97 Things Every UX Practitioner Should Know

Chapter 7. Expand Your Network Through Community Involvement

Jen McGinn

To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together.

from Simon Sinek’s book, Together Is Better (Penguin)

There are many paths to success and fulfillment as a user experience professional, but few, if any, involve working alone. As such, professional networking and community involvement will help boost your career. Networking is no longer simply the process of going out and introducing yourself; in our connected world, new connections will sometimes come to you.

Community involvement can be many things: attending a monthly meetup, volunteering at or attending a conference, giving a presentation, talking on a panel, writing an article for a UX magazine, teaching a class, volunteering your services, mentoring someone, or publishing a peer-reviewed paper. Really, it’s anything UX-related that you’re not getting paid for, or not getting paid much for. Sometimes you benefit; sometimes someone else does. Ideally, everyone benefits.

The connection between community involvement and professional networking is that community involvement allows you to create a broader network by meeting new people at events. Conferences are one of the best places to meet people outside your existing circles, because you are all there to learn about similar things. At meals, you can easily sit at a table where you don’t know anyone and strike ...