There was a time in my early career when I believed that any activity that pulled me away from writing code was a complete waste of my time. To add to it, the word “networking” made me cringe.
I’ve always worked for large corporates which conducted numerous company-wide networking events. I avoided them in spite of being a very outgoing person who loves parties and meeting new people. The prospect of attending them almost felt dirty to me, like I was being asked to make fake connections with people just so that I could take advantage of them later.
It was not until I was stuck at the mid-level engineer role for a while and was desperate for progressing further in my career that I forced myself to make connections at work. I then realized that I should have started doing this WAY back in my career. I mean it when I say that being more proactive about networking could have saved me years in finally securing my senior engineer role.
I also realized that it is possible to do this without being fake and without taking advantage of people. Networking is as much about helping others to the best of your ability, as it is about asking people for help when needed.
The no-nonsense case for networking
Software engineering doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Having friendly contacts can help with:
Reviewing your work (e.g. code, documents, architecture design) and ultimately improving it.
Mentoring you, giving you career advice, sharing their productivity tips, reading lists etc.
Formally providing feedback to you or your manager that can contribute to your final year-end rating and promotion discussions.
Explaining their side of the business to you so you can have a more well-rounded understanding of your organization.
Just being there when you need to vent or bounce ideas off someone.
Connecting you to new people and opportunities.
These benefits are particularly important if you’re looking to grow to senior engineer and beyond, since you’re unlikely to find this support within your team.
Can’t it happen organically?
Perhaps, but it will happen at a much slower pace and with fewer people. If you’re ambitious and want to advance your career quickly, proactively building your network can help.
Proactively reaching out to people also gives you a chance to make a genuine connection with them and possibly help them with something before it becomes necessary to ask them for help. It is always awkward to ask complete strangers for help.
It doesn’t have to be fake
I learnt this by observing one of my mentors, let’s call him Mike. Mike would show genuine curiosity in other people’s work, and enthusiastically help out where possible. He would do this with any new person he’d meet - either via the course of his work or other channels like organization-wide mixers. When he needed help or information from a different team, he’d inevitably have connections within them who would readily help him.
He’d build authentic relationships during the course of this exchange. He’d take an interest in and chat about their families, passions and interests. I’m not saying that you need to necessarily make BFFs at work, but networking doesn’t have to be shady or fake - by offering to help more often than asking for it and by taking a genuine interest in people’s work (and life, if you’re both comfortable sharing), you can make pleasant relationships at the workplace.
How to actually do it
I hope you’re now sold on the idea of networking. In this section, I will share with you some of the strategies I use to proactively build a network of genuine connections.
Identify the people
Start with your team and neighboring teams (teams under your skip level manager). Don’t underestimate the power of building strong connections with people you will likely be working with everyday for years to come.
Your senior leadership - e.g. your skip-level manager, their peers, their manager. They can help you understand the business impact of your project, and in turn you can help them understand the happenings on the ground.
People who are admired in your organization - it can greatly help connecting with star performers around you and “steal” all their secrets :) I usually ask these people for productivity tips (if you can’t tell yet, I’m a productivity geek), what learning resources they use, or even just stories from projects they’ve executed for inspiration.
People you’re likely to work with in the future - take the opportunity to connect with these people now, it will pay off!
Decide on the level of engagement
You might decide to meet someone just once, and with others you might want to meet them on a recurring basis. It doesn’t have to be the same cadence with everyone.
I just go by my instincts. If I feel like there is much to be mutually gained by meeting someone regularly, I do so - if not, I default to meeting them just once.
What to talk about when you meet
If you’re meeting someone for the first time, introduce yourself and ask for an introduction. Don’t talk only about work, you can ask people about their passions and interests outside of work as well - it can help break the ice and make both participants comfortable!
Ask them what they’re working on currently, about any challenges they might be facing and how they’re tackling them. This is the point where you can (and should) offer help if you’re able to. You can then talk about your work and challenges.
You don’t have to stick to these topics, obviously, but you can fall back to them if you’re feeling like you have nothing to talk about.
⭐ Top tip: Have an elevator pitch ready so that you can highlight key points in your career and your passions while introducing yourself in a coherent manner!
Give selflessly
Proactively look for opportunities to help people. This will help you build trust with your connections. In return, you get to learn about another team’s work and business, which is invaluable.
Don’t hesitate to ask for help
Hopefully, by doing the above you’re able to build meaningful relationships while networking. Don’t be afraid of showing vulnerability by asking these people for help when you need it. If it makes you more comfortable, you can always prefix your request for help with the disclaimer that it is okay for them to decline if they’re too busy, and it is still beneficial if they can only point to a resource/person who can help you.
Keep it going
This is one of my most important strategies. During your weekly or monthly planning, review how many people you’ve proactively networked with, and create action items for the upcoming period to keep it going - identify new people to meet with, or people you haven’t met with in a long time and set aside time to meet them even if it is just to say hello!
❤️ My favorite things this week
Neural Networks and Deep Learning by 3 Blue 1 Brown on Youtube: This was a fun and engaging way to learn the math behind machine learning in under 2 hours!
Bridgerton Season 3: I’m not ashamed to admit being a die-hard Bridgerton fan, and I spent most of my (scarce!) free time on this this week. And I’m not regretting it.
GRACIAS
FELICES