Some Career Advice

Recently I was invited along to a careers day at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). I spoke with budding tech professionals who were about to enter the industry. Throughout the day, I found myself repeating two pieces of advice and its advice that I've found to be absolutely critical in my own career journey.

Build your network

The first piece of advice is pretty simple - build your network. As the saying goes, it's not just what you know, but who you know that matters. I've found in my professional career that really rings true.

When I left University the network of people I knew in the tech industry was tiny. Looking back I can see it really was a huge weak point but its something I luckily addressed quite quickly through the RookieOven Meetup.

So why is networking so important? I've found opportunities often arise through personal connections before they're ever posted publicly. A strong network can:

• Help you discover job opportunities before they're advertised
• Connect you with mentors who can guide your career development
• Provide invaluable feedback on your projects and ideas
• Open doors to collaborations and partnerships
• Keep you informed about industry trends and changes

Finding your people

So if we agree a network is important how can a student or graduate go about growing theirs? Here's some actionable advice

Get out there

Getting out to events and meetups like RookieOven is really important. So yeah to be blunt if you're working in tech in the greater Glasgow area - get along to the RookieOven Meetup, first Monday of each month in Glasgow.

An alternative is Tectonic. This a newer addition to Scotland's tech event landscape, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, creatives, and digital talent from across Scotland. It's a vibrant celebration of Scotland's thriving tech, digital and creative ecosystem. Nick is doing a great job pulling these events together, highly recommend going. RO50 will get you 50% off your ticket.

Find your people online

Getting out the house isn't for everyone - it can be daunting to go into a room of random people and frankly life can get busy. In 2025 there's plenty of places online to find a community that can grow your professional network.

Get on Reddit, Facebook even X and see if you can find like minded people. For tech in Scotland a place to check out is the Scottish Technology Club Discord.

Highly recommend joining and getting involved in the conversation.

Build and Ship Projects

The second piece of advice that kept coming up was equally important: embrace your hobbies and get shipping. This means dedicating time to not just build things (that is a great way to learn new frameworks and technologies) but to most importantly, actually ship your work.

Building is easy, shipping is hard

Anyone can start a project, but seeing it through to completion and releasing it to the world is what separates hobbyists from professionals. Shipping involves:

• Prioritising features to create a viable product
• Testing thoroughly to ensure quality
• Creating documentation
• Marketing your creation
• Gathering and responding to feedback
• Maintaining and improving your project over time

Each of these steps teaches valuable lessons that simply can't be learned in a classroom or from a tutorial.

Why Shipping Matters

Shipping completed projects demonstrates several qualities that employers value highly:

1. Perseverance: You can push through challenges and see things through
2. Problem-solving: You've encountered and overcome real-world issues
3. Pride in your work: You care enough about quality to release something publicly
4. Initiative: You can work independently and drive projects forward
5. Practical experience: You understand the entire development lifecycle

Make It Public

Whatever you build, make it public. Put your code on GitHub, write a blog post about what you learned, share it on social media or linking back to our previous point why not present it at a local meetup. Public projects not only showcase your skills but also invite feedback that helps you improve.

Remember, your side projects don't need to be revolutionary or perfect. What matters is that you're building, learning, and shipping.

Bringing it all together

These two pieces of advice - building your network and shipping projects - complement each other perfectly. Your network can provide feedback on your projects, while your projects give you something meaningful to discuss with your network.

As a student or graduate don't wait to be spoon fed your next steps in your career. Be proactive, meet people and ship.