Chaos and Order

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Intro — "I'm an introverted developer. Do I really have to network?"

Introverted Senior developer:

"I'm more comfortable alone. Meetups drain me. But everyone keeps saying 'you have to network to build a career.'"

Answer: Yes, you should — and introverts absolutely can. Just not the extroverted way. Do it the introvert's way.

Mark Granovetter's 1973 paper The Strength of Weak Ties:

80% of job changes happen through weak ties
Strong ties (close friends) share the same information
Weak ties (acquaintances) bring new information and opportunities

In other words: 100 shallow relationships beat 10 deep ones for career purposes.

This post covers:

The science of networking — Granovetter, Dunbar
Strategies for introverted developers — 1:1, asynchronous
LinkedIn/Twitter/GitHub optimization
Conferences — from attending to speaking
Building a global English-language network
Leveraging Korean communities
Personal branding ethics

Season 3 Episode 12. If last episode was about "learning," this one is about "connecting that learning with people to turn it into opportunity."

Chapter 1: The Science of Networking

1.1 Granovetter's Weak Ties

Strong Ties:

Close friends, family
Frequent contact, high emotional investment
Same circle, same information

Weak Ties:

Acquaintances, coworkers of coworkers, ex-colleagues
Occasional contact, low investment
Different circles → new information

Research findings: Among people who switched jobs:

16% through strong ties
56% through weak ties
28% via job ads/systems

The key insight: "Someone's sibling's friend" is who brings you the opportunity.

1.2 Dunbar's Number

Robin Dunbar (primatologist):

5 people: innermost (family, partner)
15: close friends
50: regular contact
150: upper limit of meaningful relationships
500: faces + context remembered
1,500: just names remembered

5,000 LinkedIn connections? Unrealistic. Real meaningful relationships cap out under 500.

1.3 Reciprocity

Robert Cialdini:

"Humans have a strong instinct to repay what they've received."

Give first:

Share useful articles
Make introductions
Give feedback
Write recommendations

→ Receive later.

1.4 Serendipity

Naval Ravikant, founder of AngelList:

"Luck isn't something you can calculate — it's a surface area you can expand."

Networking equals expanding your serendipity surface area. Meet more people, write more, share more — and the probability of opportunity rises.

Chapter 2: Strategies for the Introverted Developer

2.1 "Introverted does not mean unsociable"

Introvert: recharges alone
Extrovert: recharges around people

Introverts can network excellently. The method just differs.

2.2 Introvert-friendly approaches

1) 1:1 conversations:

Coffee chats (30–60 min)
Allows deep conversation
More effective than large parties

2) Asynchronous:

Blog, Twitter, LinkedIn writing
Read and reply on your own time
You control the pace

3) Small groups:

Book study of 4–6 people
Regular meetings
Same faces, repeated

4) Topic-centered:

Not "what do you do?" but "fellow Rust learners"
Depth through shared interest

2.3 Extroverted tactics to skip

Forcing yourself into big parties
Cold approach to total strangers
Packing your calendar with back-to-back meetings

Energy management: build in recovery time after any social event.

2.4 Introvert role models

Dan Luu: global influence through writing alone
Simon Willison: blog + Twitter, rarely speaks in person
Julia Evans: comics and zines, mostly solo work

2.5 One person at a time

Weekly goal: one meaningful conversation per week.

1 year = 50 people. 10 years = 500. That's Dunbar's ceiling.

Chapter 3: LinkedIn Profile Optimization

3.1 Why LinkedIn?

The platform recruiters look at most
Global standard
Indirect signals (history, recommendations)

3.2 Profile elements

1) Photo:

Professional, smiling
Avoid garish backgrounds
Face fills ~60% of the frame

2) Headline:

Current role + specialty
Example: "Staff Software Engineer at Kakao · Distributed Systems · OSS maintainer of X"
Bad: "Passionate dev" (vague)

3) Banner:

Image related to your specialty
Canva works well

4) About (Summary):

The first 2–3 lines matter most (before the fold)
Story format: background + present + future
Include search keywords

5) Experience:

3–5 bullets per role
Impact numbers ("Reduced p99 from 800ms to 150ms, saving $2M annually")
STAR format

6) Skills:

Pick your top 3 strategically
Get teammates to endorse

7) Recommendations:

Past/current managers, peers
Aim for 3+

3.3 Posting strategy

Content types:

Share your own blog posts
Industry news + your take
Career lessons
OSS project updates

Frequency: 1–2 times a week. Too often = spam.

Timing: Tuesday–Thursday mornings (LinkedIn algorithm).

3.4 Connection strategy

Cold connects (first-time contacts):

Always write a custom message
Say why you want to connect
Keep it short (under 100 characters)

Example:

"Hi — your post 'A Rust Sharding Story' struck a chord with me. I'm also into Rust and distributed systems, so I'd love to connect."

3.5 LinkedIn anti-patterns

Copy-paste "Hi, I'd like to connect on LinkedIn"
Pitching you as soon as they accept
Posting 5x per day
Inflated titles ("CEO at Personal Brand LLC")

Chapter 4: Twitter/X Strategy

4.1 Why Twitter?

The developer conference hall
Real-time industry pulse
Direct conversation with famous developers
Writing practice (280-char constraint)

4.2 Profile setup

Bio: role + 3 interests + handle for company/project
Pinned tweet: your signature content
Header image: visual expression of your brand

4.3 Follow strategy

Follow first:

50 leaders in your domain of interest
30 developers from your country
20 engineers at target companies

Twitter Lists:

By topic: "Distributed Systems," "AI," "Rust"
Keeps your timeline organized

4.4 Tweet content

Tweet types:

TIL (Today I Learned): "Learned X today. Interesting because Y."
Thread: 10–20 tweet chain on a single topic
Quote tweet + your opinion
Summary of your blog post + link
Questions: easy way to get answers

4.5 Boosting engagement

Reply actively (more on others' posts than your own)
Write threads (higher impressions)
Visuals (images + diagrams)
Consistent posting hours

4.6 Cautions

Skip political/religious arguments
Avoid aggressive flame wars
Be careful with Delete/Edit
Never leak company secrets

4.7 Korean vs English

English: global influence Korean: Korean community

Strategy:

English-first with occasional Korean
Or go full Korean to target the local community

4.8 Success stories

Simon Willison: Django co-creator, daily Python/AI tweets
Dan Abramov: React core, known for educational threads
Kelsey Hightower: Kubernetes teaching
Korea: Jeonghoon Byun (outsider), Hyangro, etc.

Chapter 5: GitHub Profile

5.1 Profile README

Create a repo with the same name as your GitHub username and it shows up on your profile.

Good structure:

2–3 line intro
Recent projects
Tech interests (badges)
Contact info

5.2 Pinned Repositories

Pin up to 6 at the top
Your signature work
Well-maintained READMEs

5.3 Contribution Graph (Grass)

Daily commit habit (encouraged)
Forced "commit every day" looks unnatural
Private repos count too

Screenshots in the README
Demo links
Badges (CI, test coverage, license)
Keep the star count healthy

5.5 GitHub Sponsors

Sponsor button on your profile
Appeals to supporters even for small contributions
Useful once you have an OSS footprint

5.6 GitHub Discussions participation

Ask/answer in OSS project Discussions
Maintainers notice you
Natural on-ramp to contribution

Chapter 6: Attending Conferences

6.1 Why attend

Concentrated networking (100 people in one day)
Latest trends
Fundamentally, "new perspectives"
Recharge

6.2 Prep before you go

1) Make lists:

5 people you want to meet (DM them on Twitter beforehand)
Sessions you want to attend (grid them out)
3 questions you're curious about

2) Business cards / links:

Paper business cards still work
Digital cards (LinkedIn QR) are convenient
Pocket-sized prints

3) Practice your intro:

30-second pitch: "I work on Y at X, and lately I'm interested in Z"

6.3 Day-of strategy

Morning:

Keynotes and big sessions
Chat on the way

Lunch and snack breaks:

This is the real networking window
Position yourself near people you want to meet
Open with "What did you think of that session?"

Afternoon:

Focus on your priority sessions
Approach the speaker with a question or hello afterward

Evening:

Sponsor parties, group dinners
Small dinners are more effective

6.4 Post-session actions

LinkedIn within 72 hours:

Note "Met you at Conference X"
Briefly reference what you talked about

Follow up within 2 weeks:

Share an article on their interest
Propose a coffee chat

6.5 Major Korean conferences (recap)

FEConf, JSConf, PyCon
Naver DEVIEW
Kakao if(kakao)
Woowacon, Toss PLANET
NHN FORWARD

6.6 Major global conferences

KubeCon
QCon
RustConf, GopherCon, PyCon
JSConf, React Summit
Strange Loop (ended)
Scale by the Bay

Chapter 7: Creating Speaking Opportunities

7.1 The starting ladder

Level 1: Internal company tech talk

Many companies run them weekly/monthly
30 minutes in front of 10 people

Level 2: Community meetup

Meetup.com, Lu.ma
20–50 people, 15–30 minutes

Level 3: Regional conference

Korea: FEConf, Woowacon, etc.
300–1,000 attendees

Level 4: Global conference

KubeCon, JSConf, etc.
1,000–10,000 attendees

7.2 CFP (Call for Proposal)

A good abstract:

Specific title
Problem + solution
Takeaways
Speaker credentials

Example:

"[Title] How We Migrated 10M Users Without Downtime: A Case Study in Shopify [Abstract] At Shopify, we migrated our 10M active users to a new architecture over 6 months without any downtime. This talk shares the strangler fig pattern we used, 3 critical failures we recovered from, and the cultural changes that made it possible. Audience will leave with a step-by-step playbook."

7.3 Slide design

1 idea = 1 slide
Large font (28pt+)
Screenshot code (instead of photos)
Diagrams are essential

7.4 Rehearsal

At least 5 rehearsals
1–2 in front of colleagues
Record yourself and review
Time-check every run

7.5 The real talk

Arrive 1 hour early
Deep breaths right before
Make eye contact with one person per section
Q&A: if you don't know, "Great question — let me follow up after"

7.6 After the talk

Publish slides (SpeakerDeck)
Turn it into a blog post
Upload the YouTube recording

One talk → ten pieces of content.

Chapter 8: The Global English-Language Network

8.1 Why it matters

Global opportunities (US, Europe positions)
Faster exposure to cutting-edge trends
Diverse perspectives
Potential for a major salary bump

8.2 Starting points

Use Twitter:

Start tweeting in English (3–5/month)
Follow international developers in your area
Practice English writing via threads

Podcast appearances:

Changelog, Software Engineering Daily
Korean-American developer podcasts (occasional)

OSS contributions:

Communicate with maintainers in English
Your PR description doubles as a blog post

Conference speaking:

Speaking in English = global brand
Start with online conferences

8.3 English communication

Clarity over grammar:

Doesn't have to be perfect
Lead with the point
Use examples

Writing tools:

Grammarly
DeepL Write
Claude/GPT as an editing partner

8.4 Understanding cultural differences

Low-context vs High-context:

English-speaking (low): state it explicitly
Korea (high): interpreted through atmosphere

→ When writing in English, be explicit.

8.5 Success stories

Joonyoung Park (Facebook): Korea → Meta distributed systems
Minjang Kim (Kakao): OSS contribution at Apple, then to Kakao
Other Korean-national Silicon Valley seniors

Chapter 9: Korean Communities

9.1 By domain

Frontend:

FEConf, JSConf Korea
React Seoul, Vue Korea Meetup

Backend:

Spring User Group
Go Korea, Rust Korea

Data/AI:

PyCon Korea
KR AI/ML Meetup

Security:

SecCon, KIMCHICON

DevOps/SRE:

DevOps Korea Meetup
Kubernetes Korea

9.2 General communities

OKKY: Q&A, job board
Inflearn community
GeekNews (news.hada.io): curated
Disquiet: builders/founders

9.3 Company-run open programs

Naver D2
Kakao tech blog
Woowa Brothers tech blog
Toss SLASH
LINE DevDay

Attend or participate to grow your network.

9.4 Starting a study group

Sweet spot: 4–8 people
Clear topic
Weekly, 90 minutes
Share notes in Notion

Chapter 10: Personal Branding Ethics

10.1 Authenticity vs Exaggeration

Authentic:

Real experience
Sharing failures too
"I don't know" when you don't

Exaggerated:

Inflating experience you don't have
Claiming others' work as your own
Title inflation

Authenticity wins long-term.

10.2 Grifter vs Educator

Grifter: "Do what I did, you'll succeed" (no evidence) Educator: "Here's what I learned" (specific)

Twitter/LinkedIn is full of the former. Be the latter.

OK to share:

Technical work
Public announcements
Your own blog

Careful:

Company secrets
Teammate info
Customer data
Internal conflicts

10.4 Balancing with private life

Sharing family photos is your call
Politics/religion is risky
Health/mental health: share selectively

10.5 Smear tactics

Bashing competitors
Trashing your ex-employer
Attacking specific individuals

→ Short-term attention, long-term trust destruction.

Chapter 11: Networking Routine

11.1 Weekly

2–3 new LinkedIn connections (meaningful)
3–5 tweets, 10+ replies
1 blog post (or draft)
1 coffee chat

11.2 Monthly

Check in with 5 colleagues/acquaintances
1 new meetup
Reconnect with 1 former coworker
Keep up GitHub contributions

11.3 Quarterly

1 conference (attend or speak)
3 coffee chats with engineers at target companies
New study group or OSS involvement

11.4 Annually

Annual network review (who did I connect with, who did I miss?)
1 major talk or workshop
10 new global network contacts

Chapter 12: 12-Item Networking/Branding Checklist

Chapter 13: 10 Networking Anti-Patterns

1) Ask without giving

Always asking, never giving back. Give first.

2) Collector mentality

Chasing 5,000 LinkedIn connections. Meaningless. Quality > Quantity.

3) Transactional

Only calculating "can this person help me?" No authenticity. Care about the person.

Divorce stories on LinkedIn. Destroys your professional image. Keep the line.

5) Humble brag

"Got lucky with a Google offer today ^^" backfires. Be direct, or stay silent.

6) Going solo at a meetup

Standing in a corner on your phone. You meet nobody. Try saying hi to one person.

7) Not following up

Getting a card and ghosting. Connection lost. LinkedIn within 72 hours.

8) Leaking company secrets

Revenue, strategy, internal politics. Legal trouble. Be careful.

9) Endless selling

Every post is your product/service. Followers leave. 80/20 rule (80 content, 20 promo).

10) Burnout networking

Three meetups a day. Exhaustion is imminent. Sustainable pace.

Closing — Networking Is Planting Seeds

Principle 1: The relationship is the goal

Act with authenticity even without direct benefit. Trust compounds.

Principle 2: Giving comes before receiving

Reciprocity is automatic. Give first, it comes back.

Principle 3: Writing is the foundation

Even introverts can have influence through writing. Pick one: blog, LinkedIn, or Twitter.

Principle 4: Maintain weak ties

10 strong ties < 100 weak ones. Quarterly check-ins.

Principle 5: Long-term view

Don't expect results in 6 months. It compounds over 2–5 years.

Principle 6: Read the originals

Next Up — "The Developer and AI, the Next Ten Years: How to Survive and Thrive"

Season 3 Ep 13 (season finale):

Current state of AI coding tools (Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code)
Which roles disappear in 10 years, which ones emerge
Predictions: changes for Junior roles, shifts in Senior value
Redefining skillsets for the AI era
Focusing on "what AI can't do"
Ethics, safety, governance
Three-stage scenarios: optimistic/neutral/pessimistic
Personal strategy — starting today
The position of Korean developers
Wrap-up: Season 4 preview

Next time, the Season 3 finale.