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The job market as a whole and the industry as a whole doesn't give a crap about you. Your ability to extract a decent life out of working in software in the lon

The job market as a whole and the industry as a whole doesn't give a crap about you. Your ability to extract a decent life out of working in software in the long run depends on the relationships you make. It's rare to actually work on a team that executes well and where you enjoy those people's company. In my 20+ year career it's only happened less than a handful of times for me. So if any of those people reach out to me looking for connections, I'll absolutely do so because I also expect they'll return the favour when I need it. It's worked out for me before. You don't have to invite them to your wedding. But having a brief if awkward friendly interaction and then passing on a referral for a posting or letting them know about some opportunity you may have heard of isn't "socializing", it's just a career skill. We're all in this together. Being able to have a career that doesn't suck depends in large part on networking, not on your coding skills.

coldpie 3y ago
> Being able to have a career that doesn't suck depends in large part on networking, not on your coding skills. Yes. I'm not sure this is the thread in which to do it, but I think this is an important thing for the "Rah Rah WFH" type folks to consider. Networking over Zoom/email/chat definitely isn't rare or impossible, but is a lot more limiting & difficult than in person.
- cmrdporcupine 3y ago
  I haven't found it too bad, I've actually formed some reasonable relationships WFH in the last couple years job hopping after being stuck at Google. Also some of the most long-standing software industry relationships I have are people I met back in the early-days of the Internet (early 90s) on MUDs/MOOs/IRC/Usenet etc.. and have never met in person. But personally I am sick of WFH for other reasons and would love to go back to in person if the local options were better. (But also just sick of working, generally :-) so...) But I can definitely see it could be tricky for introverted types, or people just starting their career. What I want more than anything is a stronger separation between domestic and professional workspace.
herbst 3y ago
That's a really interesting POV and I totally get where you are coming from. It just never happened to me, I picked my jobs myself, bootstrapped my companies without promoting it in a inner circle. In fact most people I know got their job by just applying for it or recruiting companies. I wonder where I would be at if I had networking skills, when my coding skills already brought me everywhere I wanted to be. Maybe it's cultural, maybe it's just my social circle.

coldpie 3y ago

> Being able to have a career that doesn't suck depends in large part on networking, not on your coding skills. Yes. I'm not sure this is the thread in which to do it, but I think this is an important thing for the "Rah Rah WFH" type folks to consider. Networking over Zoom/email/chat definitely isn't rare or impossible, but is a lot more limiting & difficult than in person.

cmrdporcupine 3y ago
I haven't found it too bad, I've actually formed some reasonable relationships WFH in the last couple years job hopping after being stuck at Google. Also some of the most long-standing software industry relationships I have are people I met back in the early-days of the Internet (early 90s) on MUDs/MOOs/IRC/Usenet etc.. and have never met in person. But personally I am sick of WFH for other reasons and would love to go back to in person if the local options were better. (But also just sick of working, generally :-) so...) But I can definitely see it could be tricky for introverted types, or people just starting their career. What I want more than anything is a stronger separation between domestic and professional workspace.

herbst 3y ago

That's a really interesting POV and I totally get where you are coming from. It just never happened to me, I picked my jobs myself, bootstrapped my companies without promoting it in a inner circle. In fact most people I know got their job by just applying for it or recruiting companies. I wonder where I would be at if I had networking skills, when my coding skills already brought me everywhere I wanted to be. Maybe it's cultural, maybe it's just my social circle.