My CTO sent me a LinkedIn connection request! Here’s how that happened!

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the request last night. The CTO of my company sent ME a request? Wait what? A few weeks ago, I couldn’t even imagine speaking to the CTO! Okay, let me rewind three weeks ago.

My company has enrolled in something similar to Random Coffee, where two random employees get to talk to each other. The algorithm is totally randomized to pick any two employees. So my initial few matches were people from the engineering team. I wasn’t too surprised, because most of the people enrolled were Engineers. But what was surprising was that my CTO was enrolled in the program too. I was getting wary of meeting new people. My imposter syndrome was kicking in and I felt like meeting new people was no longer my thing even though I’m generally good at it. I was about to leave the program but then it completely slipped my mind and so, three weeks ago, I got matched with my CTO.

The horror! I was freaking out! I was on PTO that day so I waited until the next day to reach out, but my CTO was quicker. He scheduled a meeting with me that Thursday. Now, that’s a sign of a very humble person. To be honest, when he showed interest in meeting, I felt a little more comfortable. It was no longer, I was meeting a CTO, but rather, another employee who was interested in getting to know me!

Let’s just say that it got postponed to two weeks later, due to impromptu meetings and schedule conflicts. That actually gave me a lot of time to prepare for this meeting. I didn’t know where to start, so I shared with an ex-colleague that I was gonna meet the CTO, and he shared valuable information. Here’s some of the things he said:

1. These kind of opportunities are rare, so be sure to make use of this opportunity and make an impression.
2. The CTO is big on leadership principles, so pick any of the company values, and delve deeper into that.

Now this is something that I could have gotten only from someone who worked closely with the CTO. I was feeling lucky I had access to this information, but I was still worried about what I would talk to him about.

So, because I did not know much about my CTO, I did a google search and found various PR articles. I found podcasts, blogs, and interviews. I listened to a few of them. This gave me a very good idea of what my CTO really did, and by having access to this information, I was able to curate a set of questions and observations that I could then share during my quick 20 minute meeting.

The actual meeting went very well. I started off with a genuine positive comment about the team and the engineering culture, and then dived into something that was happening in common. My CTO had a few questions up his sleeve for me as well. Finally, I ended the meeting with a big bang. I asked him a burning question in my mind, that also resonated with the company values, and BAM, I made a great impression. I think? Otherwise he might not have sent me a connection request right?

Anyway, the reason this incident made it to my growth blog is because I was very scared. I was so scared to talk to my CTO. But with some guidance, I was able to make a lasting impression. It is up to me though, to keep up on some of the things discussed, so that he knows I’m not just fluff!

Here are my takeways:

1. If you get an opportunity to speak to someone with a lot of power, it’s good to make use of it. But you need to do some prep, otherwise you’re wasting everyone’s time.
2. Find someone who knows that person of power, and get some insight into the kind of person they are.
3. Google search them and find out what drives them, and what’s their area of interest.
4. Come prepared with a set of topics to discuss about. It should show that you did your research, and you also are on the same page as them
5. Most important of all, give off a good vibe, or match their own vibe.

The problem is, all the above points are easier said than done. What if you don’t have someone close to the person you’re meeting? What if that someone likes to stay off of social media? Well, you might think you’re out of luck, but there will be some way you can get what you need. Be focused, be goal oriented, and the rest will fall into place! Hope this article gives you a thread of hope or something insightful for you to take back!

Thanks for reading! I would be really interested in knowing what strategies you use to network, in the comments!

Are you a new Dev hire? Here are some ways to get acclimatized to your new workplace.

I was responsible for helping a few of my new colleagues to get on-boarded into our team. Having worked in the same company for about five years, there are certain assumptions I made by default while doing knowledge transfers, that I was asked multiple follow up questions after each session.

Be ready to unlearn a lot of things.

Your old company would have followed a certain set of rules for everything. Don’t assume anything. You’ll only end up wasting time if you operate on assumptions. So definitely ask questions and make no room for preexisting assumptions.

Proactively start working towards getting access to everything you need.

Some things you may need to request access for:

• Chat groups
• Code repositories
  • bitbucket
  • github
  • gitlab
• QA environments
  • Jenkins
  • Rancher
  • Jumpboxes (ssh)
• Jira/Confluence
• Phone/Video call access
• Meeting tools like Webex or Zooms.

Set up your development environment as soon as possible.

Your very first few tasks will usually be small tasks that get you started with looking into the code and contributing in the least impacting part of the code. Having a development environment will enable you to test and experiment with different workflows and you’ll be able to contribute more quicker if you already know how everything works.

Learn Acronyms.

I don’t know about other companies but my company has a very strong acronym culture, so it’s super important that you get up to speed on all most of the common acronyms that are being used in various meetings.

Get Different levels of Knowledge transfers

Sometimes the org you work for is way too big, so you obviously can’t get knowledge transfers that covers everything top to bottom. It is important, however, for you to get the minimum level of knowledge required to start implementing your work.

• Company level KT
  • What your organization does. For example, a high level understanding of the product you are working for, like a website.
  • Engineering stack and company wide teams. Do you have a separate Data team? Do you have a CS team? Are developers their own QA. etc
• Team level kT
  • Work timings and Code review culture
  • This can cover regular workflows like learning how to request time off, days you get PTO, and what your team generally follows
  • Coding conventions your team follows
• Cross Team level KT
  • What do other teams do?
  • Who is responsible for what
  • What is the procedure to communicate
  • Get names you can reach out to, for quick networking. You could reach out to team members well in advance even if you don’t need to work with them. This will help you get visibility later on.

What are some best practices you have implemented as a new hire at your company?

PS: I wrote this last year when I was still at my old company. As I revisited this draft today, I realized that my new company incorporates ALL of this as a part of my on-boarding process. There are weekly all hands and it’s crazy how streamlined they are and the past two weeks have been an absolute blast!

Want something? Work “smard” to earn it.

* Check-in Post *

Smart work + hard work = “SMARD” work.

They say, if you want something, you need to work hard for it. And if you don’t work hard enough, then you don’t want it bad enough.

Due to reasons beyond anyone’s control, I can’t be officially recognized or appreciated. That isn’t the only problem though. Promotion cycles have become tricky for me due to this situation. For the past two years, I’ve been working hard, and giving it my all, the best I could. I’ve garnered a few good friends who could vouch for my work ethic. But the effort is all moot until I can actually see some results out there.

Today, however, I’ve been pushed beyond the threshold of tolerance. It’s a moment I want to capture in my growth journal because I’m done not working smard for a goal I’ve been trying to achieve since forever.

It’s been 8 months since I started my job prep and slow job search, and it’s getting me frustrated as I’m in an uncomfortable situation at work, and I’m also trying to switch jobs and I have been getting constantly rejected. It’s that moment of helplessness where I feel stranded between a situation that nobody can do anything about even though they want to and not being able to clear interviews despite trying .

So today, even though it’s 12 AM, I’m studying. If I can put in late hours to get some office work done, I can do that for my job search.

I can totally do this!

Wish me luck!

Is your manager on paper not the manager you actually work for? Don’t make the same mistakes I did!

Two years ago, I joined a company full time from a contract position and ended up having two managers. One manager I report to, and the other manager I’m officially under, as a part of a different organization. It was only when I asked a few of my friends on how I can make the best use of this situation, did I realize I was doing way too many things wrong.

For the sake of this article, I’ll be referring to the manager on paper as “Paper manager” and the one I report to, as “Reporting Manager”.

Here were the problems I’d originally faced.

1. Tricky promotion cycles. My reporting manager wanted to promote me, but it’s finally up to my paper manager to make the decision to promote me.
2. I couldn’t get officially recognized by anyone on my team because I was employed in a completely different organization. This might not be applicable to you if you are in the same organization as your reporting manager.
3. Ineffective performance reviews. While I did have 1:1s with my reporting manager, the performance review format was totally different from what I would need to use and hence certain elements could not be used. Meanwhile, my paper manager had no clue what I worked on until my reporting manager shared their feedback at the end of the performance cycle.

Those three problems were so glaringly large but I kept thinking it would get better. How? I thought I would be magically moved to the same org as the rest of the team. Turns out, things like that are not easy because it depends on a lot of factors.

Listed below are some of the major rookie mistakes I made, giving the current scenario.

1. 1:1s. I didn’t prioritize my 1:1s and make sure I had them on a regular basis with my reporting manager AND paper manager.
2. I didn’t give myself the highest evaluation during a performance review. When it came down to whether they should give me a promotion or not, that played a huge role. If you’re aiming for promotion, do not give them any reason not to give you one.
3. I did not work towards building a good relationship with my manager on paper. I wish I had. Just out of human courtesy, if not for any other benefit.
4. I kept hoping for some change. When you are a part of an organization that thrives on rules, you can rest assured that you can’t do anything about it. I was in denial, thinking that since I was a valuable asset, they would take care of me.

Given that I had to learn all of this the hard way, I’m listing out these take-aways that I hope you’ll be able to implement, to prevent yourself from facing this scenario.

1. Make a regular record of all your achievements in a journal somewhere. This will come in extremely handy during promotion cycles. You’ll have valid points to back why you deserve one, and most of the time, your manager will request that list from you.
2. Talk to BOTH your managers on a regular basis. This is SO important because it’s your paper manager that’s finally going to promote you. If you don’t build a relationship with them, how will they vouch for you when the time needs to come?
3. Constantly follow up with your reporting manager on what your goals are and what you want to accomplish. Relay the same to your paper manager, and see that they know you’re making an effort to get what you want. You need to be seen as someone with a clear vision.

In the end, the goal is to make sure you get what you want, while giving others what they want. Being in this situation doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing if you put in the effort. The only annoying part here is that you definitely have to put in more effort in this situation than if you were to report directly to your reporting manager.

But life doesn’t always go the way you want it, so when life gives you lemons, try to make the best use of it. You’ll be thankful a few years later.

I didn’t wait to be nominated by people. I reached out myself to get what I deserved.

* Check-in Post *

I did something that was way out of my comfort zone but I did it anyway because I wanted it so bad.

Having been in a contract like situation where getting recognition or promotion was hard, I really wanted this particular all year award. It appeared that the award was open to the whole company.

There was a catch though. This wasn’t an award nominated by managers. It was chosen by all the employees themselves. I’m in general a very likeable person, and popularity contests seemed like my kinda thing. So I figured I would go chase after it.

Let’s face it. If you are at the very beginning of your career and not making too many big moves, it’s pretty obvious you’ll be forgotten. I knew that so well. I’ve been appreciated once in a while by a few people for all the hard work I put in, but when it comes to actually nominating people, I wasn’t going to be on the top of their mind.

But I really wanted it so bad!

So here’s what I did.

I created a customized message telling people that if they haven’t nominated yet, I would be really appreciative if they could vote for me in this particular category because I did so and so and have been instrumental in so and so etc. And then I sent the link.

It’s definitely something weird. I mean, some would think this is begging for an award, and others would be in awe of doing something like that.

To me? I really wanted that award, and so I did it. There was some surge of confidence that emerged out of me when I thought to myself how deserving I was of that particular award. When you’re so confident and you know you did all the right things to get the award, there’s nothing that can dampen your actions to yourself.

For those of you who are looking to put yourself on the map, I say only this:

Carry yourself with pride and confidence and truly desire because you feel you deserve it. That in itself will speak volumes more than any word you utter.

As a people pleaser, I’ve constantly tried to keep others happy. Now, the tables have turned, and I’m only looking to please myself and keep myself happy. In the right way, of course.

Update: 5/5

My friend told me she got inspired by me and reached out to her SVP to get nominated for a leadership award! It totally made my day! So, that’s it, folks! There’s no harm in trying! What’s the worst that can happen, anyway, right?