As we've discussed, meeting people, forming relationships, and having conversations are the key pieces to getting your foot in the door at any company. It's important to be proactive in your approach to outreach and networking, so it's necessary to make a plan for what you'll try in Module 3.
Meetups/Networking Events: Identify 1 meetup and/or other networking event that you'll attend between now and the end of Module 3. Answer these questions:
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Why will you attend this particular event?
The event that I picked is called Progressive Web Apps - Fitter, happier, more-productive UIs. I chose this topic in particular because it talks about making apps more accessible offline in poor network conditions. Not only do I think that this is a great idea for having greater accessibility to people in our country that have poor networking conditions, but think it could be incredible to give more access to people in third-world countries that don't have the same opportunity as we do in the US.
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Who do you hope to connect with at this event?
As the event is mostly centered around UI, I hope to meet some people that work in that particular field. UI/UX is something very interesting to me that I think I could be very good at given the right set of tools. I know that many people specialize in UI/UX and I think it would be great to see what their day-to-day lives are like.
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How will you follow-up with the people you connect at this event?
I plan on making some business cards over break and setting up a personal website as a placeholder for my work until my portfolio grows. I also plan to get business cards and make LinkedIn connections so I can follow-up in a more personal way.
Warm Outreach: Identify a mentor, alum, or someone else in the Turing community you will reach out to by the end of Module 3. If you have someone you'd like to reach out to outside of the Turing community, go for it! Describe:
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Why you want to connect with this person and what you hope to talk about
By the end of Mod 3, I want to have reached out to a CTO at a smaller company and/or a VP of technology/design at a somewhat larger company. I already have two mentors and want to push myself to talk to someone outside of the Turing company. Though I'm not 100% sure about this, I may reach out to Dan Saltzman who is the VP of Design at Effective Inc. One of my mentors, Jeff Duke, is a developer there and I think Effective is a place where I would love to start my career.
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When you will contact them by and how you plan to meet
I want to contact him prior to the holiday season in an effort to catch him before any year end craziness, so I would aim for the first or second week of December. However, if that doesn't work out, I think I would likely aim for the first or second week of January. I plan to reach out on LinkedIn initially and, if he responds, I want to approach him about getting coffee to pick his brain about being a junior developer and how I can use those skills to crack into the design world.
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What your follow-up will look like once you've met with them
I would make a point to thank him for his time and establish a contact on LinkedIn if I haven't done that already. I also want to reach out periodically to see how Effective Inc is doing and where he sees the company moving in the future.