Optimizing upcoming lunch with a software engineer at big tech company?
My friend just introduced me to his friend who works at this big tech company that I would love to join. I'll meet this friend in a couple of days, and I wonder how I can make the best use of this opportunity. How would I handle this in the best way possible?
(I'm a software engineer with 2 years of experience and a computer science degree)
![Senior Software Engineer [E5] at Meta company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fmeta.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Da7a5bcc0-e178-4b5b-b71e-09bf6c6aefae&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
![Entry-Level Software Engineer [L3] at Google company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fgoogle.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3D780356ef-3efc-4728-9eb4-d909b75bb4a6&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Discussion
(1 comment)- 32 years agoMeta, Pinterest, Kosei
What do you want to achieve from the meeting? Are you trying to cultivate a relationship for an eventual referral? Or learn more about the company in order to validate that you want to join the company?
I assume you want a referral, but unfortunately I don't know if there is much value from a single meeting. The point of a referral is to vouch for the credibility of the person being referred. That depth of relationship is very hard to create in a single meeting.
The exceptions are (1) if you have a project/app which is clearly amazing, and you can show it off, or (2) the person you're meeting is very senior (at least a manager or higher).
