How To Actually Network as a Junior Developer (Keep It Simple)
Jun 24, 2024Season 1Episode 161
Don Hansen
Whenever aspiring developers hear that they need to "network", it tends to illicit thoughts of stuffy networking events and social anxiety. I think people just over-complicate what networking really is about. It's just about building meaningful relationships with someone else you vibe with on some level. In this podcast episode, I shared my mindset and version of networking that I really think you should consider.
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Whenever aspiring developers hear that they need to "network", it tends to illicit thoughts of stuffy networking events and social anxiety. I think people just over-complicate what networking really is about. It's just about building meaningful relationships with someone else you vibe with on some level. In this podcast episode, I shared my mindset and version of networking that I really think you should consider.
Disclaimer: The following may contain product affiliate links. I may receive a commission if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links. I will only ever provide affiliate links for apps that I've used and highly recommend.
Welcome back to another WebDev podcast episode, where we help aspiring developers get jobs and junior developers grow. In this episode, we're going to be talking about how to network as an aspiring developer and essentially I want to encourage a certain type of mindset to network effectively and build meaningful relationships with your connections. So I want to build strong, meaningful connections. So I'm just answering questions in the comments now. So if you have questions for me and you want me to create a video on it, leave it in the comments below, but let's dive into it. So how can we network with people? So I pre-read this a little bit. I definitely have some very candid advice with this that I think a lot of people need to hear, but let's dive into it.
Don Hansen:
I couldn't connect or network with anyone who was attending college. Now that I am out of college, I regret not talking to enough people or putting myself out there. When I approach people and try to build a connection with them, I really don't know what to say or do. Without coming off as selfish or needy. I get this feeling that some people know why you're trying to network with them. Yes, I want to break into tech, but I also want to expand my social circle. Unfortunately, I met a lot of people in college who just know how to take and not give. I was there for those that needed help or something from me, but when I needed it, I met with a lot of rejections and hesitation. This almost gives me PTSD now when I try to approach someone new and get to know them or just have a chat.
Don Hansen:
All right, let's dive into the candid advice. So when you say I couldn't network with anyone while I was attending college, connect or network with anyone while attending college. Now that I am out of college, I regret not talking to enough people or putting myself out there. So it's not that you couldn't, it's that you didn't. From what I'm reading, and it sounds like it's just because you didn't put yourself out there. So you know in your question, you know the answer. You have to put yourself out there. You have to make yourself vulnerable. You have to get answer. You have to put yourself out there. You have to make yourself vulnerable. You have to get hurt. You have to get rejected. You have to have those really awkward conversations while other people try to not have really awkward conversations with you. This is just social interaction and you've got to grind through it.
Don Hansen:
Honestly, I don't think there's any secret to being able to have conversations that just flow and build meaningful connections. You just got to have a lot of really bad ones. You got to fail a lot. That's how you get better socially. So there's no easy answer to help you get past that. You just got to do it and suck up the emotions. You could feel the emotions, but don't let them affect you from not doing it again.
Don Hansen:
You have to understand this is part of the process and these, this rejection, these awkward conversations is literally part of your growth. Understand that when you're going into these and maybe that'll loosen things up so you can just chill out and not set these really rigid expectations Like you need to gain this out of this conversation. Maybe you're just talking to someone, so I get this feeling that some people know why you're trying to network with them and that tells me that you are only approaching these people to network with them. I don't think that's an effective approach. I want to keep reading, because you mentioned um. I met a lot of people in college who just want to know, or just know how to take and not give. That's you. So at first you say you feel that people know why you're trying to network with them, which is implying that you're trying to get something from them. You are trying to get something from them and then you say I met a lot of people in college who just know how to take and not give. That's you. You're describing yourself again, um, and you have this perception, for whatever reason, that everyone's just trying to take from you. But you are doing that, and I find that when you project that energy and you are just trying to take from other people, you are just trying to extract value from other people, you are going to attract people who are doing the same.
Don Hansen:
When you give, when you give without trying to take, without having a goal in mind of the conversation, to get something from them and, like, get a connection that's potentially going to lead you to a job in the industry, you're gonna, when you don't force that and you just have an empathetic conversation, you're going to attract people that also want to have an empathetic conversation and they want to give. Like you want to give that energy. Um, that type of personality, uh, can attract essentially what you are putting out there in the world. That's all it is. So I was there for those that needed help or something from me. But when I needed it, I met uh, I think you meant um I was met with a lot of rejections and hesitation. This almost gives me PTSD.
Don Hansen:
Okay, um, you're just psyching yourself out of these conversations and I think I know why. You are basically going into these conversations with a goal in mind, um, and to extract value. And that's intimidating because, like I think, subconsciously, a lot of people know they are coming off as awkward, they are coming off as greedy, as needy when they go into a conversation just trying to extract value. Um, most people don't respond to that, even if it's not through words, it it's through kind of just mannerisms, it's just through their body language. You can detect it in other ways when you've talked to enough people, but it sounds like you're just trying to go into it to take, and I think you really don't understand that, because you kind of just sound like the victim of everyone's just trying to take from you. So I would be really critical of how you approach these conversations of yourself and how you come across. I think you're going to attract more people, more and more people in the industry to have empathetic conversations, to want to listen to you, to want to connect with you when you do the same, and I do not see that. I do not hear that. So I would be a lot more critical about how you approach these conversations. But here's what I want to instill in you and a lot of people Everyone, not everyone, most people fuck up networking.
Don Hansen:
When you hear networking, when you are trying to become a developer, to me that sounds like something like it sounds like every interaction that you need to have. You are trying to extract value in this, like stuffy atmosphere I think of, like a networking event where you just go to a bunch of people that want something different and hopefully you guys can give each other the same value. But most people don't know how to even handle networking events. Their first interaction is just about extracting that value With networking, and when you're building meaningful relationships it takes time. Even like a lot of salesmen will like buy dinner, um, or like if they are receiving some sort of contract, or like whoever is in, basically who has the advantage in the relationship, is probably going to buy the other person dinner and just play golf. Right, these connections are formed by just bullshitting with the other person. You're just building a relationship.
Don Hansen:
I wouldn't even call it like building a relationship sometimes, but sometimes it's even small talk. You are having a conversation with another person where you just get the bullshit about life. You get the bullshit about the event. You can just even like I know it sounds cheesy, but even like if it's stormy it's okay to bring up the weather, like, oh man, third day in a row, this is crazy. Like that's still an opener and I think a lot of people just need to practice having casual conversation. You're just having fun and being playful with the conversation and ask them questions. Get to know that person. I would even treat it because you say but I also want to expand my social circle.
Don Hansen:
I would argue when you are going to tech events, when you are networking, just try to build a friendship. That's the goal. To build that friendship, the connections that I've gotten in the industry, the interviews that I've gotten. I spent months and sometimes years just bullshitting with this person, just being friends and bullshitting online and then catching up for drinks once in a while. I built a friendship and it wasn't with the goal of getting something from them. It wasn't with a goal of, hey, maybe they can help me in the industry one day and they did, but that was a side effect. That's not what I was aiming for and my intentions clearly were clear to them that I wasn't just using them Right.
Don Hansen:
And so I think a lot of people need to be critical, like when you approach people, especially at tech events or even online, like are you just trying to extract value, like, for example, even in discords you can go to we'll talk about like in person stuff. But when you are, if like a favorite content creator and you join their discord and it's active and you want to build friendships there and build connections and you could say you know, connect with me on LinkedIn if you really want to like, it just depends on where that conversation goes. But when you talk to people on Discord, you don't want to be the person that's just asking questions and not even thanking people and not answering other questions. People notice this. You want to be the person that gives back to the developer community. You want to be the person like if a developer is just venting and you hop in and be like, yeah, I've been there. You want to be the person like if a developer is just venting and you hop in and be like, yeah, I've been there. When you are just that type of person that just tries to extract value. That's just so obvious and noticeable. Be that person that just communicates and bullshits and has a casual conversations with people in that discord. There's just a difference difference. I noticed it in my own community as well. Some people just like come in, they'll just ask a random question. Sometimes they won't even thank people for answers. They're just there to take, take, take. And there are people in my discord who will that. They will, uh, welcome a bunch of new people that come into the discord. They will answer questions and they will have casual conversation. They will post memes like they want to get involved in the community and they just want to have fun conversations.
Don Hansen:
When you go to networking events, your first goal is just to spark up a conversation. It's just to get the other person. It's just to get the other person talking. It's just to get the other person talking about themselves. Right, a lot of people love talking about themselves and you can learn about them. You could also learn about how you can interact with that person based off of how they respond to what you're saying, Like if you have a conversation about a certain topic. Maybe they're not that into that certain topic and then you read that and you get better at reading that. When you try to read stuff like that and then you change topics or you know, when you talk about them or you ask about, maybe they don't care about sharing their coding journey, right? A lot of people would just ask like, hey, what are you up to with the coding journey? A lot of people are. They don't have confidence and they're stressed out about it and they kind of go to these events to even relieve stress. Or maybe they're just kind of they've heard that they need to go to these tech events or meetups and they need to network Right. But a lot of people will find relief when you just start a casual conversation and maybe get their mind off of it. I don't know, maybe you have a favorite sports team and like that's just conversations.
Don Hansen:
Like you just ask questions, you introduce topics. Are they interested in it? Right? Do they? Do they focus a little bit more on you? Does their body language like, are they looking like? Is their chest pointed away from you or is it pointed towards you, right? When people start, you know, crossing their arms and maybe even turning, like they're just shutting down, but when their arms are loose, they're open, they're less nervous, they're less anxious and they're open to your energy and they're they're looking at you. They're less anxious and they're open to your energy and they're looking at you. They're making eye contact, right. These are signals like, even just like the body direction, where their body is pointed, is a signal of how comfortable they are with you, and you'll notice this when you introduce certain topics and you get into it, they'll start opening up. They'll open up and that is. These are the kind of signals that you want to look for. Body language is huge and I'm talking about, like, just being able to read people, because this is networking.
Don Hansen:
Right, you need to connect with the other person, not try to form some like shallow connection where you get them to actually connect with you on LinkedIn but they don't really care what you have to say. They just wanted you to shut up. No, they want to connect with you, they want to reach out to you. They want to go to the next event with you. Right, they want to play tennis or basketball, like, like outside the meetup, because that conversation just led there. You're like oh my, I've been looking for a basketball partner for forever. Like we got to do this, let's do this this weekend, are you free? Like it really is just about forming casual connections in the tech industry, and I think a lot of people just have that all wrong. And again, I'm not amazing at this. A lot of people just need to practice it. It's literally just practicing putting yourself out there, like you said, going to meetups, going to networking events, going to I would even avoid networking events. To be honest, I think those atmospheres are too stuffy and everyone's just trying to extract value. I don't think that's a natural way to network, at least for most people. They don't know how to do it.
Don Hansen:
But go to hackathons, participate in hackathons. Hackathons are a great way to just quickly bond with a team that has a lot of pressure, that produces some sort of result together and it's a win for the team. And if you go into that, you know, willing to learn, be humble, but also put in the work and finish what you commit to with that hackathon. Like, don't be that person that just slacks off and lets everyone else do everything. Like be that person that just slacks off and lets everyone else do everything. Like be that person that takes ownership of what they're doing and they just they're, you're enjoyable to talk to. Every time they have a question or you have a question, you just have this humble, kind personality that's just enjoyable to talk to. And so you could build these meaningful connections and I highly recommend, like you know, if you build that meaningful connection, hey, let's connect on LinkedIn. I think LinkedIn is a really good platform. I know a lot of people find it cringy. It's still a good platform for a lot of aspiring developers. Build those connections.
Don Hansen:
If you can't find these local events because I know some of you are in more rural areas and outside the big city it could be a little bit more tough. I faced that problem when I was in Northwest Indiana. I could not find a developer meetup. There was a tech meetup. I don't think there were any developers at that meetup. It was tough, right. I formed a lot of my connections. I just kind of built up a little bit of my network online, right. I live streamed on Twitch. You don't have to live stream on Twitch.
Don Hansen:
You can find other ways to connect with people and you could participate in online discords of your favorite content creators. You can participate in online hackathons. You can participate in online discords of your favorite content creators. You can participate in online hackathons. You can participate in online challenges. There are several hashtag challenges on Twitter where it encourages you to respond to other people.
Don Hansen:
I think the 100 days of code is one that a lot of people appreciate, and I think they appreciate it because of this reason that a lot of people appreciate where and I think they appreciate it because of this reason, because a lot of people are encouraging you post an update and I think the expectation is that you're supposed to reply to some people in their updates. Right, so you post your update, but you also you respond to, like whatever they were working on or even if you don't know the language, you could still provide some sort of encouragement for them. You can get involved on Twitter. Twitter's really good for that. You can get involved in online groups, and LinkedIn even has this. Linkedin has online groups that you can participate in.
Don Hansen:
Linkedin follow a bunch of people in tech, even other aspiring developers, and when they post, even other aspiring developers and when they post, engage with their posts. Linkedin's algorithm is really powerful for building connections. A lot of people sleep on this, but it is powerful and when you provide a meaningful response and people see that response, there are people that will want to connect with you. And when you engage with your connections, a lot of your posts might even be bumped up to the top of their feed, and so there's a higher chance that they're going to engage with you. And when they engage with you and leave a comment or something similar, then that'll pop up in other people's feeds right. Just engage on LinkedIn, engage with other people's comments. It's a really powerful way to get exposure and get noticed, and if you are providing, you're being very helpful and you're being kind and humble, people are going to want to connect with you.
Don Hansen:
There are a lot of online opportunities to connect. If you don't have that so you know you're out of college there are probably in the college area, like if you're still in that area, you probably are going to have different tech events that you can participate in. But you have to search for these things. But I don't think that's the problem with a lot of people. I think the problem is what we talked about how do I actually approach these conversations in a way that isn't going to be like weird or selfish or needy, and part of that comes from you and being critical about how you approach people, because I I think when you provide a different type of energy, then you're going to start attracting those uh connections that actually then you're going to start attracting those connections that actually you're going to build something out of that and when, for example, even with other aspiring developers, you know, when they get a job, a lot of companies, before they even put out the job post, they asked the team like hey, who, who would you recommend that we bring in? Right before we do this job post, let me know we're going to take like these personal connections first and we'll get them in the interviews first. And if they enjoyed their time with you, they know you, maybe they've coded with you, maybe you participated in a hackathon with them, right, when they recommend you, that is powerful. They're almost doing kind of like a cultural assessment on you that the company doesn't have to worry about as much because they already screened this person out and if this person gets along with this person, that's going to relieve them a little bit. There's less risk involved in terms of it being a cultural fit or not, and so a lot of people even try to just make connections with professional developers and managers and you know like and where they screw up is they don't really provide value to any of these people. But why? Maybe it's just easier to make connections with other aspiring developers who might eventually get a job and who might recommend you because you're just a cool person to talk to.
Don Hansen:
This is how I approach networking. This is how I think you should approach networking, and I'm saying this because I have fucked this up in the past. I'm not perfect with this and I continue to try to get better, but that's how I approach these situations and I give. I give way more than I take. You have to, and that can be a little bit time consuming and you know you are going to meet people who just want to take from you. You don't have to maintain those relationships. If you truly meet someone like that, you don't have to maintain it. It's that simple. You just move on. There are going to be all sorts of personalities, so when you say like gives me ptsd, now when I approach someone new, um, you're going to approach people that you're just not going to vibe with.
Don Hansen:
This is true, but I I think the awkwardness is, I think you feel that you're awkward and I don't think you know how to approach the conversation, because I I think when you practice this a lot, this concern, a lot of this like feeling like it almost gives me PTSD. I think it's going to be alleviated, it's going to go away, because you just need a ton of practice. You need to put yourself out there and just force yourself to do it. So, you know, this is probably more of a conversation around what mindset you need to have going to networking, and you're going to have to just do your research of local events that you can get involved in, and there are different like social events too, where companies will this is something I think a lot of people are sleeping on. Companies will create hackathons to create products that are meant to either help the company or help the city, or you know.
Don Hansen:
Basically, the goal is to create a practical project that's going to help people. That's huge and you're going to. When you go to those events, you're going to meet a lot of, like empathetic people that want to do good. Like you seem like you want to do good. You want to connect with people that have empathy and want to give back. So you're going to have to search for these events, whether it's local or online, but I think you've got to re-approach how you tackle this networking um strategy. That's all I have. So if you have a comment, uh, or if you have an opinion, leave a comment below. Um, also, I do want to do more of these videos where I'm just answering questions, and, yeah, I got to push out a lot of videos. So if I find a question interesting I think it's going to be helpful for people, I'll go ahead and create a video out of it. But hope this helps and good luck.
