[worldmerge]

Thank you for this. I recently graduated in May with a bachelors in CS and looking at LinkedIn has been very discouraging. I know it's unhealthy to compare yourself to others but it's hard, especially when you see a lot of other people having success. Before the pandemic I was banking on going to EYEO and SIGGRAPH to network with people in the creative technology space to break into it (my goal is to be a creative technologist like the Google Creative Lab), now I'm just trying to finish a personal project to showcase my skills (can't wait to share it with Hacker News), find a job, and apply for grad school in a program like NYU ITP, or a Human Computer Interaction program.

[caseysoftware]

> I was banking on going to EYEO and SIGGRAPH to network with people in the creative technology space to break into it

The secret to networking is to "network" when you don't need anything. If you meet people in your (intended) field, get to know them, learn, learn, learn, and generally establish yourself - even a little - before you need it, you'll be 100x better off when you do.

If you wait until you need it, you can come off as needy, desperate, or one of those "I only hear from them when they need something" people. I have a former friend that literally the only time I heard from her was when she was looking for work. I got in to habit of "Oh, she emailed.. must be looking for a job!" Don't be them.

[frutiger]

> The secret to networking is to "network" when you don't need anything.

I can’t emphasise this enough. Over the past decade I have built up a small network of mostly former and current colleagues. We all have mutual respect for each other, so if an opportunity or need arose neither party would feel bad about reaching out or being reached out to. After all, a positive outcome will likely be mutual.

I used to think that networking involved going to conferences and shaking hands with strangers in hallways while exchanging business cards. This was terrifying because I knew I’d be bad at it.

I was pleasantly surprised at being wrong.

[Balgair]

I think the old saying goes something like: When you want money, ask for advice. When you want advice, ask for money.

[password4321]

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=if%20you%20want%20money%20ask%...

4AE9C835E02ACB9F1F6CEA2136B1063AB33AE8D9055AE13C6D6D121B9F575972

[ramzyo]

I actually don’t see this is a negative thing, and prefer it sometimes so long as the expectations are mutual. If me and another person are on the same page about only being in touch when the other needs something, and it goes both ways, why waste time trying to facilitate a friendship for the sake of it? Often I find those “friendships” lack substance and just serve to fulfill a social norm that it’s bad to ask for things only when you need them. Perhaps what I’m suggesting is that so long as the social contract is agreed upon (usually implicitly) between parties, there’s nothing wrong with having transactional professional relationships.

[baxtr]

On a larger note: I find looking into LinkedIn quite depressing. Everyone is happy and excited and successful. There is no real value in most posts. Rather, they’re usually a variation of this:

”#supergrateful and #blessed for meeting super inspiring %SomeoneImportant today #growth #entrepreneurship %hipsterstartup #nopause”

I try to stay away from it as much as I can.

[kwertyoowiyop]

Those people are showing their “highlights reel,” of course. I see people who’ve been laid off saying how #blessed they are to start their own business, people getting promoted or pumping the release of their latest project but are very stressed and unhappy, etc.

I also stay away from LinkedIn, though. #worthless #selfpromotion

[cpach]

This is the way I think about Linkedin: It’s not really about networking. Most fruitful networking take place on other places. It’s mostly a way for recruiters to find people. The modern equivalent of a Rolodex. Which can be good for people who might want to get in touch with a recruiter that has something to offer them. (Some people don’t want do be contacted by recruiters and for those people Linkedin probably doesn’t have so much to offer.)

[mkalimani]

Same, I've found this uBlock origin filter very handy to avoid the feed

www.linkedin.com###voyager-feed

[vmurthy]

The scourge of social media :). Quite some research linking depression/anxiety and social media [0] and even though my own experience is not exactly data, I am happy I don't mindlessly scroll through pics and boasts and get time to spend on other things (like HN ;-)) . LinkedIn, I am afraid is becoming very similar :(

[0] https://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?q=social+media+depress...

[commandertso]

Hang in there!

I’ve had a long career in technology, and for most of it I was doing project and product management, with some light coding on my own time as a hobby. Five years ago I’d finally had it with all that and went to a great coding boot camp. I did end up landing a job after that, but it was a grueling experience to go back to zero in finding jobs.

Comparing yourself to others can be incredibly draining. Not only are many of these people at different stages in their careers than you are, but you’re seeing the best faces they can put forward when you look at LinkedIn.

My advice is - own who and where you are right now. You have done a hell of a lot of work to get where you are now, and you can be proud of that. And if a company isn’t looking for someone like you - if 20 companies aren’t - that’s not on you. Keep working on your craft, keep following what networking angles you can in this crazy year, and keep the faith.

[worldmerge]

Hi! Thank you so much for your comment, it means a lot! Thank you.

[gregsadetsky]

Hey! You might want to look into the public Creative Developers slack -- http://creative-dev.herokuapp.com/ -- there's a good community there.

Also, look into what the School for Poetic Computation is doing -- https://sfpc.io/

Happy to send you (a lot) more references / ideas of places to which you could apply, digital artist centers to follow, etc. Reach out! (email in profile)

Oh, and also -- https://www.recurse.com/ :-)

Cheers