RepeatGeek » Social

How to Network in the Information Age

dhirschl — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:00:34 +0000

Have you networked with individuals at a conference or some other event (e.g. Code Camp, User Group, etc.)?

If you have, were you able to follow up the people that you met?

The means of following up with a network contact have changed. You can start networking in the information age by using many of the tools that you probably already use today.

Constants

The process and purpose of networking has remained pretty much the same over time.

1. We attend venues for conferences, training or seminars.
2. We use our social skills to speak with and interact with others at these venues.
3. We hope we can use our new networking contact for a new job reference, professional reference or friendship.

What has changed in networking – is the way that we follow up with our contacts.

The Old Way (Dark Age Networking)

Before the information age how did people follow up with their networking contacts? Most likely, it was done by snail-mail, e-mail or telephone.

Let me put into perspective how effective these means of follow up are. Say you receive one business card for every business card that you hand out. Unless, you have either a unique business card or an unforgettable personality – people are going to have a difficult time remembering you based on your name.

I suppose you could but your picture on your business card, but that is something that is probably best left to real estate agents.

The New Way (Information Age Networking)

In the information age, you will still give out business cards, but the contents of those business cards will be “links” to your contact information. The information on your business card is a way for your contacts to remember who you are without having to make an impression based on personality.

Contact Information Tools

There are many tools that you can use for your contact information. I recommend at least these three:

1. LinkedIn

Posting a link to your LinkedIn profile is probably the best tool that you can provide to your networking contacts. Especially if you are looking for a new job or to validate your background. LinkedIn provides the following:

Allows contacts to see your professional job history and projects
Allows contacts to see any recommendations you’ve given or received
Allows contacts to see a profile picture to put a face with a name

2. Facebook

Facebook can be used for the right reasons and the wrong reasons. If you currently use Facebook for the wrong reasons (e.g. posting drunk pictures, complaining about work, etc.) – I suggest that you don’t use Facebook as a networking tool.

However, Facebook can be used for the right reasons – to provide an insight into your personal life.

By sharing the following on Facebook, a networking contact may find out more about you on on a personal level:

Interests
Hobbies
Events in your life

I would also suggest using Facebook’s privacy settings, in case someone else posts a picture or writes something inappropriate to you.

3. Twitter

Most new users of Twitter don’t see the value of it. What Twitter can provide is a way to share daily information with your followers both professionally and personally.

Nobody wants to follow someone who posts mundane posts that add little value (e.g. “Just woke up”, “Eating breakfast”, “Showering”). Instead, use Twitter as follows:

Posting insights on life
Posting links to interesting articles or web sites
Conversing with others on a particular subject

All of these tools allow for continuous networking beyond the initial connection.

How to Get Started?

1. Create a profile on each one of these networks.

2. Create two sets of business cards

Sales Business Card – These will be the typical business cards with name, email, and phone number
Networking Business Card – This will only contain your name and links to your profiles (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)

3. Start attending events and networking!

* Picture courtesy of Joe Pemberton

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Video Reference

dhirschl — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:32:46 +0000

I just finished reading The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo – this book is ideal for anyone who regularly delivers presentations, speaks for a living or wants to become a better speaker.

The Book

The book was filled with tips to help you develop and enhance your public speaking skills. Carmine Gallo effectively points out the techniques used by Steve Jobs that make his presentations both entertaining and effective.

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

How To Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience

Carmine Gallo

The Videos

Gallo references several notable speeches and presentations by Steve Jobs to illustrate his points. While Gallo does provide links to the videos in the book’s reference – I thought it would be helpful to provide direct links to the videos.

Miscellaneous Steve Jobs’ Presentations

dhirschl — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:05:49 +0000

Computers Are Like Bicycles for Our Minds

Steve Jobs’ WWDC Keynote Speeches

dhirschl — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:24:25 +0000

This is a collection of Steve Jobs’ Keynote speeches from WWDC (Apple Worldwide Developers Conference).

The WWDC keynote for 2009 was delivered by Apple’s SVP of Product Marketing Philip Schiller.

Again, be warned – some of these videos are poor quality. Please feel free to share any higher quality videos or links if you have them.

WWDC 2008

Major Introductions

iPhone SDK
App Store
MobileMe

Quicktime (via apple.com)

WWDC 2007

Major Introductions

OS X Leopard
iPhone Web App Development

Quicktime (via apple.com)

WWDC 2006

Major Introductions

MacPro
XServe
Leopard Features

Quicktime (via apple.com)

Steve Jobs’ Macworld Keynote Speeches

dhirschl — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:11:54 +0000

This is a collection of Steve Jobs’ Keynote speeches over the years. I know some of these videos are in poor quality. If you happen to know of a better quality video and would like to share, please do so.

2009 was the last year that Apple would participate in the Macworld Expo. The keynote for 2009 was delivered by Apple’s SVP of Product Marketing Philip Schiller.

Macworld San Francisco 2008

Major Introductions

Macbook Air
Time Capsule
iPhone/iPod Touch SDK

Quicktime (via apple.com)

Download (via iTunes)

Macworld San Francisco 2007

Major Introductions

iPhone
Apple TV

Quicktime (via apple.com)

Download (via iTunes)

Macworld San Francisco 2006

Major Introductions

Intel-based Macs

Quicktime (via apple.com)

How To Network With Other Programmers On Twitter

dhirschl — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:11:56 +0000

I came across two blog posts today by @eriwen about why Twitter is a useful Social Networking tool for programmers:

Starting Off With Twitter

When I first heard about Twitter, I thought – that sounds stupid, who cares about what I am doing?

I am relatively new to Twitter and after using it for about a year, am just now starting to appreciate its value.

Initially, my tweets looked like Facebook status updates:

Going to the airport

Going to the beach

Out to lunch

Unless you’re my mother, you could probably care less about what I do with my free time.

Putting Twitter Into Perspective

Imagine if you were networking at a real (in person) social event like a programming user group meeting, wouldn’t you be more interested in programming discussions rather than discussions about my personal life? So why should Twitter be any different?

As a programmer, I am interested in hearing about programming methodology, news articles and other interesting topics surrounding technology.

If you were to find someone with similar interests, you are more likely to start a dialog and establish a true networking connection.

Finding Similar Interests

The biggest challenge that I’ve faced with using Twitter, is finding worthwhile people follow. You could follow a programmer who is somewhat famous like:

Steve Wozniak (@stevewoz)
Joel Spolsky (@spolsky)
Jeff Atwood (@codinghorror)

But, unless you are about as famous as them, your tweets will probably be one-sided.

So where can you find programmers who share a similar social status as you?

JustTweetIt

JustTweetIt is a Twitter directory where you can find other users who share similar interests. You can browse different Twitter profiles within each category or you can add your own to as many different categories as you like.

wefollow

Wefollow is another Twitter directory, where you can search based on different tags. Wefollow allows you to also add your own Twitter user based on an series of tags that you specify.

Blogs

More and more programmers with blogs are sharing their Twitter usernames on their blogs. I welcome you to connect with me, if you find me interesting:
@dhirschl.

Where do you find people to follow?

10 More Ways To Get An Article On DZone

dhirschl — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:00:19 +0000

I was introduced to DZone not too long ago and it has now become my #1 resource for reading about the latest programming news.

I noticed a trend of the types of websites that are submitted to DZone and after reading 10 Ways to get an Article on DZone, I thought I would expand upon this and add 10 more ways to get an Article on DZone.

10. Interviewing Stories with Google

Everybody (including myself) probably wants to work for Google given the numerous benefits their employees enjoy. Does reading about the interview process provide a way to beat the system by knowing what to expect?

Sample Submissions:

9. Cartoons that Appeal to Geek Humor

You can’t take life too seriously and not everything you read should be either. The funniest cartoon will be one that leaves non-programmers saying “I don’t get it.”

Sample Submissions:

8. Cheat Sheets & Reference Guides

When you don’t feel like looking through documentation or Googling for a particular solution, cheat sheets and reference guides are a useful tool.

Sample Submissions:

7. Stories about Java

DZone has a large Java following courtesy of JavaLobby.org. Although more and more developers of other languages are using DZone, Java stories tend to carry some weight.

Sample Submissions:

6. Free Books

Yes, free as in beer. Programming books aren’t cheap and it is great when you can find a free alternative.

Sample Submissions:

5. Stories about DZone

Heavy users of DZone are quick to point out DZone’s flaws and offer suggestions for improvement. I’m sure DZone also appreciates the feedback.

Sample Submissions:

4. Good and Bad Programmers

Like bad singers on American Idol, bad programmers apparently cannot tell for themselves that they shouldn’t be programming.

Sample Submissions:

3. Version Control Systems

Requirements are never static and it only takes one time that you need to rollback changes on your code.

Sample Submissions:

2. Programming Life

Programmers want to know what others are up to in the field, particularly how to grow professionally and what mistakes to avoid.

Sample Submissions:

1. Ask Questions

Social networking tends to attract the following people: those who have a lot to say and those who want to say more. Is there a better way to bring these two groups together?

Sample Submissions:

Update (12/11/2009): Added links to original content.

Enhance Your Skills By Belonging to Professional Organizations

dhirschl — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:00:12 +0000

If you work in information technology, how do you keep both your social and technical skills up-to-date to remain competitive? Enrolling in an academic program could be beneficial to improving your skills, but it could get expensive and often a technical curriculum will not cover the latest technologies. This is where belonging to a professional organization may be an option.

Social Skills

No matter what line of work you are in, everybody could use some improvement in their social skills. Unless you speak regularly to groups in your profession, the venues for you to practice public speaking are limited.

Toastmasters International is an organization that I have recently joined. Toastmaster’s provides a venue and focuses on helping members develop leadership, communication and public speaking skills. Most people would be apprehensive about joining an organization like this because of their fear of public speaking, but the reason Toastmasters exists is to help overcome this fear in a supporting environment.

Leadership

You acquire leadership skills by taking on roles each week to help out your fellow members. Some of the roles are:

Toastmaster - The M.C. for that day’s meeting.

Timer - Keeps track of each speaker’s time.

‘Ah’ Counter – Identify filler words that speakers use (e.g. er, um, ah, but, so, etc.)

Evaluator - Ensures speakers follow the guidelines of their prepared speeches.

Table Topics Master – Facilities a session known as Table Topics or speaking off-the-cuff.

Communication & Public Speaking

At all meetings there is an opportunity to speak by giving a prepared speech or participating in table topics. If you fulfill one of the roles above, you must present your findings to the group.

If this sounds like something you are interested in, I encourage you to contact a local club and attend a meeting as a guest to see firsthand how Toastmasters could help you. Membership fees can vary by club, but the cost is usually less than $100 for the year.

Technical Skills

With technology changing as fast as it does these days, learned skills can become obsolete very quickly. Fortunately there are plenty of online tutorials and books/magazines available so you can advance your skills through self-study. I think the difficulty lies in determining what you should study because there are so many technologies out there. I’ve read blogs where people ask “What programming language should I learn?” One possible answer to this question is: try learning different ones. If you want to commit yourself to life-long learning about new topics, consider joining a technical professional organization.

ACM

I recently joined the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). ACM provides access to journals, magazines, online courses and books. The selling point for me was their collection of online books. For the price of a couple of technical books, I can access over 1,000 books online. ACM also provides a monthly email consisting of several articles related to your interests. These are just a few of the benefits that they provide. ACM offers two levels of yearly membership the basic membership is $99 USD and if you want the basic plus access to their Digital Library $198 USD.

IEEE

IEEE is a little less focused than ACM and covers a wider range of fields such as physical sciences, biology, law, as well as, the computing fields. IEEE provides access to numerous journals and magazines, but did not offer access to the same book catalog as ACM. The cost of a yearly IEEE membership is $169 USD.

Networking

The added benefit of belonging to either a social or technical professional organization is the opportunity to network. These organizations often host conferences several times a year, where you can meet people who share your interests and are in your field of work.

What are some other professional organizations that you belong to?