
Ask HN: General advice to grow my network - 8611m
What mode of communication (LinkedIn InMail, Facebook Messages, email, phone or something else) do you use when trying to build your network? What general advice do you have for someone who is starting to grow their professional network?
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aantix
You have to ask yourself; what's the purpose of this network? Is it to have a
group of like-minded engineers so that if you lose your job you can get first
hand referrals for a new job? Are you looking to establish yourself as a
consultant? Are you looking to meet higher level executives in hopes of
becoming them one day?

Whatever the case, if you email them with an shallow request of "looks like
you're doing cool things let's get coffee", your request will probably be
ignored. Everyone is busy, there's no time for random coffee with a stranger.

But if you can ask a very specific question regarding their work, you'll pique
their interest. Offer to teach them something in return, now you're on the
path to a mutually beneficial professional relationship.

Don't send out the same message to different people. Do the hard work;
research each person's background, send an email specific to their
likes/interests. Be strategic when making a request from someone and if you
can offer something in return, even better.

I'm really good at writing these types of emails. Drop me an email at
jim@techleads.io if there's something you want me to review.

Good luck!

~~~
vram22
What do you mean by "Be strategic" here?

~~~
gumby
Figure out what you want to accomplish long term before initiating contact.

And tactically: figure out how you can make meeting you of value to the other
person, what you want to accomplish (result) and do in that meeting.
Basically: do your homework.

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ThomPete
1) If you read or hear about someone you think are doing something great,
contact them, tell them, ask them.

2) If you see someone who is doing something amazing, go over to them, tell
then how great you think it is, ask them how they do it.

3) If there is something you want to understand but don't, figure out who do
and ask them.

4) Get out amongst people.

5) Build, create, write, launch something put it out there for the world to
see.

In other words.

Just be genuinely interested in the people you interact with and you will be
building the best possible network without feeling you are being insincere. It
doesn't matter if it's in person, by mail, via a tweet.

~~~
Fordrus
I read this, and this _feels_ like good advice, and then also _seems_ like
good advice, I think it might actually be good advice - which is sometimes
hard to come by when it comes to questions like "How can I network more
effectively?" Bravo, ThomPete, I really think you're on to something here, and
I reckon I will try it out! :)

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deedub
I drink beers with people usually. Basically, I make a lot of high level
friends / associates at every place I have worked or random meet ups and I do
a lot of lunches or after work drinks to keep up with those people.

I usually spend at least one happy hour a week after work + one lunch a week
with those types and then one or two lunches a week with current co workers
and people closer to me that I consider super talent that I'd like to always
stay in touch with.

I just drop random messages to folks saying "Hey it's been about year since we
last chatted and it'd be awesome to learn about what you're working on and
catch up in general. Do you have anytime for a lunch or pint after work in the
next week or two?"

If you do stuff like that you'll get invited to other social gatherings and
eventually you'll start meeting their friends and people they consider
talented.

What I described above is actually work (I enjoy it though) and requires time
and effort.

~~~
kazinator
> _I drink beers with people usually._

It occurs to me that this is a good way to increase the number of "hops" in
your network.

/me ducks

~~~
anjc
A rye smile spreads across his face

~~~
deedub
You!!! You guys!!! Clever. Let's have a drink and catch up.

------
jklinger410
I can only speak for myself, but sitting at a computer has not done me any
good for networking.

I did one speaking engagement talking about my career and what I do and that
did more for my network than everything else I've ever done...combined.

Going outside, in my opinion, is the only way to network. Following up on
Linkedin etc etc is only the aftermath.

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hamhamed
You might hear an advice about going out to conferences or meetups and
networking physically. For me this doesn't work as good.

Believe it or not, emailing an author about their blog post is much better
than randomly talking to someone who shares your interests at a conference.
The former being more targeted and personal.

~~~
SyneRyder
With conferences, a strategy that worked for me is to research the attendees
beforehand. Some conferences let you tweet "I just bought my ticket to XYZ
Conference!", and I would then search for that & add everyone who tweeted it
to a Twitter list of attendees. Then you can read their tweets, check out
their websites, and get a sense of those people before you ever meet them.
You'll quickly discover who you find interesting & resonate with.

[If your conference is savvy enough to have an attendee profile page,
definitely take the time to browse though them.]

Then, you can engage with those people over Twitter, via email etc. If you end
up building a friendship, then before the conference has even begun, you might
arrange meeting up in the hallway between keynote presentations - finally meet
that person you've been talking to on Twitter!

Another thing that has worked for me is to always take the extracurricular
conference activity. I've always gone skydiving or bungee jumping when the
conference offered it, and that's been how I've made some of my awesome new
friends. I'm not a thrill junkie or anything, but there's something about
sharing an experience like that with people, you end up opening up to people
as you share your collective fear / vulnerability & excitement.

------
JSeymourATL
> What general advice...

Make an authentic connection. Find out what is most important to someone else.
See if you can help them in some way, shape, or form. Be a value creator.
Finally, stay in touch.

On this subject, Larry Benet is brilliant >
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-39qOKErh10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-39qOKErh10)

------
yolesaber
Go to the dev meetup after parties and bring coke. That's how I landed my
research gig

~~~
gm-conspiracy
Beverage or powder?

~~~
beamatronic
Why not both?

~~~
kazinator
Why not both is that someone who has brought the powder has done more than
enough for the party to be excused from also doing grocery store runs for
beverage.

------
eb0la
Just do something useful for somebody in your network today. Focus on being
there for the people, it just the numbers. For instance: Did you see a job
opening that cold be a good fit or someone you know? Email him/her. The same
applies to news, or sales prospects.

Keep connections warm and be helpful.

------
sixhobbits
You can either approach this small-scale (you want to actually _know_ the
people in your network) or large-scale (you want millions of readers/twitter
followers, etc).

For small-scale:

* Industry talks and conferences -- it's very common for tech companies to give talks or even conferences. An information security / pentesting consultant company held an event where some of their employees presented research that they were taking to a larger conference. From their side, it was for marketing reasons, but this was kept out of their presentations completely (which focused entirely on their work). From my side, I got to spend a fun few hours being wined and dined (for free) and got to chat to some interesting people in the coffee breaks about their work. We still keep in touch. Pros: smaller groups of people who probably share interests with you (you chose the same event). Cons: It's a bit harder to find out about events like these, but definitely possible if you keep your eyes and mind open.

* Reach out to people who used to be in your network -- university professors, old colleagues, etc. They have surprisingly good memories, and probably won't be at all unhappy to get a quick update from you. They might even mention some opportunities ;)

* Make stuff -- even if it's small, such as a blog post or a useful script, it's probably enough to get a few people to notice you, and perhaps one or two to follow you on Twitter or email you and ask you for help with debugging

For large-scale:

* Give people free stuff in return for an email address. Spam them (even if it's not a lot of emails, it's super targeted and you'll get results). Follow people on Twitter, and DM them with offers with free stuff (video, white paper, blog post). Some will react badly (like most of the HN crowd, including me) and report you as spam, block you, unfollow you. A majority of people will lap it up and your 'network' will grow exponentially. [Note: I haven't really tried this myself, but as an experiment I created a Twitter account and started tweeting cheap motivational bullshit. I gained followers pretty quickly and saw how the marketers with hundreds of thousands of readers operated as they were amongst the first to notice my bullsh.t account. Unfortunately what they were doing was working].

In either case, remember that there are a lot of people looking to grow their
networks because having a large network is beneficial, so they look for other
people who can _provide value_ and network with them. Instead of being one of
these people, and focusing on what your network can do for you, rather focus
on the value you can provide to others, and then give it to them. The network
will flock to you.

~~~
marmot777
What value did your motivational bullshit provide that appeal ed to people?
You call it bullshit so I'm assuming it wasn't quality material.

------
marmot777
That an interesting question on in person or virtual networking. I personally
have been having trouble leaving the house to go to meetups, etc., for some
reason lately. It's partly habit having worked from home for more than 10
years now. But I would like to start getting out more but it's hard to break
habits.

------
miraj
networking is best done when you see it as relationship building - which takes
time & effort. as few others said here, a non-transactional approach is the
best way to create a network with value.

one of my all-time favorite resource in this regard is this book: "Work The
Pond". it totally alligns with my own philosophy + values.

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/894407.Work_the_Pond_](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/894407.Work_the_Pond_)

