The unsung key to programmer success
A new friend reminded me that one of the major keys to success as a programmer has nothing to do with programming. Your professional network.
I’ve blogged about this before in things I wanted to know before I left college, but this topic cannot be stressed enough and warrants it’s own post. In these troubled times (drink Buzz crew), it is all-important to further secure your professional position. The BEST way to do that is to maximize your opportunities.
Lessons I’ve learned
NOTE: I will not claim that I am "successful" or even that I’m all that smart, but I’ve had good experiences with people helping me.
I was (very) anti-social when I started college, but that changed when I met an actually popular Computer Science major. He encouraged me to get involved on campus and helped me fit in. Because of that first step, I ended up becoming one of the most influential guys on campus by my Junior year. That same person would’ve gladly hired me at his workplace, and we still keep in contact.
LESSON: knowing influential people helps you get to know more influential people.
Other contacts I made after getting into the workforce encouraged me to attend, Java User Group meetings. Through these I regularly met really bright guys that can help me out with open-source projects, job-hunting (hopefully not), or making up my own tech talks. I met Fred Jean at a JUG meeting and he recommended me for my current job @ Sun, for which I’m forever grateful.
LESSON: I wasn’t sure I was smart enough then, but I never would’ve gotten anywhere without attending a group.
When I started blogging, my articles got no attention for awhile because I did not have any contacts that would help me promote them or give me advice on what to write. Contacting David Walsh changed that because we could use each other for ideas, or just to help promote each other. I probably would still be nowhere (not that I’m THAT far) without him and Chris Coyier.
LESSON: Making that contact was invaluable to me, and I hope they benefited as well.
One last note: these connections are meant to be reciprocal. Be willing to help people in your network for their benefit only. Maybe someday they’ll get to return the favor.
Those are just 3 good examples of how my programming life was blessed by having good contacts. Take the first step… NOW!
Your new homework
Now that you know how important your professional network is, it’s time to grow it. Do at least 2 of the following within the next month:
- Attend a local developer’s group meeting (like a Java Users Group)
- Chat with your co-workers for 2 hrs/wk. You never know what opportunities could be right under your nose
- Contact some of your favorite bloggers, or at least follow them on twitter
- Re-connect with 3 old friends or co-workers
- Start a blog if you don’t have one, even if you can’t post that often
- Seriously this list could go on and on… you get the idea!
What is your best way to grow your network? What didn’t work for you? How do you plan to keep it going strong? Share!
Absolutely true. My professional network was very very small when I worked for a startup after finishing college. But I learned a LOT over there for which I’m always grateful. My boss and founder of the company was a gem of a guy and I was very lucky to work with him and learn from him.
When I moved to a bigger company, my professional network increased exponentially and without which I wouldn’t be at Avaya today where my network is continuing to expand.
The key to this is not expecting anything in return. Just help as much as possible and they’ll help you back when you’re in need. In my previous company, I use to conduct some informal tech-talks on Python, etc. and that helped me a lot in expanding my professional network. I didn’t expect anything then, but it was very useful.
I second your thoughts on following your favorite bloggers. For example, I don’t know how I started following yours, but I just now realized that I’m commenting here as if I know you very well :)
I just wish I could blog more, I’ve plenty in my drafts :(
This is very tru… I have been blogging since last couple of years and believe me it takes a lot of patience to get first 10000 hits and still after 2 years or so i have close to 80k hits… It needs really good posts or a great network to get what one wants… Its too difficult to maintain a blog… there have been many times i got drifted away but there was some thing that always attracted me to my blog and every now and then i keep posting about new issues… still there are just 3 posts on my blog that draw maximum traffic [more than 90%] rest all post are viewed very less…
I believe that some day my blog wud generate more than 1000 hits per day…
my blog > http://mtaram.wordpress.com
One thing I would definitely add is to read, and then comment on other people’s blogs. This applies to many, many areas, and not just programing. If you are familiar with your area of interest (by reading what people in that area have to say) and then contribute back, people will follow you.
Show me the source code of your (open source) projects. If it’s not good enough, I’ll never hire you, no matter how brown your elbows are.
@Qup:
I think you’re missing the point here. Of course applicants must be qualified to be hired. The difference is that often people know of open positions in their dept. much sooner. They will also have a better idea of what they’re looking for than what any public advertisement will say.
Sure working on OSS is important to improve programming skill, but I wouldn’t dare turn away a genius who hasn’t done so as long as that person demonstrates good ability.
The title should be changed to “business success”, or “career success”
Great post Eric, I for one need to do more networking, guilty as charged :)
I’m already following you, but you should change hte link in point III as it’s no longer active. :)
Oh, thanks a bunch! I totally forgot to fix that when moving my twitter account.