31–40 of 97 posts
Identify yourself clearly. Explain your rationale for picking that person you are trying to reach. Put yourself at mercy of the helper. Last but not least. End the recording and turn of the camera on your R2D2 droid.
For technical requests, one of the most effective ways to demonstrate that you are serious is to cite something about the person's published work that is relevant to the request. There is no more effective way to get someone's attention than showing that you have read and appreciated something they've written.
unfortunately everyone is now doing this with LLMs, it actually feels like it might be on its way to being a negative signal, as strange as that sounds.
Starting yet another project on my primary GitHub profile has zero return. My secondary profile with trivial code is getting job offers...
Just say "hello/excuse me" in their language and then ask the question in your language. If they speak it, they will often answer you quickly. Sometimes you can even see a look dawn on their face after the fact as they realize you skipped the first step.
* No abbreviations like "plz"
* No wall of text (and no AI walls of text)
For technical requests, one of the most effective ways to demonstrate that you are serious is to cite something about the person's published work that is relevant to the request. There is no more effective way to get someone's attention than showing that you have read and appreciated something they've written.
unfortunately everyone is now doing this with LLMs, it actually feels like it might be on its way to being a negative signal, as strange as that sounds.
It's especially effective if it's a timely event. People do talks and interviews to meet people and get some attention, so you're basically shaking hands with someone who's ready to shake yours.
This was an excellently written, salient post with some good tidbits. I've learned some of these lessons the hard way. I'll add a few. Proof of work is important, but it's not about the magnitude of energy you spend. I went through two iterations of reaching out to my college network. The first time I put so much time into handwriting notes and trying to provide my relatable background. 100 notes, not a single respon…
I've been DM'ing randos on LinkedIn for lightweight consults and found that offering to pay up front and asking strangers to price their own time can help to show seriousness and often results in free interactions or buy-me-a-coffee pricing. e.g. "Hey I love your work on X, I've been thinking about / working on related thing Y and would love your feedback on aspect Z. How much $$ to rent your brain for 20 minutes? I'…
Out of 40 messages, 38 replied and agreed to a phone call, and none of them actually asked for the money.
[0] https://mtlynch.io/notes/designing-the-ideal-bootstrapped-bu...