Software Engineering Interview Checklist : Networking
Reading Time : 7 minutes
Day 11/30.
Disclaimer : I am not claiming that what I write in this post is the absolute truth. This is a culmination of my experience through all the people I have reached out to, or who have reached out to me. Please take all of the notes below with a pinch of salt but I hope they help you like they helped me in the process. :)
Welcome to Part 3/5 (I think there will be 5, but we’ll see how that goes - we can only be sure once we are closer to the end 😉) If you missed the first one, I will link it here because that post will give you an overview of what my intention with this series is. And the second one here, where I talk about the first step - preparation.
So what happens once you’re done with your preparation?🤷🏻♀️ Technically, you will never feel like you’re “done”, but there will come a time when you feel confident enough. It also might be the time applications start opening up, so you won’t really have a choice. However, there is one step between preparing and applying for that dream role - networking; and this is a step that most people take either for granted or don’t pay a lot of attention to. I can’t stress enough how important reaching out to people is, especially as an international student and here are the main reasons why:
A referral will get your resume more visibility👀
I have a hunch that most people equate networking with the ability to get referrals for internships and jobs. And referrals are important - especially in the tech industry. We do have a lot of job openings, but the number of people looking for these jobs is also increasing. So when you have a referral, the chances that your recruiter will see your resume increase drastically - which means your chances of landing an offer increase!
While referrals are important, they should not be the sole reason you network.
It is an avenue for more opportunities💯
Having the right people around you can bring more opportunities than you can imagine. Sometimes, you don’t even know what might be available out there. Different companies have different job descriptions, requirements and your best resources will be people working in the company. If you are a student looking to get into the industry, your network can help you see inside the industry.
Connecting with people can improve your intellect🧠
It’s true; sounds flowery but is true. Research suggests that as little as 3 conversations can have an effect on your intellect. No wonder they say, you are an average of the people around you - the bigger and better your network, the better you get. I would have loved to link that study here but I have not been able to find it again and I will do it as soon as I do.
Your connections can be your extra resource library💳
You don’t always have to need something from people for you to have them in your network. Someone told me, don’t ever have an expectation in your head about the kind of people you can surround yourself with. You never know how people can be helpful - there is something in everyone for you. And I live by that! If you go looking out for a female software engineer who works at Netflix and has 2 kids to be someone you’d like to reach for advice, you are reducing your networking pool by a lot. Instead, always be open because you can learn something from everyone. You just need to keep your mind a little extra-open to see that.
Now that you are hopefully convinced that networking is important, the next big question obviously is how to reach out to people. I honestly get a lot of messages from people telling me that are bad at networking or that they are introverts. Here is the thing - all of us are bad at networking until we get good at it. Like a lot of other skills, networking is a muscle that gets stronger with exercise (practice, in this case). Here are all the ways that have worked for me or for people I know in the past:
Keep your friends close, friends of friends closer 👭
Friends of friends are the easiest people to network with. Your friends know you well and can hopefully connect you two. For one, you don’t have to go through the extra step of convincing the person to connect with you, and second, they will hopefully be more invested because your friend can vouch for your skills. So make sure to be open to your friends about their friends/colleagues you want to get introduced to and at the same time, do the same for your friends as well.
LinkedIn is your best friend ☺
I have said it before and I will say it again - linkedIn is your best friend. It is a professional social network and is wonderful to get connected to people you don’t necessarily have common friends with. However, a common trend I see is people sending out connection requests to people they haven’t met with no context at all.
The influential managers and directors that you are sending connection requests to, as well as recruiters, get 100s of such requests everyday. You have to find out a way to shine out of that crowd and have your request seen. Make sure to add a short note as to why you want to connect with them. Whats and how’s of LinkedIn - it is a much bigger topic and I would love to talk more in detail about it. Let me know in the comments below if you would like to read more about it.
Cold-emails are boring, but worth it 📨
I don’t have a good reason to spell out here - other than I know from experience that it works. The right email - with the right words, length and attachment - can fetch you a response from the entire hierarchy, starting from the recruiter up to the director.
Believe it or not, social media could be your next best bet 🐦
We live in the age of the internet. I am not saying everyone has a social media account, but believe me a lot of people do. There’s people on Instagram, Facebook - mostly on Twitter as well. Do not be scared to follow people, ask them questions, interact with them - I’d tell you about a time Jeff Dean replied to me about preparing for Google Health but I guess I will save it for another time 😉
Here’s the thing, all of us are scared of rejection - trust me I hate rejection and I will do anything to avoid it. Easiest way to avoid not being responded to is not reaching out in the first place. But that doesn’t help you - what will hopefully help is knowing that the worst that can happen is you not getting a response. You getting a negative response is a little better than that because you get the closure, but at least you tried. That’s all that matters! So don’t give up, go send that connection request and hopefully you’ll find your next mentor.
Let me know in the comments below if you will like to read about how I am networking still during this quarantine period!
