advice

Ask A Progeek: Keeping Up Networking

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Well, been awhile since our latest talk.  Sorry this is a tad late, I had a crazy week!

So what’s the question from the Aspiring Progeeks today?

While I know the value of maintaining a network, how do I “keep in touch” if there’s nothing specific to say?  A random dropping of “Hi, how’s it going?” seems socially awkward, and yet too much time can lapse if I only contact the person when there is news or a relevant question.

This is actually something I struggle with myself.  I’m a connections type of guy, and rather social, yet I’m also not sure how to be uninvasive yet also keep up contacts.  Here’s what I found works – and yes, this is pretty much pure progeek.

First, you’re probably already keeping in touch with people anyway via social media, in-person, etc.  You’re doing a lot of networking already with your regular contacts and may not realize it.  If you’re not maintaining and expanding your actual social sphere, then you’ve frankly got larger problems.

Secondly, good networking these days usually requires some kind of regularly updated social presense in twitter, a web page, a blog, etc.  Take advantage of keeping a presence people want to and can follow available.  This takes the pressure off you by knowing that, if people truly need to contact you (and you forgot them) they can find you and follow you – and it already is “socially appropriate”

If you’ve got these going, you’re already solid.  Now where it gets tougher . . .

Third, you have to decide how you’ll classify your contacts to figure out the best way to keep in touch with them.  Do you know a lot of recruiters?  Do you have a lot of fannish contacts that are kinda-friends/kinda-pro?  Sort contacts in a way that works for you – and figure which kind of contact is appropriate.

Fourth, put together the right tools and schedules to keep in touch with people in a way that works, benefits you, and benefits them.  Here’s what I do:

  • Anyone I’m actively needing to engage goes into my task management program (Wunderlist)
  • I have active conversations in a folder I review once week to make sure they’re still going on.  Conversations that are questionable go in a folder that’s reviewed and purged once a month.
  • I keep an alert list of people I’m following regularly and set times to check in on them monthly, bimonthly, and so forth.  I keep this in Salesforce because I use it’s useful for many other things (you may just need a simpler system).  These are for people who I should talk to regularly, following up on projects and the like.
  • I set up a system to regularly contact people in LinkedIn list – though I’m currently revising that plan (which I intend to share).  This is more my “hi, how’s it going” pile.

Fifth, you’ll notice the tools I mentioned – find the right ones for you.  I like Wunderlist, a low-level Salesforce, and LinkedIn.  You’ll find something that fits you.

Sixth, do NOT forget “non-regular networking” off the schedule.  When I hear of news at a certain company and I recall people are there, I look them up and ask how it’s going.  When I find something of interest to certain people I ping them.  I get into the habit of networking – and this is when it is appropriate to contact people (in fact if someone’s company is laying people off you bloody well better be reaching out)

(In fact, if you do this right, it’ll make regular networking easier and may even eliminate or diminish some of your usual schedules.  This may be replacing my LinkedIn schedule to some extent).

Seventh, and finally, find a way to get feeds about people – from Tweetdeck to Twitter to RSS feeds or whatever.  Find a way to feed your social media together so you can get a quick view at a glance what other people are doing and respond – which also removes the social issues.

The great thing for us geeks is we’re technical, organized (in some ways), and can think creatively, systematically, or both.  Leverage this and you’ll be Networking like a pro.

Oh, and always re-evaluate your strategies.  It lets you make sure they work for you – which is what it’s all about.

– Steven Savage
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

Promoting Professional Geekery #29 – Be Accessible

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If you want to promote the professional geek ideal, there’s one thing you have to do.

I’m not talking running cons, doing events, writing books, and so forth.  Those are all fine and you should do them (if not all of them).  One thing you need to do if, like the motley crew here, you want to help people be professional geeks, is to be accessible.

Being accessible is indespensibe if you want to help people in their geeky career endeavors.  It’s not something we think of very often because it’s a “being” as opposed to an “action.”  It’s being someone people can reach and find out about is very important because . . .

  • People need to reach you to call upon your expert knowledge, sublime wisdom, and other things you are, of course, too modest to claim.
  • There are cons, events, chat groups, and  more that you should attend – you need to be accessible to be invited.
  • You need feedback on the things you are doing, both positive and critical.  If people can’t reach you, how can they do it?
  • Those who may want to call upon you may not always know what you do.  You need a way to tell them and show them.

So, you, my fellow progeek, need to be someone people can reach.  Perhaps not overly so, you may value your privacy, but people need to be able to know about you and contact you.  Take control of it – and make it work the way you want.

  • First, as I harp on endlessly, get a web page for yourself.  Find the right domain, get up a page simply (Rapidweaver, WordPress, what have you).  This lets you show who you are, get found in search engines, and funnel people towards a media you control entirely.
  • Make sure you have contact information on your page – or better yet an email form that people can fill out so you can avoid spam.  Those are pretty easy, and many simple apps and web packages come with them (or you can go to http://www.wufoo.com/).
  • Have the right social media profiles that fit your needs – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.  Again, find what fits your personal tastes and need for privacy – though as usual I’ll emphasize LinkedIn is wonderful, useful, restores hair growth, and makes kittens smile.
  • Be sure your web page has links to these social media profiles – it helps tie everything together so people can reach you the way they want.  By choosing what to show and how to connect, you, of course, still keep control.
  • In the web page/social media that “advertises your progeekery” be sure to have a section that covers what you do in that vein.  Perhaps you list panels you do, books you’ve written, etc.  Let people know what you do (it also helps filter out people that really don’t need to talk to you).
  • Review your “accessibility plan” regularly to make sure it works for you.

If you want to change the world (you know in a positive way), in a way to help people find their interests and live their hobbies (you know, in a geeky way), make sure people can reach you.

Just make sure it’s in the way that is something that fits your needs.

– Steven Savage

Promoting Professional Geekery #25: Reviews

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We want to have a world with more fan-to-pro types, more professional geeks, more happy people doing what they like for money within certain legal and ethical boundaries.  Indeed we spend a lot of time trying to improve ourselves professionally to live our dream jobs.

One thing you can do to keep the dream alive is to make sure people get their hands on the right books and resources and that means reviews and more.  In short, all those books and websites you use, you should review so people know about them (or avoid them).

There's a lot of great books out there, a lot of tools, a lot of websites.  If a person wanted to start their dream career what they need is out there now.  It's just concealed by ignorance, a huge amount of choice, and everything else on the internet (basically porn, cats with captions, and ponies).

You are the person that can cut through through the dross, through the confusion, through the LOLCats, and make a difference.  You can set people on the right path.

You do it by reviewing and promoting things that are worth it.

  • If you do any blog whatsoever on your career, make it a point to review good resources on it in lengthy, excruciating detail.  Let me be clear – if you do a career blog, reviews are virtually necessary.
  • Put reviews at amazon.com and other websites.  In fact it can often be the same review as above.
  • If it's a resource that's on Yelp, review it there.
  • If you do a review on a blog or website, tell the author so they know.  It helps the improve, promote, and you may make a new contact, friend, or grateful sycophant.  If your review is bad, well, then use your own discretion.

But what to review?  I mean do you review everything?  Maybe, but for some of us we'd never stop reviewing.  So here's my advice so your reviews target the right resources for progeeks.

Review the very good.  If something is exceptionally awesome, make sure it gets a good review, make sure you tell the author, etc.  Let people know of the best.  This is also helpful if it's a hidden gem.

Review the popular job resources. If something is amazingly popular, and if you're really into reviewing things, then make sure you review it.  It doesn't matter if it's good or bad, you want people to know.

Review the horrible.  If something turns out to be bad, disappointing, and should be avoided, then it's worth a review in order to warn people away.  Yes, you'll want to be civil and mature, but it's worth it as a warning.

What's not in here is the mediocre.  Good reviewing of resources tends to gloss over the unremarkable because it's neither worth promoting or warning off, nor known enough to be of your concern.  Don't feel you have to review every book or website – unless you're into that kind of thing.

Promote Professional Geekery by helping people live their dreams – with the right tools.

Also, if you want some books to recommend, well . . .

– Steven Savage