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Great post, worst thing about networking is learning howto approach first. I read somewhere best way to train is to talk to people in a lift. If it all goes pear-shaped at least you have have a few seconds
Once I set myself a challenge of asking "How are you feeling today?" to at least one strange person on the tube a day. Good for getting out of your comfort zone as a networker :)
One more tip: You are networking with the people in the room, not with the ones on your mobile phone.
The Paulina article links to a blog post by Jacques. here's the HN discussion of that post:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2245063

So which one of them would you say threw more balls in the air (and caught them afterwards)? (:
I'm actually reading your book right now (took a break to check HN). It's very good, quite impressive really. I've been around a while and I'm learning quite a bit from it. Nice work!

[EDIT: oops, as RiderOfGiraffes points out, I have mistaken his identity]

That's cool.

No, wait, my book? I haven't written a book.

Have I?

So sorry- I confused your handle. This site is such a PITA with my iphone that I didn't trouble to double-check (and the app I bought for it is crashing every time I try to post). After reading your comment I went to a computer and verified that I had, indeed, fucked up.

But, anyway, since I brought it up, the book I'm checking out is here: http://exilelifestyle.com/learn-network-better/ It contains a similar point-of-view as the article here, but, of course, has a lot more depth. Networking is something I'm very bad at, and so I'm interested in learning more about it. I don't want to make a career out of it. I just want to be able to do it well in the appropriate situations. I'm pretty much a social clod left to my natural state.

(comment deleted)
Agree with Edit- but I dislike deletes. I'll let my public embarrassment motivate me to be more careful next time.
Then for the record, the deleted grandpart comment to this one was from me accepting the apology and saying "No harm - no foul." I think that edits and deletions over a short time frame can reduce future confusion and leave a better record, without re-writing history, but I recognise that others have opinions that differ.

Hence this comment, which has made a too long thread even longer.

This makes sense on one level, but it's confusing on another. As a recent transplant to the bay area and an engineer at a big company, I don't feel like I have many "leads" to offer people. But in order to meet people, I need to network. How does one begin the process?