>Water-cooler BS, pandering to the local hierarchy is just investing in your regrets. That is not what I had in mind as a positive experience. Working is such

>Water-cooler BS, pandering to the local hierarchy is just investing in your regrets. That is not what I had in mind as a positive experience. Working is such an environment is bad, in office or not, but in many countries this is the norm unfortunately (traditional big auto, Germany) >Sociality and networking are more effectively cultivated and owned long-term on neutral-ground: user-groups, gym, local-whatever-chapter, Meetup. Those groups of randos you meet a couple of times a month may be fun to hang out with for bouldering and a beer, but those relationships stay pretty superficial and may not be as reliable and ready to vouch for you as a colleague who you meet 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and knows you very well, and when he jumps ship can vouch for you if you wish to join him, instead of going through the interview grinder. This is of course no rule and such experiences are of course anecdotal and can vary wildly depending on your luck or chance.