Networking

   I attended a career tech fair virtually. There were about three different job recruiters there in addition to the host associated with the platform. I believe I acquired valuable advice. It is not about what you know it is about who you know. This is also true for the tech industry. Networking is important to finding employment in tech. Working on team based projects allows for networking. Unfortunately, the recruiters in this event were looking for mid to senior level tech prospects. These companies were Baird Tech, Talent Center and Austin Fraser. The recruiter for Talent Center gave four job description docs for civil engineer, analyst( financial planning and analysis), senior national account sales manager, and relationship manager. Each job listing required years of experience and a Bachelor’s degree. One recruiter really advocated for Entre.com which was the platform that the event was hosted on. Apparently Entre.com is a great place to network and connect with tech recruiters. I did get to connect with as many Linkedin profiles as I could. There were a lot of people in the chat looking for work and looking to network through Linkedin. I would say this event qualifies as a mentor night. There were experts that shared advice. So in hindsight this event was a success and definitely beneficial. 

   I also attend and event at NoName library. It was an open mic event for performing artist. There were a lot of creatives there and a lot of conversations happening. Unfortunately, I am an introvert and I have really bad social anxiety. I was not able to start a converstion with anyone. I stayed for one performance and left. I think that my nerves got the best of me. Also I believe that it was not what I expected the event to be. I thought it would be more visual artist rather than performing artist. 

I also attend another event located in downtown LA. It was at a coffee shop called Groundwork. I arrived an hour early to ensure parking and seating. It was a requirement to make a purchase and tip the barista. I purchased a bagel wtih cream cheese, banana bread and a cup of water. Arriving early allowed me to observe participants as the arrived. Once again I found myself not feeling to confident with engaging with others. I did however manage to get some work done, like the tasks I needed to complete for my mentorship and working on the Fresh Eats one page website. People appeared to know each other from previous meet ups. I feel like a belong and should start off by asking for help with Fresh Eats or even just inquiring about the projects that others are working on. The downside of showing up an hour early is by the time the event started I was ready to leave. This event definitely qualifies as a meet up. It took place at a coffee shop, everyone had a laptop and were working on projects. Surprisingly there was a lot of conversations. I just did not feel like I could add anything to the conversation. I think I should have came to this meet up a few times beforehand just to get more accommodated. Okay I did it, I finally talked to someone. I am proud of myself. I learned that there is a different platform for coding Apple apps. I got to see the live view of the app that was being created. It was very cool to learn about. I also was introduced to another person in the meetup which definitely made me feel more welcomed. I am very thankful for the youth. Younger people are definitely easier to converse with. I am still very nervous but I want to try to connect with others. I did manage to converse with another person and connect with him on Linkedin. He was a math teacher looking to animate a math activity online. With further conversation I learned that she was in a bootcamp for software developers. We conversed about finding employment after our bootcamp and looking into freelancing. I think it was very awesome to meet people in the field. I am not sure how networking works in tech because honestly everyone is a lot like me, introverted and painfully shy. At the end of the day I am proud of myself for attending all three events. It was a good practice run for networking.