Hey there!
Soon starting my second year studying computer science, really liked the first year, especially the programming classes (Python, Java), learning some C++ and Rust the coming year :)
We got recommended to start working on our Linkedin profiles during year 2, and I'm thinking it's time to get rid of the "ponygirl2005"-sounding address I've had since I was a kid and get one I can use in a professional setting.
I like gmail and plan to use it, but my name is already taken. I've looked around here on Reddit and picked up some tips, but I'm having a hard time deciding on what would be the best both for private use and not look out of place in a professional setting.
The tips I've seen on Reddit are:
Add your middle name initial or birth year to the address. "jane.j.doe" is already taken, same with "jane.doe.05" and "jane.doe.2005". "jane.j.doe.2005" is free, but is that a bit "much"? I get the feeling it might not look professional?
An alternative to the suggestion above would be the complete middle name, but my middle name is a bit long, and my first name isn't really a short "jane", would be more along the lines jeanette.josephine.doe, maybe a bit long?
Adding something with the line of work to the address. How about adding "dev", or something similar? "jeanette.doe.dev"? Does this sound good or silly? Also thinking - what if I get into business intelligence/data warehousing, would a "dev" be out of place then?
Using protonmail instead of gmail. This came up several times in other discussions. There the first few suggestions are available.
tl;dr - best professional email for a future dev in your opinion?
jeanette.j.doe.2005@gmail - "messy"?
jeanette.josephine.doe@gmail - long?
jeanette.doe.dev@gmail - is "dev" good? What if I end up in BI/data warehousing, still good?
jeanette.j.doe@protonmail - is Protonmail a good alternative with a professional vibe?
jeanette.doe.05@protonmail -same as above
Any other suggestions? Thanks :)
I am thinking of changing my email address because it no longer looks professional. My current email address is "[email protected]". What do you think contributes to a professional email address? Should I create my own domain for my email address or use a popular source like Gmail?
All comments and recommendations are appreciated!
Hey,
I'm creating a new email address for professional reasons and personal. My current address was made when i was 14 and as you can probably guess, it's not very appropriate for a professional atmosphere.
Long story short, I apperantly have a common name because all variants of my first, middle and last name are taken. The only one available is [email protected] but with a letter removed from my middle name. Example - [email protected] (instead of [email protected]).
Would this be a bad idea? Looked down upon by potential employers?
Any help would be really appreciated.
I’ve been working in IT for a few years but am looking for a new job and want a more professional email. My current one has my birth year and everything I’ve read says that can be a red flag for employers. I’ve tried creating a new one using every variation of first, middle, and last name. I’ve used periods and various orientations of initials. I was able to find a few that were accepted.
(First name.middle name. Last name)
(First initial. Middle name, last name)
(First name,middle initial,last name.tech)
I’m just worried that those would be too long. Would any of those work well for a professional email. If not, do you have suggestions?
I also wonder if I might have better luck with a different email platform. Aside from Gmail, is there a different one I could use that wouldn’t throw up red flags to employers?
Edit: Oh my god, the response to this is truly incredible and I really appreciate all the advice. I’m still going through the comments but a common piece of advice is to get a domain. This is good advice and something I should certainly do at some point, especially working in IT. But a big part of the reason I’m looking for a new job is that money is extremely tight. I know it would only be like $20/year but we’re trying to avoid any extra spending, no matter how minor. For right now, purchasing a domain would probably be more of a last resort.
Hi everyone. I know the formats for professional emails is [firstname][lastname]@gmail.com, [lastname][firstname]@gmail.com, etc. but since my name happens to be extremely common, all the names are taken. I tried including numbers in my username but it was all to no avail.
Are there any other "professional" username formats I should know about? If my name were Jane Doe, could I use something like JD1234 as my email address on my resume?
edit: thanks everyone!
Buy your own domain and set up free email hosting with zoho.
[email protected]
What u/sctt_dot says is the best solution. You don't even need to set up a hosting account. Just buy the domain from namecheap and you can set up free e-mail forwarding to the provider or your choice. Other registrars offer similar services.
Really, I think everyone should do this anyway. You never know when you might want to decamp from gmail or yahoo or comcast or outlook.com or whatever. If people have your domain e-mail you don't have to send out any notices, just switch the forwarding and you're done.
If you're still looking for a professional sounding @gmail.com account, try some of these
If your name is John Smith, for example, you could with something like:
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iamjohnsmith
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therealjohnsmith
-
contactjohnsmith
-
johnsmithmain
-
johnsmithwork
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sexymylittleponyfan6969
Ok, maybe skip the last one.
Hey guys, I recently graduated and am looking for a job. The email I'm using right now sounds unprofessional, made it as a kid. I'm having trouble thinking of ideas that include my name, but it's pretty common (both first and last name) and everything I can think of is taken.
Edit: Common combos I've tried are variations of my first name/initial, last name/initial, and physical location.
And do you think simply [first name][last name][some random numbers] sound too boring?
[email protected]
While having a memorable email is nice to have, nobody in the hiring process cares what your email is so long as it’s benign and not childish - everyone copy/pastes anyway 99 times out of 100. Spend 5 minutes and find something suitable and move on to more value-added items.
Hello,
I’m going to start applying for jobs soon. I need a professional email address, however, I have a double-barreled surname so I’m not sure how best to create the account.
Assume the name is ‘John Doe-Smith’ how would you do it. Would like a few examples if possible, thank you!
My name is long and has silent letters, so does my last name.
I work in an specific field, but it uses a different word in different languages and I may end up working for companies of different countries. (This makes me sound successful, I'm not, but I'm hopeful I'll be someday)
I wish I had an email address that was easy to write, read and share.
How can I make a professional email address that checks all my boxes? (I know most companies give you a new email address, but I need an email to get a job first).
This is a bit different than normal submissions on this subreddit, but I wouldn't know a better subreddit to post this.
Lets say your name is John Smith. My email address is [email protected], which I'm perfectly happy with. I'm wondering if [email protected] would be better or worse when applying to a job for example. Now, the website smith.com is not available, and I think a variation would only look unprofessional.
If you just want a general gmail address, I'm wondering what would be the best if [email protected] isn't available. Would you put an underscore between john and smith, or would you put a number behind it? Both look quite unprofessional to me.
is [email protected] a good professional email address? also, its twenty characters long excluding the gmail, is that okay?
The longer your e-mail address, the more likely people will make a mistake when typing it in. Also, finding anything involving names that hasn't already been taken can be a challenge.
If you need a "professional" address, I'd look into using Workspace with your own domain. Then you can have any e-mail address you want at that domain.
why not [email protected] and call it a day?
Hi, my name is fairly common in the UK, and I’m looking for advice on how to get a clean, professional looking email address. Ideally, it would work with Gmail, as that’s where I manage my other accounts.
I’m open to using a small email provider or setting up a custom domain as long as it looks conventional without any numbers, like [email protected] or [email protected]. I recently secured lastname.am, but the less common TLD makes it look a bit weird and scammy.
If anyone knows of small email providers where my name might still be available or has suggestions for other ideas, I’d love to hear them please. I do have a budget of around £150/$185 but flexible and I’m willing to pay for google workspace.
Thanks!
Hello Everyone,
I am currently trying to think of a professional Gmail email address using my name; currently all the combinations I can come up seem to be taken.
Can anyone from the Reddit community think of any ideas?
I have currently attempted:
Note:
-
Gmail ignores periods and capitalization in usernames
-
Gmail only allows letters (a-z), numbers, and periods
I have a professional email with my first and last name, but I have a long, confusing, hyphenated last name. For personal reasons I want to scrub this name from existence as much as possible, which includes getting a new email address. My issue is creating one without a last name. I’ll be taking my finances last name eventually but since it isn’t my legal name yet I don’t know if I should just use his, or try to come up with something else. Any variation of my first name is taken, and I don’t want to have a string of numbers. Does anyone have advice for creating a professional email without a last name? Or does it even need to be “professional” as long as it’s not offensive? Thanks.
I am firmly determined on using Gmail, but the name is common and all name and number combinations with one or two digits are taken.
[email protected] is the only form that is unique and not taken, but it sounds excessively egotistical in my opinion. Will it come across that way if I use it for professional purposes?
I am not interested in purchasing a domain either.
No matter how qualified you are, [email protected] will get your resume shitcanned immediately. Even cutesy clever addresses, that don't make me think I'm going to get a visit from HR, are iffy. [email protected] or some version of that is best.
hi everyone i was wondering if there are certain words i can add to the end of my full name in my gmail email address and be able to use this email for everything — whether that be personal or professional endeavours. sadly i deleted the email that had only my full name when i was 13. 😬 i don’t really like using numbers because i feel like no matter the number i choose, people are going to think it means something specific like a year or age… thanks! 😊
I'm very much regretting my email address choices when I was younger and need to make a professional email address for job applications. Unfortunately, both my first and last names are extremely common so [email protected] or [email protected] aren't going to be available. I've read that underscores, dashes or really any other characters/numbers come across as unprofessional but would adding a simple number like 40 or 90 after firstnamelastname be acceptable?