As we've discussed, meeting people, forming relationships, and having conversations are the key pieces to getting your foot in the door at any company. It's important to be proactive in your approach to outreach and networking, so it's necessary to make a plan for what you'll try to further your networking.
Identify a contact you will reach out to by the end of this module. This could be a mentor, alum, or anyone from your current network. Describe:
I plan on reaching out to Jonah Moses, an alum.
- Why you want to connect with this person and what you want to talk about
- I want to reach out to Jonah because he's been active on certain Slack channels (salaries in particular) since I arrived here and has given the impression that he is happy to help current students with interview advice, the job hunt as a whole, and what life is like in the career.
- He also works fully remotely now, and I would like to know how that has been going for him since his first job wasn't remote so he's seen both sides.
- He is also living in Portland which is an area that I would love to move to some day.
- When you will contact them by and how you plan to meet
- I will contact him next week (week 6) and plan to try to meet over intermission via Skype or a phone call.
- What your follow-up will look like once you've met with them
- I will follow up on Slack thanking him for his time, and letting him know that next time I'm in the PNW in the spring I would love to meet for a coffee in person.
- What other steps will you take to start building a stronger network in the tech community?
- I will continue to look through the mentor database as well as on LinkedIn to meet more Turing alums for pointers and advice.
Hey Whitney, this is a great plan -- Jonah will be a great contact for you; he's very knowledgeable about the PNW and has been a very involved mentor. Good work here!