Since 2011....
I started using twitter since I was a senior in high school ever since I was told by a friend about it. Optimistic as I was I went ahead and downloaded it on my Blackberry (how's that for nostalgia?) and here we are in 2022 still being using and being one of the biggest platforms that everyone uses. But honestly I really didn't use it for connecting with other people, it was more used for news and archiving memes.
11 Years Later.
As I've mentioned in my other articles, on January I joined a coding bootcamp called 100Devs after I saw my girlfriend Schamir Poliard doing it. One of the most important things that was mentioned in this Bootcamp was that networking should be a must when you're going through this journey. I was stumped because I really didn't know how to approach networking.
I know I've been on Twitter for a long time, but the beginning of 2022 is the most Twittering i I've done in my whole career of Twitter. But I still put myself out there because WE GO GET!!!!
Apparently I was told that I'm considered an extrovert...…. who would've thought. But all jokes aside, one of my favorite things to do is talking to people and creating relationships. At first it felt pretty weird going into other Developer DMs and asking for coffee chats, but honestly it was amazing at the amount of people that are willing to have a conversation with you and give you advice on how to succeed in software engineering.
My Advice
I've been told that there are some people in tech that are introverts. And I understand. When I came to United States from Cuba, I've always had social anxiety because I didn't know how to communicate properly.
My advice to those people is to understand that a lot of Developers want to see up and coming Devs succeed. Don't live with the regret of "What if..." and take a chance. I understand it could be super scary but your future self will be grateful that you took that opportunity to connect with someone that can steer on the right path and help you be successful.
So I have to know.... how's your networking journey going?