I first came across the concept of networking ages ago, during the 1970s, probably late in my college studies. Of course, it wasn't a person who told me about networking, but a book: What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles.
The book made sense. In a nutshell, Bolles' advice was to network instead of apply for jobs. By his way of thinking, if we have something we want to accomplish in life, it makes sense to pursue that rather than to pursue the goals of others by answering ads.
My problem was that I wasn't clear about what I wanted to get out of life, at least in terms of a career. So for nearly all my life, I ignored Bolles' sound advice. One result was that despite extraordinary intelligence — I was one of those people who would consistently get 98th to 99th percentile in mathematical and verbal aptitude on standardized tests — the best I was able to do after more than 30 years in my career was to end up about two or three years beyond entry level. I was able to get new jobs when I needed them, but even though I dragged my family across the U.S. West, I was able only to make moves that were mostly lateral, never up in the direction I had hoped for. It was only because I lucked into some successful freelance work on the side that I was able to remain solvent.
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