Don't Be Naive When Networking - Understand That You'll Get Burned

One of the main ways to grow your tech career is by building relationships. However, a lot of software engineers struggle immensely with this, dismissing the entire craft as "playing politics". This video explains why that mentality is toxic and how you should set up your mindset instead.

Here are the core points:

• Every company will have politics - What separates the good companies from the bad ones is that the good ones have a moderate amount of politics while the bad ones have an overwhelming amount of politics. If you're going to any decently sized company, you will have to do understand how to interact with people and get them to like you. It is near impossible to get to senior levels without being able to do this.
• Professional networking is just like "real life" - There isn't a huge difference between building work relationships and making personal friends and dating. The core principles behind establishing relationships and earning trust are the same both inside and outside of work.
• Not every relationship will work out - Similar to personal relationships, you will often times invest into people who won't return the favor. Don't let that turn you off from the idea of networking as a whole. Growing as a software engineer is a marathon filled with ups and downs. Don't let a few toxic coworkers or poor synergy partnerships tear you down.

Related resources:

• [Masterclass] How To Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech - The full video where this clip was taken from
• Effective Communication Guide - Building Relationships
• "How do I achieve my goals for this half when XFN is not communicating effectively?"