A Different Kind of Networking by Barbara L. Dijker I promise. This article is not about the Internet. We're all a litle sick of hearing about the Internet. I know I am. You've probably heard people in suits talk about "networking" and you know they've never touched a keyboard. You may have caught a glimpse of the term in business seminar brochures. But you probably figured that since it has nothing to do with computers, then it's not for you. A network is a means to share information and resources. We use our computer networks to share information and resources all the time. Isn't that sufficient? Isn't everything I need on Archie, Yahoo, or USENET? The answer to that is a resounding, "NO!" Inter-personal networks depend upon building relationships with other people. You know, humans, ugly bags of mostly water. They provide access to information and resources that you may not otherwise have without the relationship as the medium. An inter-personal network is the network of friends, colleagues, co-workers, and acquaintances with whom you have a good reciprocal relationship. How do you start building one of these "networks?" It's easy actually. The quickest way is to begin or join a local peer group. This can be anything from going out to lunch with your co-workers regularly to joining/forming an organization that has a board of directors, a budget, and regular public meetings. Let's start simply. To join an existing peer group you have to know it exists. Ask around, there's bound to be something. Otherwise, you've been elected to start one. Start with an internal company peer group. Meet on a regular basis for a common activity like food. You don't have to do anything except eat and swap war stories. If your company is small or you want to expand your "network," include peers from other companies in your local area. Create a mailing list for the group. The group can be as exclusive or as open as you like. An exclusive group allows the members to be more comfortable in exchanging their ideas and information if they personally are acquainted with the other members. A more open list gives you more breadth. But as a rule of thumb, everyone in the group should at least know one other member on a personal basis. This shouldn't be difficult and it provides a path for introductions for the others. In my area, there are a handful of such groups. One has been around for probably 10 or more years. It's rather exclusive - by invitation only more or less. In fact, at one time the running joke was that to be in the group you had to have "slept with" a founding member - where "with" was very broadly interpreted, e.g. the same house, USENIX conference hotel room, road trip, camping trip, etc. So meeting this requirement wasn't as difficult or unseemly as it may sound. Many of the members of the group were system administrators full-time or part time at one point in their lives. Today they range from professional system administrators to kernel hackers and numerical analysts. Members now span 2-4 continents depending on the time of year. There is a mailing list and they meet for breakfast once a week. A computer program decides where they go each week and sends out announcements (true to geek form). Originally they met for lunch, but once the workday is started it's tough to escape. So breakfast it was, and 8am at that. Of course not all of them make it to breakfast. The mailing list is enough. What good is such a loose association? On this local mailing list the predominant messages are jokes and personal messages like wedding or baby announcements and "so-and-so is in town, let's go drink." There are occasionally postings for jobs: have or want. There are also postings of security events or "in case you didn't know - I just beat this code into submission and this is how." The group provides a sounding board. The point is that these are people you know personally, who know you, are in the same industry, and whose opinions you respect. Through this network infrastructure you can gain or provide (remember it's a two way street) information and resources. As the network grows, matures and evolves, it becomes more valuable. Maybe you urgently need to borrow an old QIC cartridge tape drive for an afternoon. You won't find that on the Net readily. Maybe you are considering hiring someone from a nearby company. If someone from that company is in your group, you may get a more candid assessment of your candidate. If you are more energetic, you might want to start a more formal and public local peer group. This takes time to organize. But don't let the potential for bureaucracy intimidate you. A local group may be formed without going through the process of legal incorporation. All you need is one or more people willing to coordinate meetings, a place to meet regularly, and a means to get announcements out. The trick to a formal group is to avoid money if you can. Once you collect money, then you have to deal with a legal existence and a bank account. Many universities, government centers, or companies have large meeting spaces they can make available for at worst a nominal fee. You can get local companies to sponsor meetings: pay for the use of or provide the meeting room and copying and/or mailing of the agenda or flyers in exchange for an advertisement on the back. Then all you need are the ideas for meetings. Draw from talent within your group and local companies to make presentations or lead discussions. If you start a public group, no matter how informal, notify the sage-locals working group. Whether you get involved in a small informal group, a larger formal group, or multiple groups, you'll be expanding your contacts in the field. The old saying rings true: "it's not what you know, but who you know." Worst case, it can't hurt to might make a few friends in the process.