#064 - You’re doing networking wrong feat. Lawrence Lockhart

In today’s episode, we welcome Lawrence Lockhart, a former hospitality manager turned full stack software developer. Apart from his tech job, he’s also a developer advocate, a teaching assistant at a coding bootcamp and a tech meetup leader, so you know he spends a lot of his time helping others build and transfer their existing skills into tech, being a powerful voice in the tech space for upcoming developers. Today we talk briefly about how he managed to switch from hospitality to tech, and how that wasn’t as easy as a lot of people online make it out to be, the importance of local and in-person jobs as opposed to starting off remote, how learning with purpose is essential if you want to make progress and advice for people starting out! Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm Code Connector: https://codeconnector.io Lawrence's X/Twitter: https://x.com/LawrenceDCodes Lawrence's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawrencedlockhart Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:44 When did Lawrence start to be more involved in the online tech communities? 02:23 How did Lawrence meet James Q Quick 04:42 Transition from a Blue Collar job into Tech 10:59 6 months is not the standard anymore to get in the industry 13:44 The Timeline Discussion 15:56 Kelsey Hightower 18:09 Has Lawrence worked as a dev in non-tech companies and where he works now 23:33 It's IMPORTANT to go for local market and in-person jobs first 24:27 How networking actually works 28:46 Learning with a purpose 36:43 You shouldn't be trying to minmax your career path 39:43 Advice to people that are unsure in their skills 43:51 How to approach interviews 49:31 You have to practice interviewing 54:48 Learn the thing or get out 58:33 Disagree and commit 01:01:45 Where to find Lawrence