I Don’t Network. I Write.

A Good Essay Outlasts A Thousand Handshakes.

Photo by Steven Houston on Unsplash

I don’t network. I write.

I’ve always been suspicious of the industry dogma that tells us success in tech is mostly about who you know. The idea is repeated so often it starts to feel more like moral instruction. Go to the dinners. Get in the right Slack channels. Find the insider who can whisper you through the door.

I’ve tried a few of these rituals, and I always leave feeling like I’ve delivered a scenery-chewing disaster in an off-off-off-off-off Broadway play I wouldn’t force on my worst enemies.

Everyone delivers their lines about disruption and collaboration, and everyone applauds each other’s performance.

But a performance is all it is.

I never built much through those rooms. The “right” rooms. What changed my life was the slower, and — to me — more honest act of writing. When I write, I’m forced to wrestle with my own thinking. I can’t hide behind buzzwords or charm. I have to put the words down, line after line, until I’ve said something that holds up on its own. That discipline created more opportunities than any networking dinner ever has.

An essay, after all, can outlast a thousand handshakes.