For a long time, I thought I was incapable of networking. I had long stretches of un(der)employment, and few of the people I knew could do much to help me. Recently, I've realized that I am not completely incapable. A conversation with a co-worker a few months back first suggested I was wrong. Looking back at my career so far, it was only at Motive where I had enough co-workers to actually get to know people. Audiogalaxy had a few people, but they were either college students or had were unlikely to go to other companies. I was only at Fly for a month, so I didn't get a chance to know anyone there. Then at UT I had no direct co-workers, and the people I did know were not software people. So the only chance I had at forming this sort of professional relationship was at Motive, which was over 3 years ago and was a time when I knew the least.

Secondly, the job market, especially for software developers, was very depressed from 2001 to early 2004. When I most needed a job was when they were hardest to get. Furthermore, a lot of it was when I didn't have a whole lot on my resume. That just made it harder. In some ways, I feel pretty good about that. If I managed to stay afloat then, it will only be easier in the future as my skills improve.

The final data point is an easy one. I got the lead into Works through a former Motive co-worker. He could only grease the wheels, but that's all I or anyone else should need from a professional network. I don't leave a lot of colleagues behind at ROME, but they're good ones. Additionally, I don't plan on looking for a job for years to come either. Maybe, just maybe, I'm not so bad at this stuff.

¶ 1032 Posted at 10.38 PM ⇒ No Comments ( me | (un)employment )