How going to different events can help you in finding UI/UX job?!

I’ve graduated UI/UX design a few months ago. My first thought was that I just have to be persistent and apply every day and the job will come sooner or later. After a few weeks of applying and not getting answers from companies, not even that they rejected me, I got disappointed. After speaking with my career coach and other design professionals, I realized that most of the companies don’t even get the chance of seeing my application. I realized that the connections are the ones that give you a job. When hiring, most companies will first reach out to their employees in case they have someone to recommend. So, I used all my networking skills and started to email or direct message people on LinkeIdin. For a really short time, I got a lot of connections, a lot of good advices from developers, designers etc. which helped me finding my first internship in aepistle. That was a big step, and a great piece to put in my resume and portfolio. I finished my internship two weeks ago, and started going on all different virtual events so I can meet more people because, I believe that is what’s going to “bring me” my new position. I think Meet Up and Eventbrite are great resources to find a lot of different events related to any industry.

Also, going on events not related to UI/UX design didn’t make any sense to me at first, but now it really does. I started going and researching few industries that really interest me, and weekly going to events related to that. That helps me to get to know these industries better, to speak with different people, even with those ones who don’t even know what UI/UX is. Those people might be great connections in the future, as UI/UX design is becoming more popular and known from all over the world.