Why Networking Sucks for Introverts (and one way I'm trying to fix it for us)
1–10 of 12 posts
Re: Why Networking Sucks for Introverts (and one way I'm trying to fix it for us)
#2The "real hack" here is organizing the event in the first place. I can attest as an "also introvert" that I've gotten a lot of mileage out of, say, hosting a conference rather than trying to attend them. I have guesses as to why this is (control of the environment, the role as gatekeeper, having talked with folks ahead of time), but I'd suggest trying something similar if you're an introvert and you need to network.
Re: Why Networking Sucks for Introverts (and one way I'm trying to fix it for us)
#3The "real hack" here is organizing the event in the first place. I can attest as an "also introvert" that I've gotten a lot of mileage out of, say, hosting a conference rather than trying to attend them. I have guesses as to why this is (control of the environment, the role as gatekeeper, having talked with folks ahead of time), but I'd suggest trying something similar if you're an introvert and you need to network.
It's also because as the host you have both a large built-in boost to your social status and a reason to talk to anyone.
Re: Why Networking Sucks for Introverts (and one way I'm trying to fix it for us)
#4I wonder how much of what he ascribes to the extroversion versus introversion (EvI) struggle should actually be ascribed to the sensing versus intuition (SvN) conflict. (See Myers-Briggs for descriptions of these dichotomies.)
Software engineers have also been shown to be very high on the N scale and have classically been placed in the NT temperament. (For anecdotal evidence, see past MBTI surveys on Hacker News and Reddit.)
Main point: communication style discrepancies, by Myers-Briggs definition, should be attributed to SvN, not EvI.
Re: Why Networking Sucks for Introverts (and one way I'm trying to fix it for us)
#5If you only permit 20 candidates and 20 jobs, some of the attending candidates will be only be qualified to apply for a fraction of the jobs - perhaps even just one or two.
For example, if a Django front-end expert shows up and only 1 company is looking for a Django front-end expert, then that candidate only gets 1 interview and goes home.
Since most candidates have particular specializations that make them more or less qualified for particular jobs, it seems unlikely that every candidate will be applying for every job. I actually wish hiring companies cared less about skill specializations than they do but that's just how it is - the Django specialist is often not going to be taken seriously for the Websphere position even if he lies awake most nights dreaming about J2EE (fortunately, this particular example is quite rare).
So, if each attending candidate only qualifies for a single job, then there is a possibility that the entire event will be over in 5 minutes. As a candidate I would be fine with that, since it's one extra interview under my belt and - since I didn't pay to attend - I don't lose anything. As the host, you will go home with $6,000 - minus expenses for the space, unless you hooked up a free space through a personal connection, in which case you came out with a nice profit. However, from the perspective of the hiring company, everyone may not be so happy about the return on their time and money.
Re: Why Networking Sucks for Introverts (and one way I'm trying to fix it for us)
#6If you only permit 20 candidates and 20 jobs, some of the attending candidates will be only be qualified to apply for a fraction of the jobs - perhaps even just one or two. For example, if a Django front-end expert shows up and only 1 company is looking for a Django front-end expert, then that candidate only gets 1 interview and goes home. Since most candidates have particular specializations that make them more or l…
That is definitely a possibility. We're coping with it for this first event by targeting companies that aren't cherry picking skill sets; they're willing to give someone time to learn as long as it's a smart developer who gets things done.
For future events, we'll try to break things out more and specialize, not only by programming language, but we'll start to have events for designers, systems administrators, etc.
Re: Why Networking Sucks for Introverts (and one way I'm trying to fix it for us)
#7How relevant should networking and extr-vs-introversion be in the age of internet. Online forums create more value (more variety, more open critique) than face to face converstions. I'd bet extroversion and physical networking increasingly become liabilities in business. Those who communicate onlne and just get work done should be doing better than 'movers and shakers'.
Re: Why Networking Sucks for Introverts (and one way I'm trying to fix it for us)
#8How relevant should networking and extr-vs-introversion be in the age of internet. Online forums create more value (more variety, more open critique) than face to face converstions. I'd bet extroversion and physical networking increasingly become liabilities in business. Those who communicate onlne and just get work done should be doing better than 'movers and shakers'.
Somehow I don't think you'll get much traction with that idea. You're moving against tens of thousands of years of human social interaction that means face to face is how we want to be.
Online forums have their place and they are efficient, but the sure don't create what most people think of as more value.
Re: Why Networking Sucks for Introverts (and one way I'm trying to fix it for us)
#9How relevant should networking and extr-vs-introversion be in the age of internet. Online forums create more value (more variety, more open critique) than face to face converstions. I'd bet extroversion and physical networking increasingly become liabilities in business. Those who communicate onlne and just get work done should be doing better than 'movers and shakers'.
Somehow I don't think you'll get much traction with that idea. You're moving against tens of thousands of years of human social interaction that means face to face is how we want to be. Online forums have their place and they are efficient, but the sure don't create what most people think of as more value.
It might be human imperative to meet face to face, but I'd argue that those who can control the urge or are naturally inclined not to seek it will do better financially.
To give an example, Warren Buffet is an introvert and spends most of his day alone working, and he beat all his competition.
Even very successful actors such Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford, Anthony Hopkins, Clint Eastwood, are introverts.
Industries where extroverts rule also happen to be industries that create negative value to society - politics, traditional investment banks, sales.
Re: Why Networking Sucks for Introverts (and one way I'm trying to fix it for us)
#10I've never seen being an introvert as a problem, and still don't see it as such. Well I'm an introvert, and from the very extreme case, I mean my own wife says I'm introvert, but I actually don't have problems connecting with peoples, I don't just like it, you just get boring questions from peoples talking about things you don't care about, so the site is a good Idea, but I'm not sure if that's a solution to introverts problems but, it's definetely a very good Idea for meeting employer and professionals, you can get that much noise in 5 minutes, great.