How Important Is Networking?

The rational part of my brain says: networking matters, for obvious reasons.

Having said that, I have over 10 years of experience in the software industry, and my network "size" is essentially zero. I get along well with my peers when at job, but once I switch to another job, the only "link" between my old peers and me is linkedin. I have never relied on others to get a job, I have never recommended anyone... not because I don't like to do those things, but simply because I could get a job the usual way (Apply button). I've attended a couple of conferences (but only because the company was paying and because I was going already with some of my peers).

I don't keep the contact with the people I met at university either (I live now in another country, although this sounds more like an excuse in the era of the internet).

In my opinion networking events isn't really the place to go if you want to network. Networking happens naturally,not by going to one place and trying to meet lots of people. Instead, go to relevant community events,trade shows. Linkedin is a good place to meet new people,but not by sending silly messages asking to expand your network. Talk to people,be useful, or ask help,meet them,etc. For instance, if you work as a dev in city x, message a few devs, strike an easy convo which doesn't turn into a sales pitch or desperate call for help. Offer to meet, talk about work,etc. People are very very willing to meet.

For me, networking matters more today than it has in the past. I want my next job to arise more organically through discussions with people I know and enjoy working with. Today most of those people are at my current company (it's a good company to work for). I'm trying to expand my network by attending meet ups related to my work adjacent interests. I'm tired of applying to jobs where I don't even know if I'll like the duties or people of that job. I'm tired of giving so much to an interview process while only knowing the tech stack and salary.

I want to build a network of people working on cool stuff, even (especially?) if it's for fun. I'm trying to lessen the loaded buzzword nature of what networking means to me for this to happen. People are social creatures after all.

It's everything, but it's not something you actively do. You can't just go around with an intent "to network" because it comes off as unauthentic and cringe and it just won't work. Just go places, do things, do good work, make small talk, be interesting, be interested, be yourself. All cliches, but they're cliche for a reason.

"How Important Is Networking?"

Apparently it is really important, because I suck at it and I'm professionally stunted.

Networking is quite different in my book. There is no event - it's a call to an old friend who now works as a VP at a different company. It's a lunch with another pm on the last project. It's a beer with ex colleges to see who found greener pastures. It's a coffee with someone I don't have 1 on 1 anymore but we do it anyway because he catched a big carp and want to show the pictures.

If you need a new job you can reach out to them and they will help. If you have plan you have people to talk about and maybe find someone willing to help.

Networking events aren't great, because most of the people who go to them don't have great networks. Otherwise, they wouldn't go to the networking event.

IMHO, networking is good for finding job opportunities and candidates you might not have found otherwise. And a good recomendation can sometimes get you past a resume screening, which is helpful when your resume isn't well tuned to the jobs you want. You've still got to pass the interview, probably.

Again, IMHO, it would be better to focus on intentionally networking with your organic network than developing an artificial network.

Finding contact information for people you enjoyed working with and sending them a message like. "Hey X, I enjoyed working with you at $company, I was wondering what you're up to now and if there's any openings? ktnxbye" Take notes and pass along news about openings or interest in moving that you think are relevant to others. When you have notes, you can ask questions like how's it going at company you last heard they were working... and it feels more connected and less forced. If you're not actively searching for new work, still try to still put in the effort to reach out to people you'll want to ask when you do search. Probably between once a year and once every 5 years is good to keep contacts up to date.

Start by sending to people you actually enjoyed working with and/or think did good work, and increase the scope until you're messaging the people you were surprised managed to get hired -- chances are they managed to get hired somewhere else and that place must not have high standards ;)

Networking is infinitely more valuable than any other element in terms of career success.

I'd say that among the highest paid people in the world, only a small percentage of them have some special specific skill, but ALL of them have huge, high-valued networks which served them very well during their ascent to the top.

The issue is you can't just be naïve and try to meet as many people as possible like some sort of heuristic hustle agent. The best networks are formed via shared deep experiences, ala:

1. College alumni

2. Company alumni

3. Romantic relationships

4. Childhood friends

5. Strong friendships via serendipitous happenstance

Any other case you can only get good results from networking if you already have some 99.9th percentile product or skill.

Networking doesn't necessarily make a job search itself easier. What it does is make it less likely you ever need to search. People will let you know when opportunities arise, or invite you to join them on projects. So you end up actually searching less often.

As far as how to do it, just do your work well, treat people well, and be the kind of person they want on their teams in the future.