My First Tech Meetup
What I Learned...
Yesterday I finally went out and made it to my very first tech meetup and it was a fantastic experience, shout out to Checkr for hosting and ReactJS SF/Real World React meetups for putting it together. I’m a junior dev looking to break into the industry so this was a pivotal moment for me in my journey moving forward, I only wish I had done it sooner. I’ve been coding for the better part of 7 years with 2+ years experience coding for a start up so I am by no means new to coding, but I’ve had little exposure to the tech industry overall. As it is with many firsts I was nervous, anxious, unsure, but also very excited! I was excited to get my first real world exposure to the industry I’ve been working so hard to break into. For my fellow devs out there who have yet to make it to their first meetup or are prepping for the next, I’d like to share a little of what I learned from the experience and hopefully hear some feedback from the more experienced and socially graceful devs out there.
Don’t focus too much on the who’s who. There’s going to be a lot of people there (hopefully) and a lot of them are going to be junior devs looking to break into the industry presumably just like you, there’s going to be senior and mid level devs and you can’t tell who’s who so focus on leaving a good first impression with everyone. I spent several minutes talking with a dev I assumed was a junior dev like myself, until they turned out to be leading the fireside chat that closed out the meetup. Though I don’t think I embarrassed my self I wish I would’ve spoken to them with more enthusiasm and interest which leads to my next point.
Don’t ignore the other junior devs. While it may be alluring to seek out the senior devs and do your elevator pitch, keep in mind that they’re aware of this and may not be receptive to it. Some advice that I was given to this end was that if the sponsors, speakers or organizers of the event you’re attending are going to extend any opportunities, they likely already have certain people in mind. Not to say that you shouldn’t shoot your shot of course, but if you’re a junior dev the other junior devs are going to be more readily available and willing to network with you. At the end of this meet up I was happy with the group of people I got to network with but when we all stood up to leave there was half a room of people I hadn’t made contact with and I wish I’d made more of an effort.
Don’t be shy about networking. Don’t forget that while you’re mingling, eating and drinking that you’re also there to network which means actually exchanging information. I met a lot of different and interesting people at this meetup but I only exchanged information with maybe half of them. A one on one conversation can quickly become a group conversation and just as quickly turn into you looking for the next person or group of people to join, so consider exchanging information early on or at least as people begin to exit the conversation.
When you get advice, put it to use right away. This meetup was a treasure trove of actionable advice.
“Be proactive in the work place, if you want to get noticed volunteer to take on the tasks nobody else wants.”
“If you want to write better code look for projects similar to yours, download the best one and go over the code until you get it.”
“Build publicly, ask questions publicly and answer questions publicly. Get as much content out there as you can for your self and others.”
While I plan to put all the advice I was given to good use, it’s the last bit that I’m putting to use now. When I asked the question, “what should a junior dev trying to break into the industry be doing” one of the event organizers really drove home the point that we should be putting our selves out there as much as possible, showing our growth. Now I have 2 blogs, I’m revamping my twitter page and plan on creating a video series.
I learned so much attending my first tech meetup, I got to network with a great bunch of people and perhaps most importantly, I now know what the next steps are in my journey to my dream job will be. If you’re planning to go to you first meetup like I just did or are planning your next I hope this blog post helps guide you on your way, and if you’re in the SF bay are I hope to see you at the next one. Follow me on hashnode, twitter and github.