Will Johnson used to work for call centers and factories, but he managed to make the daunting career change into tech. This especially isn't easy when you're clocking in 12 hour days. To make time to grow Will was waking up early, staying up late, and doing stuff on weekends.

"It was very, very time consuming, but it was one of those things where like I knew if I got that one chance that all of this would be worth it."

In addition to building up technical skills, networking is absolutely critical for landing a roll.

"I knew that I had to network and meet people in the industry to advocate for me, because I knew that my resume wasn't going to have anyone beating out the door saying, 'Let's hire him.' Right? But as far as the process of building relationships was completely organic. There's not any strategy or networking books I've read. I just knew that taking people's advice, sharing things with them that they might find interesting, and following up with them was a good way to nurture a relationship with someone."

"Growth hacking" style networking is disingenuous and suboptimal. It's about building genuine trust and relationships with people. When you have real trust, there won't be fear when they take the risk of referring or hiring you. To build those relationships just help people out without an expectation of something in return. Chances are you might be the person they think of when they need a podcast guest, a role needs filling at their work, etc.

Homework

  • Find somebody who has a need, and try to fill that need, whether it's on Discord or Twitter or wherever, without any expectation of reciprocation.

Resources

Guest: Will Johnson

Host: Kent C. Dodds