find new ways to get the attention of the right audience.
I also believe AI will heavily influence buying decisions, so marketers will need to figure out how to get recommended by LLMs asap, it will be the new "SEO".
I also think T-shaped marketers will be the default; specializing in just one aspect is not viable anymore, IMHO.
Never stop learning, don't give up, and make sure each campaign is focused on moving the numbers your CEO can understand.
There’s no need to obsess over tracking everything perfectly from day one. Start simple, focus on the metrics that matter most for your current stage, and build your measurement system as your project grows.
Let’s start at the beginning: how did you end up in tech marketing, and what was your first “okay, I think I might actually be good at this” moment?
I first applied for a “Technical Content Editor” position at a local CI/CD startup. All I knew was that I wanted to break into tech, and this position blended my love for writing with my curiosity about the tech world.
After two years of learning about Linux, containers, and DevOps infrastructure, I realized there was no going back
"I might be good at this moment" was triggered by the fact that I increased website visits 500% What’s one thing about tech marketing that you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?
The tech world has no constants. It changes abruptly, new trends come and go, and you need to accept that you will never keep up 100% with every aspect of this industry. If you try to keep up with everything, you will burn out.
Also, you'll need to learn how to handle burnout because it is inevitable.
What’s the biggest challenge you face as a tech marketer today — getting attention, understanding the technology, proving ROI, keeping up with trends, or something completely different?
The biggest challenge has always been communicating the value of marketing to engineering founders and managing their expectations. Engineers are used to measurable inputs and outputs, so they often expect every marketing activity to translate directly into sales. That puts a lot of pressure on marketers, but driving direct sales was never our job. Marketing builds the awareness, trust, and demand that sales then converts, and that rarely shows up neatly in a dashboard.
AI has made this harder in some ways. Many people in tech now see AI as the answer to every business question, and asking someone for feedback often turns into talking to someone else’s Claude these days.
But it has also created an opportunity. Direct human advice brings more value and beats generic/generated content any day of the week.
AI has changed everything from content creation to customer research and campaign optimization. What’s one part of your job that AI has genuinely changed for you?
Reviews - I can now see which angle feels a bit off faster, before I actually ask a human to review the work.
Dull tasks - we can now offload small & operational things to AI.
Market research - 10 agents working in parallel can research competitors and their activities much faster than I can.
Translating decisions made during calls into text - praised be AI!
What do you think marketers still need to be exceptionally good at that AI can’t easily replace?
If you could delete one marketing trend, tactic, or buzzword from existence forever, what would it be — and why?
I hate rage baiting as a distribution strategy. A lot of people write crazy blog posts or have strong messaging on social media. "This is wrong", "This is the old approach", "Stop doing this!".
Every time you disagree with someone in the comments, you're simply feeding the algorithm. Substack, LinkedIn, and X all reward engagement, and outrage is the cheapest form of engagement. Arguments generate threads, and threads generate reach.
The math is very simple, numbers go up for sure, but I get a stronger connection to brands and influencers who don't do it. If you’re negative all the time, that negativity ends up attached to your product too. It's hard to put it into words, but I dislike this practice.
Fast-forward five years: what do you think the tech marketer’s job will look like, and what skill should someone entering the field today start building now?
Marketers will have to find new ways to get the attention of the right audience.
I also believe AI will heavily influence buying decisions, so marketers will need to figure out how to get recommended by LLMs asap, it will be the new "SEO".
I also think T-shaped marketers will be the default; specializing in just one aspect is not viable anymore, IMHO.
What’s one message, lesson, or piece of advice you’d like to share with the tech marketing community?
Never stop learning, don't give up, and make sure each campaign is focused on moving the numbers your CEO can understand.
There’s no need to obsess over tracking everything perfectly from day one. Start simple, focus on the metrics that matter most for your current stage, and build your measurement system as your project grows.