Networking As A Mild Introvert
So you’re at that point in your software development career. You’ve poured your heart and soul, hours and hours of time at the keyboard, and potentially loads of money into learning how to code. Now what do you do with those skills? Open up Indeed and start shooting out resume after resume to potential employers? Wrong. You need to get out there and network.
Where to network? There’s an awesome app called http://www.meetup.com that’s literally designed to help you find people that are into the same things as you. Hopefully you’ll live near an area that hosts a meetup, and if not, you have an excuse to start one. ;)
I know it might sound scary. Up until this point it’s probably just been you in front of your computer. You’ve never really had to explain your code to anyone, you just write it and if it works, you move on. But I’m here to tell you, if you go out and actually TRY and make an EFFORT to network, a few things WILL happen:
- You will meet other like-minded people
- You will get to show off your code
- You will get to talk to other people about their code
- You will be inspired
- You will get free pizza
Meeting People With The Same Passion
It doesn’t even matter if you’re good with people. If you both share the same passion of code, that’s most likely the only thing you’ll talk about. And depending on the skill level of the person you’re talking to, you’ll either have a lot of questions to ask, or a lot of information to share. The bottom line is both of you will probably learn something from one another, and have a great time talking about it.
It might seem a little cheesy/invasive to be so nosey about what other people are working on it where they work, but trust me when I say it’s totally allowed. Everyone that came to this event is there to learn and network and find out about people.
Showing Off What You’ve Built
When’s the last time you actually had to tell somebody what your code does? Sure, you might know what it does in your head, but how would you articulate that into plain English, and walk someone through your code?
That person will probably have questions on why you did something, and how you went about your thought process. This will get your brain gears moving in a different way than they ever did while trying to explain code to yourself. You might even identify some gaps in your knowledge that you didn’t even know you still need help understanding, and that’s okay!
Seeing What Other People Have Built
Everyone thinks differently, and everyone has a different approach to solve the same problems. I’m lucky enough to have a meetup in my city where people get together every month and show off what they have been working on for the past month. People get to share a problem that they’ve solved, and they get to demo the apps that they’ve built to address these problems. Some are crazy complex, some are ridiculously simple yet genius, and some apps are just built out of sheer amusement. But being in the same room with people that have a mind for developing software will do nothing short of inspire you, and maybe even give you an idea for your next project.
You’ll Leave Full of Knowledge and Inspiration
Even if you chickened out on the networking part, and just showed up to observe, at the very least you will leave with a sense of inspiration. There is something about being in an incubator-like environment of really smart people, where words and ideas flow like wine in a creative, positive environment.
Don’t Think About It, Just Do It
I was pretty reluctant to converse with anyone the first couple of times I went to an event. I thought I had nothing to share, and wouldn’t be interesting enough to talk to and would quickly bore someone. But even if you have nothing to share, you have EVERYTHING to learn, and NOTHING to lose. ☺
