Extending Your Network
In the past, I’ve talked with managers and directors about networking for their reports because they generally want to help their teammates improve their chances to have “public” work to present in promotion panels.
While that is a good sentiment for managers to help their direct reports, people need help finding where to start building their network.
Growing your network has been one activity with the highest leverage for me, allowing me to access more considerable opportunities and have a pulse on how the organization works outside our team.
Finding common topics
Our organization has affinity groups, meetups, or brown bag meetings. These are excellent ways to find people interested in the same topics as me.
When starting my tenure, I found a group of people interested in Node.js backend development. They were outside my team, so for the most part, we discussed the technology outside the constraints of our respective teams.
This activity helped me improve my coding and practices and also helped me bounce ideas with other people.
Finding a mentor
One of the first ways I started creating a network was when looking for a mentor.
I had been a few years in the company and came across people generally mentioned in meetings or email chains. I contacted them via Slack and started a conversation by asking questions about topics I was curious about. After a while, I share exciting things, like blog posts or videos.
I’ve enjoyed having those discussions with people with more experience. That was a natural way for me to start conversations with more senior engineers around the organization.
Finding peers
Another way to extend the network was with peers. They help understand how other parts of the organization work.
Finding peers is helpful and an excellent way to have someone to compare notes, ask if they’ve handled similar situations, etc. I’ve found it interesting to see different perspectives on how they would have dealt with a problem.
Having peers has helped me improve my actions via other people’s opinions. Generally, they’re outside my immediate organization. They provide less biased opinions on situations that occur within my team.
Meeting with Managers
Once you start reporting to directors, your peers are general managers.
I meet with managers monthly, depending on team maturity or how many projects I follow up with them. Managers have a great pulse on their teammates, organization, and hiring.
Meeting managers also help identify blockers or risks that need addressing in the short term. I’ve also found it helpful when sponsoring their teammates or asking them to allow someone to help in another place with their expertise.
Your turn!
How do you work on expanding your network? Have you thought about that? Let me know your thoughts!
Happy coding!
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