Networking outside the workplace

Software Engineering Intern at Taro Community10 months ago

I went through Taro’s networking course and I noticed that a lot of the advice on deepening relationships are geared towards colleagues. I was wondering how you can effectively deepen relationships with people (ie friends) outside your company?

I have a lot of friends in SWE and I’d be comfortable asking them for a referral, but since I haven’t worked with them personally, they wouldn’t have enough ammo to vouch for my professional experience. I love hanging out with my friends but I’m wondering if there are ways I can get more out of my relationships from them from a professional standpoint?

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Discussion

(5 comments)

1
Elliot Kang
•Software Engineer
10 months ago
One way you can work on live code with friends is by going to a hackathon. There's a bunch in the SF Bay Area
- 0
  Helpful Tarodactyl
  •Taro Community
  10 months ago
  Aren't those mostly for college kids though?
  
  Edit: Didn't realize OP is an intern, nvm
0
Thoughtful Tarodactyl
•Taro Community
10 months ago
Question for Alex/Rahul: how can we make the best use of Taro to build genuine relationships here?
- 0
  Rahul Pandey
  •Tech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
  10 months ago
  One of the best ways to build genuine relationships is to provide lots of value. There are lots of ways you can do this:
  
  Share your experience with interviewing for a certain level or role.
  
  Offer to be a beta-tester for someone's app.
  
  Host an in-person meetup at a coffee shop (Taro will pay for everyone's coffee).
  
  Hold interview prep events where you share something you learned and facilitate mock interviews.
  
  To create an event: https://www.jointaro.com/events/create/
0
Rahul Pandey
•Tech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
10 months ago
The point of a referral is to vouch for someone being a strong employee. For a software engineering role, speaking to technical ability helps. BUT there's a lot more to being a good employee than just technical ability. For example, I've seen some version of a referral like this many times in my career:

"This person was a D1 tennis player, which they did while having a high GPA in a demanding major. So I know they have an amazing work ethic."

"This person picked up chess last year and I saw them rapidly improve within 9 months to undeniably become the best in our friend group."

Can your friends refer you while sharing tidbits like this? This is more social than professional, but still carries a lot of weight.