Networking in Tech
Clarifying the stupid debate, once and for all
Author: Matt Gates| Editor: Siyu Chen, Ibrahim Bengali
Editor’s Intro: In tech, there’s this ridiculously dangerous rumor that you shouldn’t network in tech. And, frankly, it’s bullshit. We at Wharton Tech Toks and Wharton Tech Club vehemently disagree with that philosophy. Like, rant about how dumb it is kinda vehemently (Hey, we told you we were gonna be bold). Tell ’em, Matt (Wharton Tech Club co-president). TELL ‘EM!
The Debate
If you were like me, you came into business school expecting to utilize these fantastic networks of alumni to land your dream internship, turn it into a full time offer, and drive off happily into the sunset over San Francisco Bay as Somewhere Over the Rainbow plays gentle in the background.
Ok, I didn’t have that rosy an outlook, but all those alums in companies that I was interested in have to be able to help, right? So I was shocked the first time I heard a second year offhand mention, “Oh networking doesn’t matter in Tech. You just throw your resume into the black box and wait.”
But hey, second years are the all-wise, so they must know, right? As a second year now, I can tell you that I learned two things definitively in my first year: MBAs have no shortage of opinions about recruiting (or anything for that matter) and that there is only one correct answer to any MBA question: it depends. So, does networking really matter for Tech? It depends…how much you like to gamble with your future.
Networking Isn’t Absolutely Required (technically)
Unlike banking or consulting, where networking is tracked by employers before and after initial resume screening, you don’t NEED to network to land on an interview for tech companies. It is officially not required. The argument here is that for an internship at Google and numerous other Big Tech companies, all you “can” do is drop a resume into a black box and then wait.
To a large extent this is true, and you should drop your resumes to positions that interest you. The career center works hard to build and maintain relationships with these companies so that you have a leg up during the initial resume screen, and plenty of MBA students have gotten internships through this very process without networking. Apply to enough of these opportunities and you will likely get interviews and, potentially, an internship or full time position.
This really only applies to Big Tech and some smaller companies that recruit through the university system, but you are still rolling the dice on these resume drops. If you are like most MBAs and dislike ambiguity, I suggest improving your odds through networking.
If you are like most MBAs and dislike ambiguity, I suggest improving your odds through networking
So let’s dig into that.
Networking for Specific Positions
“Oh hey, Argo AI just raised money. Do they hire MBAs? Do they offer internships? When will they post those positions? HIRE ME!.”
Does this thought process sound familiar? If you are like me, you’ve gone through this process every single time you see an interesting company mentioned somewhere. And in recruiting mode, this is likely the first set of information you want to know when you reach out to someone at a company (but please don’t start a conversation with these…).
For standard positions at Big Tech, a lot of this information doesn’t require much work for you to find; just ask that friend who actually attended the info session. But as you expand your search, the process is a lot less standardized and you are fighting a few roadblocks. Many smaller tech companies and most startups do not focus on hiring 6 months out. Too much changes in that time frame. As a result, a lot of postings won’t start showing up until March at the earliest. Building relationships with people at these companies can help level your expectations on when or even if they are hiring, with the very real potential for finding advocates along the way. The resulting decrease in uncertainty and ambiguity goes a long way to gaining that sense of control over the recruiting process that seems so difficult to hold on to.
I want to expand a bit on those advocates, which can lead to what I consider the pinnacle of networking. Every year your fellow students (and possibly you) have internships and full-time positions created specifically for them through relationships developed during the job search. You know that awesome startup you really want to work for but they don’t offer internships? There are countless cases of students who built strong relationships with a company, demonstrated the value they could bring, and found themselves spending the summer at a place that “doesn’t have interns”.
And this isn’t just applicable for startups. This year, just as every other year, I’ve heard of a student who networked their way into an internship at Google, dodging that black hole of an application process altogether. Don’t get me wrong, the reason I remember this story is because it is atypical. But here’s the thing: all of us attending a top business school are atypical. How long did you spend trying to decide what to put on a single page resume to fully encapsulate you? It’s a snapshot, nothing more. Networking gives you a chance to tell a little more of your story to the companies you want to work for. Also — if you don’t have the miracle dream job created for you, you might at least get a referral. Those definitely can help, even in Big Tech.
Oh, and another thing about our Google example: this student got an internship in exactly the department they wanted. In my experience recruiting for big tech, this is non-trivial. For every super specific position I applied for, I also applied for an “MBA Product Manager Intern” role. As an industry and function switcher who wanted to get experience at any tech company, I was alright with this sort of ambiguous role. If you are looking for something more specific, however, networking can help you narrow in on those positions you care most about. And if you work your tail off and get a bit lucky, you may just find your dream position is created for you.
Networking for Industry Knowledge
I entered business school with a specific desire to work as a product manager in the autonomous vehicle industry (which didn’t stop me from applying to those “MBA Strategy Intern” roles I mentioned before — recruiting FOMO is real). In November, I got my first interview for a strategy internship position with Uber’s autonomous vehicle group after submitting my resume to their application in one of those frenetic moments where you apply to a dozen different positions in one night. Needless to say, I was thrilled. This recruiting thing is easy! During the interview, I was asked a question about what strategy I would employ to roll out autonomous vehicles in a given city. My answer was pretty high level, and by the end I could tell that the interviewer was looking for more. I did not move on to the next round.
I realized that keeping up to date with the latest trends didn’t necessarily demonstrate the passion and knowledge I had about the industry. So I tried networking. I started reaching out to people in the industry, trying to understand their biggest challenges and successes. Don’t get me wrong, you can learn a lot from newsletters and podcasts and other media sources, but what you gain from networking is much more concentrated, specific to the company, and customized to your needs.
The next few times I interviewed for autonomous vehicle companies, my industry knowledge was on full display. During one particular interview, I talked for what seemed like 20 minutes straight about how best to monetize that specific company’s autonomous vehicle tech, with the pros and cons of each strategy. I referenced the value proposition of that specific company and why it played into certain strategies. My ability to answer the question naturally and comprehensively, demonstrating both my understanding and passion for the industry and company, was largely the result of phone calls I had had with recent alums and cold outreach on LinkedIn.
Editor’s Note: if you saw “20 minutes straight” and cringed because there is no way he should have talked that much uninterrupted, he apparently had the same panic about 10 minutes in and checked with the interviewer to make sure it wasn’t too much.
Networking to Prove Your Hustle
Startups and founders are always talking about the hustle and how important it is. So prove it to them.
If you were a founder, who do you think would be most capable of figuring out the solution to some new problem no one saw coming: the MBA student who had five conversations with different members of the team trying to learn about the company before applying, or the one who dropped a resume on a job board?
I will also add, there is often a lot of ambiguity and self-starting needed to work at a startup. Pushing yourself to network and embrace the ambiguity of the enterprise job search (companies with an unstructured hiring process and offer timeline) is a decent sanity check as to whether you enjoy it, or at the very least don’t dread it with every fiber of your being. And if you do dread it, great! We are here in part to learn about ourselves and what we want to do, so that knowledge is helpful.
Some of you are sitting there thinking that this section doesn’t apply to you because you aren’t interested in working at a startup. In that case, I will try a different tactic to convince you that displaying your hustle matters. Are you looking to do product management? Product marketing management? Business development? Sales? All of those roles involve serious hustle and self-motivation. Tech companies are looking for problem solvers and consensus builders. So prove to them you can hustle even before you get the offer, and build yourself a group of advocates along the way.
Networking for Company Culture
I was fortunate enough to intern in an autonomous vehicle marketing role at a major automotive company. As I mentioned before, this was pretty close to my dream role coming into business school. And for the most part, the summer did not disappoint. I loved the role and the industry.
However, I had concerns that I didn’t fully mesh with the company culture. Specifically, I was seeking a fast-paced, willing-to-fail environment but I was experiencing a lot of bureaucracy and hesitancy to make any decision without running it up the chain of command first. I wasn’t sure if this was unique to my group, so I reached out to close to a dozen people in other parts of the organization. I had entered the summer really wanting this to work out, and part of the motivation for that outreach was to establish a network for when I came back full time. So it hurt that I didn’t think I would be happy longer term, but I ultimately decided that those concerns were too strong for me to relocate my wife and myself away from family.
I was still very much interested in the autonomous space and the automotive industry more generally, so I reached out to a Wharton alumni who worked at a major auto manufacturer closer to home. Armed with my concerns from the summer, I was able to have candid conversations with both him and another employee about the company culture and what I was looking for. This allowed me to learn that I would likely face the same frustrations at this second company.
So, quite simply, I didn’t pursue it further. No more networking needed, no more company research, no more stalking the job board. If your MBA schedule is anything like mine, cutting down on any “to do” is a win.
Networking for the Future
If none of my other arguments have hit home, hopefully this one will. As students, we are in a unique position to be able to reach out to practically anyone and ask for advice. Essentially the worst thing likely to happen is you get ignored. And that’s ok. Since we are in a learning environment, this is a fantastic opportunity for you to learn how to network.
It can be awkward, frustrating, tiring, and time consuming, no doubt about it. But you are also building a muscle, and not one that disappears once you land the internship.
I was significantly less stressed going into full time recruiting than I was during my internship search. I knew what I needed to do and how to do it, because I had done it before. I had a rough idea of how many people I would have to cold LinkedIn message before I got a hit, and how many of those conversations I would need to have before I found someone who would advocate for me.
The work I put in to build some semblance of a networking muscle will have a far greater impact
What’s more, I was able to reconnect with some of the people I met during my internship search to get the ball rolling faster. I love school and undoubtedly will use a ton of what I learned in the classroom to help my career, but I sit here convinced that the work I put in to build some semblance of a networking muscle will have a far greater impact.
How to Network
How exactly do you network? To be honest, this is an area where I recommend using the experts in the career center and the MAP Networking & Pitch section as your first stop. We’ll include more of our hot takes and pro-tips in an upcoming post.
However, one absolute requirement: Be sincere.
This isn’t a check the box exercise — people will know, they don’t like it, and it doesn’t help you. Don’t be that person. Be genuine in your interest to get to know them, the company and/or the industry.
And keep hustling.
Closing Thoughts
Network. Just do it.
