Advice From The Washington Post’s CTO: It’s Not About The Formal Networking
Posted on August 18, 2010, by JD Kathuria, under Featured Interview.
Yuvi Kochar is the Chief Technology Officer for The Washington Post and president of The Washington Area CTO Roundtable, a 200-member organization.
Yuvi shares his insider advice about how to make networking work for YOU.
Do you have any advice for up-and-coming IT individuals?
It is important to identify what you like about someone and how that resonates with where you are headed in your career, and then trying to build a relationship around that mentorship. First ask; ‘who do I respect as an individual?’ and ‘who do I relate with the most in terms of how they approach their career and life?’ I do that with a fair number of people in our organization on a regular basis, just to brainstorm what are they working on and how they can advance their career in the direction they want.
“Formal networking isn’t everything. In my career I have never found employment through a job posting. All my jobs have been found through my network of people; I think it is extremely important to have and nurture a network.”
To learn more from Yuvi Kochar, check out his blog here
How has a mentor helped you?
I started working at a large firm in New York as an insurer, and I was working for an outsourcing company, managing an outsourcing deal both from delivery and sales prospective; my company recognized that I was being asked to move up into a role that was a stretch from where I was. So they proactively assigned someone as a mentor for me. I would meet with him every evening to figure out what approach was best to resolve issues. So I had a very crucial experience of working with someone who was specifically assigned to be my mentor to move me to the next level.
How much do you attribute your success to luck and how much to networking?
Formal networking isn’t everything. In my career I have never found employment through a job posting. All my jobs have been found through my network of people; I think it is extremely important to have and nurture a network. When I arrived to D.C. about 7 years ago, I realized it was important to build a network, get to know people in the area. If I am looking to recruit someone for a project, it is so much easier to find someone through the network than to start looking when the opening comes up. So since moving to D.C. I have proactively joined common interest groups. I generally don’t like large networking events because it is hard to find people who you can have a relevant discussion with.
Bottom line, what is the key to creating a good personal brand?
I have come to realize that networking is networking, it very easy to forget, but it is something someone should be doing on an ongoing basis to remain connected and to also be aware of the resources one can have access to through the network, through work or personal life.
