I am looking at the biography that I put together for Network In Austin, and as usual, have noticed that the list of companies that I have been affiliated with would be completely foreign to some of our younger members. Burroughs, once second only to IBM, cannot be distinguished from any other part of Unisys. Eaton Semiconductor, just like the Motorola semiconductor division has been divested for economic reasons, and has been renamed to a public relations chosen meaningless group of letters. Even mighty AT&T Bell Labs, has been divested, split up, bought, sold and renamed so many times, that a whole economic sector has sprung up just to deal with the business of presenting the names and logos to the public.
What does this mean to you and me? Well, if you are in the process of networking in order to secure your financial future, it means several things. For one, if you find it necessary to explain your resume and CV to a prospective client or future employer, then you are saddled with the problem of providing adequate substantiation of your claims due the near impossibility of providing adequate proof of your experience. With the fast changing technological environment, and the political upheaval that is happening with the professional community, the concept of a community of peers has become a tenuous, almost non-existent concept. With the adjustments that are taking place economically, politically and geographically, the individual and the corporation must be constantly in touch with the social media in order to have some knowledge of what to expect in the near future. With the advent of Twitter, Linked In, and other communities, the world has shrunk at an amazing rate, but we are in touch with what we need to do to move forward.
In the latest issue of the IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer, Dr. James Gower presents his views on what we need to do in order to jumpstart the economy (Today's Engineer June 2009), and what he feels the necessity to discuss is vitally important today. Yet, what he says is not news to anyone in the engineering industries. When in 2004, we were on Capitol Hill, lobbying for engineering funds, and other issues, in order to keep our professionals adequately employed, there was already that sense of urgency, the urgency was so profound, that we were able to convince John Kerry to integrate our issues into his presidential platform. The need to bootstrap the economy was existent then, and is still existent today, which is why it is absolutely vital that there is a synthesis created from all the Social Networks into a critical mass to move the economy back on the correct path. As a new resident of Austin, I am impressed at the efforts that are ongoing, and hope that I am able to help forge the arrangements necessary to get the community to where it needs to be.
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Edward Gordon has been in the software industry for 35 years, dealing with development lifecycle issues and technology transfer for companies such as Burroughs, Racal, Wang Labs, AT&T Bell Labs, Eaton Semiconductor, General Dynamics, SAIC and the Pentagon. He has worked with the IEEE-USA in lobbying Congress for funds for research in addition to his tasks with IEEE Consultant Networks and Professional Activities Committee, and is now a Senior Member of the IEEE. He can be reached at ebg@ieee.org.
The Economist recently had an article titled: "Primates on Facebook," which suggests that even with social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter they still don't change the fact that 'the size of the human brain allows stable networks of about 148. Rounded to 150, this has become famous as “the Dunbar number”.'
I first became aware of the Rule of 150 after reading about it in Malcolm Gladwell's book: The Tipping Point (a great book that I highly recommend by the way). When I mentioned this article on Facebook one of my friends quipped: 'Said the man with 455 "friends."' Sure I may have a lot of connections on Facebook and LinkedIn, but I see the Rule of 150 as being a description of your core network. Certainly we've all met more than 150 people, we may even have quite a few more legitimate relationships than this theoretical 150 person limit. However if you really boil it down to the truly meaningful relationships I would image that you, like me, would come up with a number really close to 150.
Your core network in my opinion is your real network. These are your family, close friends, co-workers that you're close to, etc. The people you spend most of your time with, and have really solid relationships with. This certainly wouldn't include that guy you see a couple of times a year at this event or that event. It probably doesn't even include people you've had lunch or drinks with once or twice. These are the individuals you really spend time with, and who spend time with you where you have much deeper relationships.
So here's an interesting exercise I've been playing with. Exactly who makes up your core network? Who are these 150 people? Are they the right 150 people? There's also the theory that says you're most likely to be like the people you spend the most time with. It's probably a smaller subset of the 150 that this theory applies to, but it's an important concept to pay attention to.
Consider making an actual list to get a better understanding of what your own core network looks like.
That's just my 2 cents. What do you think? I'm very interested in your thoughts and comments.
P.S. I'm considering writing a follow-up post. Something along the lines of: Beyond the Rule of 150 - The Impact of Social Networking Tools on Network Size. I have some definite opinions, but don't want to taint your thoughts with mine... yet. :)
Finding a Job Using Twitter - Guest Post by Chris Garrigues
There really is value in the various forms of online networking. I asked my friend Chris Garrigues to share his experience in nearly landing a job through Twitter. In the end this job fell through for Chris, but the lessons are no less instructive. Thank you Chris for sharing this story!
When I started twittering back in June, one of my goals was to see if it would be useful in finding a job. I asked Jason Alba of JibberJobber.com fame if it would be and he said:
"For a job search I'd suggest it's not going to be much help (prove me wrong, though, if you can :p). It's more of a long-term relationship building tool... so if had been on for a year, and had built a network, I could see that being really helpful, but for now, it's going to be more of listening to who is out there, what they are saying, and how you could develop relationships with them... just my two cents."
My Twitter job seeking strategy was to follow anybody in recruiting or HR I could find located in the Austin area. My hope was to be “top of mind” for these recruiters if they should find something that would be a good fit for me. I followed several of them and they followed me back. Of course, I also continued pursuing the job boards and working my traditional network and attending events like the ones held by Door64.
As the months went by, I didn't think about Twitter as part of my job search strategy, but more as just one of the tools I use to stay in touch with some key parts of my network. It also became a place where I felt comfortable discussing the presidential election with a diverse group of people. I ignored the advice of Scott Ingram who was concerned that I would offend half the people out there no matter which side I took.
One Tuesday afternoon in early October, while watching my girls at a playground, I sent the following tweet:
"Isn't 'tying McCain to the Keating 5' like tying John Lennon to the Beatles?" (from TPM, but paraphrased) 4:43 PM Oct 7th
One of the recruiters in my network replied:
@DeepEddy Oh that is funny! And look how open minded (sellout!) I am that I can laugh at the jokes from the other side? 4:48 PM Oct 7th
His very next tweets were:
So we need to find a Network Engineer, but the manager INSISTS on an actual BS in Comp Sci (no MIS/IS). I have never met such a creature. ?? 5:23 PM Oct 7th
Most people with Computer Science degrees become programmers/developers/etc, not Server/Router people. Thats how I see it - anyone disagree? 5:24 PM Oct 7th
I responded:
@davidrees I'm one. We exist. When I started in R&D labs, having only a BS made me undereducated. DM me re this position. 6:12 PM Oct 7th
@davidrees I'm mostly a Unix systems guy w/ management experience. What's the client willing to pay? 6:15 PM Oct 7th
David discovered that I wasn't in his files, so I sent him a résumé and told him how glad I was that he found my joke funny. By the next day he had told me that I had one of the best IT résumés he'd seen, but it might be a little while before I heard from them since this was the least important of three positions they were filling. Two hours later, he called me back to see if I could talk to the guy the next day.
[In an effort to shorten this story I've edited Chris' play by play of the aftermath. Long story short he was told that he had the job, but later had the rug pulled out on the offer based on the CFO's "assessment of the current economic conditions." Chris continued to explore other opportunities as this was transpiring.]
Lessons I can draw from the experience:
Pursue multiple channels when looking for a job and feel free to try things nobody else has done.
You can get away with discussing “controversial” issues like politics if you are never mean about it and remain in good humor. I never lost a Twitter follower as a result and even got an interview through someone who had opposing views. You gotta remain likable, however. I wouldn't try it if you aren't capable of being liked and respected by people who disagree with you.
Never stop prospecting until you have an offer in hand. The job I eventually got turned up during a time that I thought this one was going to come through.
Develop Your Own Online Networking/Social Media Strategy
The number of social/online networking tools is, to put it bluntly, overwhelming. From Business Blogs to Twitter, LinkedIn to Facebook, Plaxo to MySpace and everything in between the choices are astounding. Hopefully you're using at least one of these tools, even if it's only casually.
The trick is to develop your own strategy in how you utilize these tools so they don't take over your life. If done incorrectly the time you spend on e-mail and your social networking activities will consume ALL of your available time. That would be bad, unless that's your business.
So how do you develop this strategy? First an understand of what you're trying to accomplish would be very helpful. Personally I have three primary goals when utilizing these tools.
Maintain or deepen connections with people I've already met.
Build visibility for myself and the things I work on and am passionate about, and attract other like minded people to me through these efforts.
Find appropriate contacts and make connections through referrals/introductions.
Initiate new professional relationships that make sense.
Once you're clear about your goals you can start to think about how you'll use each tool.
I'll share with you 2 of my own examples:
I've already written about My LinkedIn Networking Philosophy I encourage you to read that. Very generally LinkedIn is a way for me to maintain contact with people I have a genuine connection with. That way if they change jobs or move I don't lose track of them because all of their other contact information changed. I have a way of being in the loop. It also helps me see relational connections. For example if I want to meet the CEO of a prospective company and they're on LinkedIn I can see our mutual connections and potentially ask those individuals to make an introduction for me.
Twitter is quickly becoming my new favorite tool. I avoided this one for a long time because from the outside it sounds just plain goofy and like it will be a colossal waste of time. Turns out it's the best relationship deepener I've ever seen. People I know well who I follow on Twitter I now know really, really well. Even more impactful are those that I kinda know, and have the ability to get to know at a much deeper level. It's a little hard to explain just how this works. I highly recommend you just quickly create an account, follow a few people and see what you think. You're welcome to start with my profile just to get an idea: www.twitter.com/scottingram
Over time I will go deeper into the use of each of these tools (stay tuned!). In the mean time your best bet is to just begin to play with a couple of these sites. Here's a little bit of generic guidance on the order in which you should explore these sites and why.
If you are a business professional this is my opinion of the order of importance of these tools:
LinkedIn - If you're a professional you MUST be on LinkedIn.
Facebook - It's less geared toward professionals, but it's much better at helping you reconnect with people in your long ago past. High School, College, etc.
Twitter/Business Blogs - In terms of priority these are tied. However, what they each bring to the picture is very different.
Plaxo/Myspace - For the professional I think these are fairly irrelevant. Plaxo doesn't really add any value beyond those listed above (it used to in the past when it was about keeping contact information up to date). As for MySpace it's maybe not my place to say this since I'm not even on it, but I don't see how it adds value for the professional. Please feel free to comment if you disagree.
All others - Beyond these core tools there are probably hundreds of others. The learning curve and critical mass is typically steep enough that unless there is something in a very specific niche that would be helpful to you it's probably not worth your time to explore these. Again, I'm open to suggestion and hope you'll comment if there are other tools that have been helpful to you.
I encourage you to look beyond this post. I've written at least a little bit about most of these tools, especially business blogging (as that's what you're reading now) and you can navigate these topics using the categories listed below.
Many people have been asking me how they can become the featured member in NetworkInAustin.com's Weekly Referral Newsletter (not yet a subscriber? Subscribe here).
The answer is really quite simple. The first step is that you must be a member of NetworkInAustin.com. That's easy enough: Click Here to Join! and right now it's only $4.99/mo or $49.99/yr.
The second step is not much more difficult. You must find a way to add value to the NIA community. That can be done in any number of ways using your own unique talents and skills. Of course you'll also need to let me know what you're up to so I can recognize you.
Right now I'm working hardest to grow the newsletter subscriber base (currently 2,000+), membership in our LinkedIn group, and of course new members.
This week's featured member, Thom Singer, is a perfect example of how to do this.
Here's what he did for me after my mentioning these needs to him less than two weeks ago. I also told him that I was looking to grow my number of followers on Twitter. At the time I had just 79 followers, now thanks primarily to Thom's efforts I have over 120.
thomsinger: hey..lets help @scottingram get over 100 followers. He is at 79. He is a local austin person who is cool and has intersting things to say
This is also a pretty good example of my asking specifically for what I needed in the meeting Thom and I were in. (see my previous post)
Obviously Thom showed some serious persistance and dedication to my cause even offering a free copy of his book to my 100th follower. His efforts didn't stop there either. He also wrote a very nice promotional piece for me on his widely read networking blog: NetworkInAustin on Thom's Some Assembly Required Blog
What assets do you have that you can leverage to help grow and improve the NetworkInAustin.com community? I'd love to make YOU the next featured member.
As I get closer to writing my series of blog posts about social networking for the business professional based on my own recent experiments I thought you might like to read a great post by my friend Liz Handlin. She wrote a post called Social Networking for Professionals where she gives 6 tips to keep you out of trouble.
The most important thing you need to realize about social networking is that it's public. Anyone, and I mean anyone can see what you've written now and in the future. You have to consider what you're posting ALWAYS.
For example I would love to Twitter about who I'm meeting with; prospects, clients, etc. This would be a huge help to those in my network who follow me who could benefit from an introduction to some of these folks for reasons I might not have even thought about. But two things stop me from sharing this much detail. #1 the privacy of those I'm meeting with. Without their permission I'm not sure that this is appropriate. #2 If my competition were smart they would follow me, and this information would incredibly useful.
That's just one example of a present tense situation. Where it gets really tricky is considering how something you post now might create a problem 5 years from now. You just never know. I don't say this to scare you away from the great online social networking opportunities for professionals right now: LinkedIN, Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo, etc. Just tread very carefully and make sure you consider each and every action.
In the last few weeks I've been engaged in my own online networking experiment (using social media, web 2.0 or whatever you want to call it). I've been a big fan of LinkedIN for a couple of years now, but until a few weeks ago hadn't made the leap to Twitter, Facebook, etc. You can expect to find a series of posts here about the results of my own experiments. I also feel pretty close to developing my own strategy for leveraging all of these tools as a professional which I'll share with you here as well.
I thought I'd start with a little bit about Twitter. My first impression of Twitter was that these quick little updates were an asinine waste of time. How could writing and following constant updates possibly be productive? I was amazed at how quickly I was turned around. I quickly realized that there's almost no better way to deepen some of your relationships. I have friends who I follow on Twitter who I see in person once or twice a week on average. I'm way more connected to them and what's going on in their lives now that I'm following them on Twitter. Again, I'll write more about this, but this benefit alone makes any and all of the effort worth it.
Even more recently I've found that you can find numerous ways to give referrals to and otherwise help those that you're following since you know what's going on with them. In a very recent example a friend and I started following each other on Twitter. I learned that he's intensively working on learning a new technology. Several days later I received an e-mail about a local conference on this very topic. I was able to forward that e-mail and within a day he was registered for the conference. How cool is that? Without Twitter I never would have known that this was even on his radar screen.
Do yourself a favor and setup an account today. You'll thank me for it.
