Maneuvering Around Your Tech Colleagues

3: Most likely they are into MOBAs or Tabletop RPGs.

It’s simple once you understand how.

Why should you bother maneuvering around your work colleagues? Well, promotions and being in the right position in your company will get you places. What about those working remotely?

The game is different. Your best bet? Learning what works. Getting others to like you and feel good in your presence. Well, that should be your goal if you want to get promoted.

Whom Should You Impress?

This is something we are keeping for the whole separate article down the road.

Do you want to be loved in the environment you are working in? Yes. That’s the leverage few talk about. Should you bother impressing those who don’t have decision power in anything important for you? No. Should you try to get others to like you and consider you as someone they can trust? Absolutely yes. Leaving the rest for the next time. This is important and something you should keep in mind.

Office Work vs. Remote Work

There is no doubt here. The game is different. Would go so far as to say that getting promoted as a junior is 3x harder being in fully remote role when you compare it with the office. Same as with getting others to like you. Why? Because you don’t communicate as much with others, it’s harder to leave a good impact or impress someone you should impress without being present in their company.

Ultimately you are unable to play the office politics…

Should that bother you? Not if you know what you are doing and building WiFi money operation or any type of side business. Your primary goal is having a strong career and moving it forward? Things are going to be different. In case you are all living in a similar area (city) you should be organizing hangs out and trying to get the group together. It’s an easy way to build up a reputation.

Worth mentioning that most often the "problems" with your tech colleagues are the social ones.

Meaning that if you are going to be an initiator for this type of stuff, you are going to become someone others like. Your only goal should be to find out what your geek colleagues are into.

What about the hybrid model?

This is where the hybrid model has an advantage when you compare it with fully remote work if you care about moving up the ladder and maneuvering successfully. Those 2 - 3 days in the office is what is going to allow you to leave a good mark and create connections. The rest of the week will you are working from home should allow you to focus on your goals and get the most out. Being productive is much easier when working from home.

This discussion is complicated to say the least. Why? There is no proper answer to give. Office work has a huge benefit if you are planning on moving up the ladder and getting others on your side. Remote work has a huge benefit if you are working on a side business.

What about hybrid? Best of both worlds?

Hard to say.

What we didn’t take in the equation at all is the company you are working for. Some do have different principles when promoting remote workers compared with others. Can’t get into much more details. It’s subjective and readers will have to catch it for themselves.

Big Tech vs. F500

Big tech

From our experience, big tech attracts more "Chad" type of individuals - at least that’s what we have observed over the last couple of years. Better said that’s what the trend is over the last couple of the years. Smart ones are following the trends and are going where the money is. The question is why? Well, you are looking for individuals who are more socially savvy and ordinated towards sports, getting out and having actual fun. There are still a bunch of those that are weak in that and could use a little bit of push you will provide them with.

F500 (Not including the Big Tech)

The much different place compared with a Big tech. Often much more relaxed and easier to maneuver around. Should you overlook it? Again, comes down to your personal goals. Having Meta on your resume or being part of Boeing IT does not hold the same weight when it comes to recruiters and there is a good reason - topic for another time.

From our experience F500 is much more old school geek ordinated.

This is not surprising taking into consideration that the average age is a bit higher when you compare it with big tech. What do old school IT guys bring? Tabletop RPGs, board games, MMORPG. The stereotype is 100% correct when talking about them. If that’s not something you are into, you will have to find the middle ground. They are often the easiest nut to crack but you do have to be on their level. Which is not often the easiest considering they might have different interests and hobbies compared to you.

Start-ups

Hardest one to navigate when it comes to finding the proper audience for your maneuvering. It’s impossible to pin pinpoint what you can expect. Those that are into sports, MOBAs or something third - hard to pinpoint exactly. Most likely it will come down to reading the room. Depending on what type of start-up you are working in. Lots of them are trying to reinforce the meetup culture as they know that most individuals are often only temporary in those roles - burning out.

The reason behind this is a very simple one.

They are trying to build a reputation with their employers and creditability. The start-up on purpose is pushing those more than F500 or Big tech. They know that the employees often are burned out and that pizza night might convince them that this is the right company to be in. At least that’s why they think. In case you find yourself in one of those who are enforcing meetup culture understand that you have solid leverage here you should use to get others to like you.

Come Up With Your Plan

Understand the importance of realizing and reading the environment you are operating in. You will either have to become more social and sport oriented or someone who likes MOBAs and plays tabletop RPGs. The truth is somewhere in the middle. The cases presented here could be too theoretical and not practical - that’s why we will be diving deeper into specifics down the road. Remember…

If you want to get others to like you will have to be a chameleon.

As it all depends on the team you are on and what kind of combination of individuals you find around yourself. Be the initiator, make sure you get others to like you and impress only those who need to be impressed. Understand that a remote role will make things harder if you are playing a career ladder game while the office one (hybrid role) will make things easier.