The phrase ‘Your Network is your Net Worth’ has never been truer than it is in this context. The tech scene in Nigeria is still a growing industry, that it is- it hasn't reached maturity yet. Now, depending on the perspective you view the Nigerian tech ecosystem from, this fact could be a good thing or a bad thing. A good thing in the sense that it isn't saturated with too many talents yet, as most matured industries are experiencing presently. From the perspective of the industry still experiencing growth pains, it could be a bad thing for startups and even talents as the Nigerian tech scene does not yet have infrastructure necessary to support its growth.
Granted a lot of mitigating factors exist from both angles. However, these also form the reasons why as a tech professional, you should be focused on growing your network. The nature of the industry means it is still quite closed and as such networking is still relatively easy.
A good way to expand your network is to join tech communities. For most organizations, hiring tech talents can sometimes be an expensive, tedious and time-consuming activity. To this end, most job hiring is done through referrals and within communities. These communities, typically hosted on social media channels like Slack, Twitter, LinkedIn, regularly post job opportunities aligned with their specific career track.
A better way to expand your network as a techie is to attend tech conferences. In-person tech conferences give you an opportunity to physically network with peers and experts in your field. This is a really good way to land a job or a volunteering opportunity. Because of how relatively informal the industry is, an interaction or a presentation can lead to a conversation with a founder which in turn can lead to a prospective job. Even if none of these interactions immediately yield the result that you anticipated, at least your professional circle is now significantly wider giving room for growth.
In conclusion, I hope I have convinced you and not confused you that attending tech conferences is beneficial to your career growth, both short-term and long-term. Regardless of whether or not you live in the host city in which the conference is held, planning logistics ahead of time will accord you the opportunity to attend.
Investing in your network is a worthy investment.
____________________________________________________________________________
Here’s a list of tech conferences happening in Lagos this month:
- Ingressive for good is hosting a Hackfest- a FREE in-person tech event, on the 12th of November. Plan to attend!
- Entrylevel is hosting a FREE tech event in Lagos, Nigeria on the 17th of November. RSVP here.
- CareerBuddy is hosting a networking event called Workitout on the 12th of November. Get your ticket here