What are Networking Events?

During Career Services, you will touch upon many different important topics that will help you be successful with your job search. One of the most important tools is networking. Students are expected to attend at least 1 networking event and 1 informational interview each month in Career Services. 

To make the most out of your networking, it's important to remember what the goal of these events is. Ultimately, they are meant to help you get comfortable with speaking directly to industry professionals, to make meaningful connections, and to expand your network.

Examples of what counts as a Networking Event

Here are examples of what counts as a networking event:

• In-person or virtual UX Design-related meet-ups where you will have the opportunity to speak 1:1 with industry professionals
• In-person or virtual conferences where you are able to connect 1:1 with industry professionals

What doesn't count as a Networking Event

With that said, here are events that don't count as networking events:

• Pre-recorded conferences
• Webinars
• Any event where you will not be able to speak 1:1 or connect with other design professionals

If you are ever unsure of whether an event will count as a networking event, you are welcome to double-check with us by writing in here. 

Where to find Networking Events

Because at the time of writing this, there are limitations to in-person events, we strongly recommend for students to look online at websites for virtual networking opportunities:

• Reaching out via LinkedIn or Angel.co to professionals working in an industry/company that you'd like to learn more about 
• Joining Slack or Discord communities dedicated to UX Design and connecting with design professionals for 1:1 conversations
• Meetup.com has both in-person and virtual events 
• Eventbrite.com has both in-person and virtual events
• The Calendar section in your UX Academy dashboard has some networking events as well (please note that not all are networking events, so please be sure to confirm beforehand)

 

What is an informational interview? 

An informational interview is a one-on-one coffee (or virtual coffee) meeting with an industry professional to understand their role, experience, industry, etc. better, and to connect with them professionally.

We encourage you to connect with professionals in the field and industry that you are interested in learning from, working with, getting to know better. The interviewees should be working in the UX field (i.e. product designers, product managers, design leads, etc.) or the industry (i.e. professionals in edtech, healthcare, e-commerce, etc.) that you are interested in pursuing.