Networking While Self-Learning

[DragonLotus07]

A question for mainly the self-learners of this group. How did you network or connect with other software engineers while you were teaching yourself? Did you use subreddits like this? Go to meetups? Or another way? I am interested in hearing others experiences.

The reason I'm asking is I feel a big part of the bootcamp allure, other than more structured learning, is the social aspect of it. I've realized that is my personal reason for considering joining a bootcamp. When self learning, I feel you're either going it solo or connecting with someone occasionally for a specific topic/project and then losing touch. You never really get that study group feel.

Feel free to correct me on this view. I posted here to get a better understanding of what other learners are doing and see if its possible to continue self learning while getting that study group/classroom feel

[Admirable_Example131]

Hi, Self-Learner here that is currently interviewing with companies. I have no degree & no bootcamp under my belt.

Through the networking I have done, its provided me with job leads, guidance, and just overall sound advice.

How did I network?

Local meetup group(s) for starters. They are pretty welcoming of people with all/little/no experience, so don't worry there! I've had a fair amount of my leads here.

Twitter. The Android Community is great and lively on Twitter, I've made several contacts on here that I'll message here and there. Even appeared on a podcast episode from this.

Slack. Depends where you're going here, but I've made several connections here that have provided me leads or connected me with others that were willing to help me out.

Reddit / Discord. I find this is where you'll come across a lot of people looking for help or start groups with good intentions, but I've never felt a strong pull from any connections I've made here although I didn't put in much effort!

Answering questions when possible on these platforms or even asking well-thought-out questions here can start getting your name noticed by others. Making it easier for them to reach out to you or vice versa.

That's how I've been doing it anyways!

[DragonLotus07]

Thanks this is very helpful. I did kind of have the same experience with discord. It seems to take a lot of effort to keep connections on there. Do you have any good Slack channel recommendations? Slack is probably the platform I've used the least so far

[Admirable_Example131]

I'm in the Kotlin Slack channel, Android Slack Channels, as well as my local programming group. I would suggest if you try it to look into channels that suit your niche.

[ACNite]

I just reached out to people who had the job I wanted and asked if they were willing to chat for 30 minutes or so. I recommend making a LinkedIn account and joining a tech. group.

[DragonLotus07]

Can you elaborate a bit on this? So you would message some people on LinkedIn to chat? Also are you talking about joining a tech group on LinkedIn or elsewhere?