Taking a shot at effective networking — my outing at the Brainstation Tech Social.
I have always found networking to be challenging. I am naturally introverted and the whole idea of seeking out people and talking to them about your career and stuff kind of throws me off. It feels very salesy and if you know me, you know I am definitely not cut out for salesy. I am socially awkward and stick out like a sore thumb so being ‘salesy’ is definitely something that would make it worse for me.
However, I am learning more and more about the role referrals play especially within the industry. While it’s an uncomfortable reality, there’s not much ado about it. Therefore one of my goals for the year was to get better at networking. In particular, I wanted to work on learning how to talk about myself, what I do and everything in between and conversing more comfortably in a variety of settings. That includes making small talk.
Using the SMART framework as a yardstick, that goal is probably as vague as goals can get so I needed some structure to it — some actionable items. So the first one was to attend local tech meetups and conferences at least once a month. The idea is to avail myself of spaces to get some practice.
The Tech Social event by Brainstation was just that for me. To be honest, I had no idea what Brainstation did but they were hosting this event and I was looking for events so I looked into them. Additionally, I didn’t get much of a choice in it either. I had to sign up to their platform to get a space so I did need to do that before signing up on yet another platform.
They’re like a training provider of sorts providing different courses and bootcamps in different digital skills in Toronto. They offer both in-person and online training. I can’t speak much to their competency in providing that training but the reviews seemed super great.
I must say given the review above, they seem to be pretty decent.
Anyway, this is more about their Tech Social event really so I’ll get back to that. They had a pretty good turnout. I recall walking in and I think my head spun a little when I saw the crowd. I wanted to run back home to where it was nice and cozy and where I didn’t have to deal with such a large number of people. However, I look a deep breath and planned my course of action for the evening.
I started with walking round the space to get a ‘lay of the land’ literally and figuratively. The goal was to identify groups I could easily walk up to and introduce myself.
I think the nicest thing about the event was that it wasn’t too formal. Everyone knew what they were there for but at the same time it didn’t have the boring nature and rigidity of other similar events I had attended before. I also didn’t stick out much like a sore thumb in this one.
A recent example I can think of is my school’s alumni meetup. I went to one of those and boy did I struggle. My Masters program ran during the time Covid was raging through the world so I couldn’t be in-person on campus. I did find it challenging to really jump in and connect with anyone.
However, this was different. Almost everyone at the Tech Social was a fresh slate; no prior interactions, no nothing. So it kind of made it easier to navigate. It was also a mix of everyone. I met full stack devs, UI/UX designers, product managers, cyber security folks, founders, students and even a lawyer.
While on my little tour to get a lay of the land, I noticed a group of 3 nice ladies I could start my evening with. When I was done, I went back to say hi.
I walked up to them as they were talking, I looked for a convenient moment to jump into the conversation, said my hellos and it was pretty smooth sailing from then.
I tried so hard to remember everything my mentor, Taylor had said as well as stuff I had read from self help books prior to that. I think I’d say I did not do too badly for myself. I was also pretty honest about why I was there when people asked and the feedback was alright.
By the way, I might get to talk about the mentorship experience at some point. I think Jarvis really got the pairing on point for me and I am super grateful for that.
I met some pretty cool people, one of which was the corporate lawyer with whom I had a pretty nice discussion about accessibility. Web accessibility is a niche I am super interested in as a frontend web developer and it was nice to find someone who shared that enthusiasm with me.
I am also glad I got to talk with a UI/UX designer who absolutely loved the experience (as a user) that I had the pleasure of working on with my team for the past year plus. She said it made navigating the platform on the web more user-friendly for her. That validation was a great boost because ultimately, having a share in building something and learning that it makes a user interaction less cumbersome is a really great feeling.
At the end of the conversations I left with new LinkedIn requests / connections (if I managed to actually send the request right through the quick connection interface because I later on realized it was not automatic). Great job by the way LinkedIn and I say this both as a compliment and with some annoyance. How do you create a scan to connect feature and not actually send a connection request when I scan the individual’s QR code?
Other than that minor inconvenience, I’d say it was a pretty good day out. I think they really did a great job with it and I might attend the next one.
My next stop is probably going to be the IWD event organized by Toast on the first of March. If you see me there, don’t hesitate to say hello.
As always, take care and until the next time.
Toodles!
