Building your professional networking

You have probably heard the phrase “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” which can be true for any role. In Chapter 11, Stories from Prominent Job Roles in Software Development, you learned that it’s a common misconception that software engineers are not social. However, some of the personal stories in that chapter mentioned how networking shaped their careers. Strong communication is an important skill in the profession and networking is a great start to building this skill, as well as making connections in the industry, in addition to many other benefits. As mentioned earlier, you don’t need to be extremely social to gain a role, but chance encounters through networking can have surprising outcomes.

Here are some benefits of networking:

• Being visible in professional circles of the industry enables you to be seen as a professional yourself. The more visible you are, the more you increase the...