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Networking for introverts

economist.com

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Re: Networking for introverts

#71

Post by Cthulhu_ »

neilv wrote: post #59

> The researchers randomly changed the “People You May Know” recommendations algorithm that LinkedIn shows its users, so that the prevalence of weaker and stronger connections varied among people on the site. The experiment showed that weaker ties (where a pair of users had only one mutual friend, say) were more likely to lead to job applications and job moves than those where people had 25 mutual friends or more. Wa…

It reminds me of Facebook's experiments where they tweaked people's feeds to alter their moods - sometimes for the worse.

Re: Networking for introverts

#72

Post by throwawaysleep »

neilv wrote: post #59

> The researchers randomly changed the “People You May Know” recommendations algorithm that LinkedIn shows its users, so that the prevalence of weaker and stronger connections varied among people on the site. The experiment showed that weaker ties (where a pair of users had only one mutual friend, say) were more likely to lead to job applications and job moves than those where people had 25 mutual friends or more. Wa…

Why would it need it? LinkedIn doesn’t owe its users anything and A and B testing is quite common.

Re: Networking for introverts

#73

Post by Cthulhu_ »

SanderNL wrote: post #58

Don't want to awaken any sleeping dogs here, but what the author describes reminds me more of social anxiety and/or self-esteem issues than introversion. I'm an introvert. I can sit still and not speak to anyone for weeks and be fine. Happier even. Having no-one around recharges me like nothing else. The reverse is true as well which makes me incredibly popular at parties /s. When I was young(er), a networking event…

This for sure; it's a kind of anxiety that can be alleviated with self-confidence and exposure over time, or in other words, practice. Loads of people have trouble with small talk because they don't know how it works, but it can be learned and practiced.

Re: Networking for introverts

#74

Post by dasil003 »

acuozzo wrote: post #57
chefandy wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So... in the context of career networking... Everybody should just mind their business and leave each other alone?

The entire concept of career networking is rooted in expanding access to nepotism and is a poor substitute for an objective evaluation of merits. With that being said, it obviously has value since nepotism won't be going away anytime soon. What OP likely isn't aware of is the works published over the past 30+ years for managers/owners on how to relate to their probably-introverted programmer employees.

This is an overly cynical take. It’s not either/or. Meeting more people just means being exposed to more first hand information in both directions. It gives more surface area for serendipity to strike.

It’s nice to imagine that all information about the job market would be available online for convenient index and search, but that’s just not the case. When it comes to understanding the culture in a company, theres no substitute for talking to someone on the inside. Similarly when you are a hiring manager, not every great candidate is going to apply or even have a LinkedIn profile.

Now, I tend to agree that most things explicitly labeled “networking” feel tiresome and a bit forced, but there’s nothing about meeting people that means bypassing objective evaluation for hiring.

Re: Networking for introverts

#75

Post by Cthulhu_ »

chefandy wrote: post #39
dentemple wrote: post #22

"Quiet Contemplation for Extroverts: A How-To Guide to Sitting the Fuck Still For an Hour" I'm fine as I am as an introvert, thank you very much. Maybe we're not the only ones who need to be more accommodating of the world?

So... in the context of career networking... Everybody should just mind their business and leave each other alone?

More that it doesn't need to have a big emphasis on social skills or the people you know, but on merit and skills. Most software development jobs are already like that though, with both face to face interviews and take-home assignments.

Some do whiteboard interviews, but I don't really get those because they're not representative of the job you will be expected to do - unless it's for a teaching position.

Re: Networking for introverts

#76

Post by SamPatt »

jonathanlydall wrote: post #56
dentemple wrote: post #22

"Quiet Contemplation for Extroverts: A How-To Guide to Sitting the Fuck Still For an Hour" I'm fine as I am as an introvert, thank you very much. Maybe we're not the only ones who need to be more accommodating of the world?

Nevertheless we live in a world where sometimes it’s people’s networking ability that allows them to be successful far more so than their skill alone would achieve. It may not be “fair”, but if we want to succeed in what is arguably the extroverts world, we unfortunately need to play the game too (at least to an extent) or we may find ourselves overlooked.

It's also not fair to completely dismiss networking as just "something extroverts do" which carries no signal about skills.

Most jobs benefit from having good people skills, communication skills, and being proactive. If you hit it off with someone at a networking event, they've more or less already checked off those boxes.

Re: Networking for introverts

#77

Post by lacrimacida »

SanderNL wrote: post #58

Don't want to awaken any sleeping dogs here, but what the author describes reminds me more of social anxiety and/or self-esteem issues than introversion. I'm an introvert. I can sit still and not speak to anyone for weeks and be fine. Happier even. Having no-one around recharges me like nothing else. The reverse is true as well which makes me incredibly popular at parties /s. When I was young(er), a networking event…

How about getting extremely drained in loud and chaotic environments where even conversation abilities break down due to noise? Im getting older and give a lot less fucks as well but some things that were extremely unpleasant that I used to have a hard dime with are no longer on my calendar. Why go through the pain when there is zero gain? Why even bother? If I really have to, in such environments, in order to tolerate it I blast white noise on my headphones, kindof pointless in the end if you ask me. Whereas small settings, with less than a dozen people around are a lot more productive. Not hiding this fact makes it even more tolerable, I just excuse myself from these envs.

Re: Networking for introverts

#78

Post by alocasia-1 »

SanderNL wrote: post #58

Don't want to awaken any sleeping dogs here, but what the author describes reminds me more of social anxiety and/or self-esteem issues than introversion. I'm an introvert. I can sit still and not speak to anyone for weeks and be fine. Happier even. Having no-one around recharges me like nothing else. The reverse is true as well which makes me incredibly popular at parties /s. When I was young(er), a networking event…

I have a very similar experience. However I gently disagree with the language of introversion getting "worse". To me it's not a negative at all. In lockdowns in 2020 as an extreme example, it showed up as a major strength, a resilience to the loneliness that my extrovert friends struggled badly with.

Re: Networking for introverts

#79

Post by dist-epoch »

neilv wrote: post #59

> The researchers randomly changed the “People You May Know” recommendations algorithm that LinkedIn shows its users, so that the prevalence of weaker and stronger connections varied among people on the site. The experiment showed that weaker ties (where a pair of users had only one mutual friend, say) were more likely to lead to job applications and job moves than those where people had 25 mutual friends or more. Wa…

If I write a blog post about how I recommend people use PostgreSQL instead of MySQL, and it so happens that I am a PostgreSQL consultant, do I need to require informed consent from every reader before displaying the recommendation?

Re: Networking for introverts

#80

Post by setgree »

neilv wrote: post #59

> The researchers randomly changed the “People You May Know” recommendations algorithm that LinkedIn shows its users, so that the prevalence of weaker and stronger connections varied among people on the site. The experiment showed that weaker ties (where a pair of users had only one mutual friend, say) were more likely to lead to job applications and job moves than those where people had 25 mutual friends or more. Wa…

Not in the sense you're thinking, and there was some controversy about this earlier this year

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/business/linkedin-social-...

> “The findings suggest that some users had better access to job opportunities or a meaningful difference in access to job opportunities,” said Michael Zimmer, an associate professor of computer science and the director of the Center for Data, Ethics and Society at Marquette University. “These are the kind of long-term consequences that need to be contemplated when we think of the ethics of engaging in this kind of big data research.”

However I strongly agree with a sibling comment that these platforms are constantly varying this kind of thing without any producing any kind of systematic learning, and it's not clear why this particular manipulation should come under more scrutiny than any other. At least this manipulation produced published research.

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