I Just Graduated. How Do I Make Connections in Tech?

There’s an underlying promise to a college education. It goes like this: with a degree, you’re going to land that good job you’ve been dreaming of.

But as you’re packing up your dorm room without a job lined up, or as you’re entering your sixth month of applying without hearing back, you might find yourself questioning how realistic that promise was.

See, the degree is indeed a valuable asset, but if you’re going for one of those sweet positions in tech, you’re going to need some way of standing out. Working your network can be the thing that gets eyes on your application. But there’s a problem — you don’t quite have that network yet.

Good news: that’s solvable. Here are the ways you can make the connections that will help you make it in tech.

How to build relationships with tech experts

1. Use every last service offered by your college

Typically, a college will offer dedicated career services — often through an office entirely focused on getting grads set up for professional success. The people working there can help with everything from resume writing to connecting grads to internship opportunities. In addition, they will usually have the contact details of alums who have expressed their eagerness to help fresh grads launch their careers. These people can be crucial first insiders to reach out to.

But beyond that, organizations often come to colleges for job fairs. If you’re still local to your college, you should absolutely feel free to attend on campus. However, these events can also occur in hubs across the country and even online. These sessions are usually open to students, recent grads, and alums alike, and they are great opportunities to meet people already in the industry.

We could go on, so here are our practical recommendations:

2. Get active online

Likely, this has already crossed your mind, but there are better and worse ways to go about this. We go into much more depth about how you can power up your job search online in this post_{5 Social Media Strategies to Power Up Your Job Search}, but we’ll give you a bit of advice, straight from Olivia Bell, TripleTen’s social media manager: “Authenticity is so key, especially when it comes to marketing yourself. Any time you're being authentic to yourself and to your audience, people are going to connect with you.”

So be yourself and make sure you post regularly. We’ve seen this networking strategy work out for one of our grads, Sheldon Kinsler_{From Sales to Tech: How Sheldon Kinsler Found a New Career and Community}. Reflecting on what led to success for him, he said, “The biggest thing is networking, and just telling everybody what you're doing. So I would post every single accomplishment that I did all over Facebook, and all over LinkedIn. And then, everywhere I'd go, I'd tell my friends exactly what I'm doing.”

But for more nitty-gritty, here are some on-the-ground ways to fuel good online networking:

3. Become a regular at the events and spaces where tech happens

We know it’s an obvious recommendation — but there’s nuance here. First, yes, attend every event you have energy for. Think of it this way: the more people you meet, the more times you get to roll the dice that one of them will be the connection that launches your career. Tons of people go to these events, meaning there are tons more chances to roll those dice. And that’s what you’re looking for.

However, if you want to be truly effective and you’re looking for a role at a startup, go to events for companies that are in series B or C stages of funding. This is when the project is typically solid and businesses are looking for talent to help them grow.

But connections can be found elsewhere, too. For example, many techies don’t go to an office and instead prefer coworking spaces. Here’s a secret: you can go to these places as well. You don’t have to be programming the next world-changing app to sit down and start seeing to your tasks. You may need to pay a fee or become a member, but this can be worth it, as you may also find yourself having casual interactions with people who can be powerful connections as you pursue a career in tech.

So, getting practical once again:

Your network matters…

It’d be dishonest and misleading of us to say that gaining connections isn’t important during a job search process. These relationships will absolutely help you launch a career, and we’ve seen their importance many times over.

For example, Jenny Doctor_{From Making Music to Making Commits: Jenny Doctor’s TripleTen Story} came to TripleTen after finding herself burning out in her job teaching music to kids. She knew she had to make a change, so she gained new skills with us, honed them in two externships, and, thanks to a connection at Booz Allen Hamilton, landed an interview. Initially, she was told there were no open positions, but soon enough, one opened up. She landed the job after her second interview.

Likewise, Sheldon Kinsler_{From Sales to Tech: How Sheldon Kinsler Found a New Career and Community}, who we’ve already mentioned, landed an interview thanks to his extensive online networking efforts. After finding himself dissatisfied with the compensation and culture of his sales job, he got curious about a career in tech. He joined TripleTen, mastered Business Intelligence Analytics, and got active on LinkedIn. And just days after he exchanged casual messages with the head of a business intelligence department, the leader reached out again.

“Two days after that, he said, ‘Okay, you're not going to believe this, but the guy under me just resigned. And we're looking to fill this position. Would you be interested in coming in for an interview?’” recalls Sheldon.

…but you need the skills, too

Crucially, both Jenny and Sheldon had the bona fides that made sure they could make the most of these opportunities when they opened up. Jenny cites her portfolio as being key in her recruitment process.

I had this great portfolio in place. I built myself a personal website portfolio. So I had a display of the projects that I worked on in the curriculum at TripleTen, but also the externship projects. Jenny Doctor, TripleTen grad

After all, she’d already helped build the site for a company tackling the problem of unrecyclable plastic, and she’d also built the front end_{All about Front End: What is It, How It Works, and Why It Worth Your Time} for a cryptocurrency wallet.

And Sheldon believes that the soft skills he gained at the bootcamp ended up being vital.

The non-technical parts of the job, I'd say those are some of the best things that I learned. They helped me land a job. Sheldon Kisler, TripleTen grad

See, just having connections might not be enough. They can get eyes on your resume, absolutely, but without something concrete attesting to your know-how, you might not make it to the next round. 

And according to our Employer Survey, which surveyed over 1,000 decision makers in tech, the qualification that made applicants most stand out to team leads was a strong portfolio.

Team leads are often the tech professionals making the hiring decision, so while you should absolutely gain the network that will get your application noticed, you should also gain the skills and proof of know-how that make you the most attractive candidate. That’s where a bootcamp comes in.

See if a bootcamp is right for you 

Here’s the thing: by joining a bootcamp, you’ll absolutely gain the hard and soft skills that decision makers are looking for. You’ll get the portfolio attesting to this know-how, too. But you’ll also make connections with fellow future tech professionals across the country. In addition, you’ll get targeted advice from a career coach who can help guide your job search process — even down to helping you determine the most effective networking strategy for you.

So if you’re looking to launch a career in tech, a bootcamp might be just the thing for you. See if this is the case by taking our bootcamp quiz today.