You don’t want to sound ungrateful when asking for a favor…

Let me tell you the story that inspired this post. I sent an intro email to connect my friend Larry with David. Larry was interested in getting a referral to a role at David’s company. My intro email was something like,

Hey David,

As I mentioned, Larry is interested in a role at [COMPANY].

Larry,

David is a good friend who has been at [COMPANY] for two years. He’d be a great person to field your questions. I’ll let you take it from here!

A few hours later I got this reply from David:

Ugh. This was the last thing I wanted to hear. Larry’s follow up reply to the intro left a bad taste in David’s mouth.

David was willing to refer Larry, but it probably wasn’t a strong endorsement. Needless to say, Larry’s application got rejected on the spot, even with a referral.

This situation made me feel hesitant to intro Larry to any of my connections in the future, and David is probably warier of being introduced to my contacts.

I gave this feedback to Larry, and of course Larry didn’t intend to come off as ungrateful. He just didn’t know the best way to present himself when asking someone he’d never met for a referral.

3 Principles for Replying to an Intro Email

As a baseline, remember to keep in mind that if your friend introduces you to one of their contacts, in a way they’re vouching for you. Don’t take that for granted.

1. Be the first to reply

If you’re the one that’s going to be asking for a favor, for example, a referral, be the first to reply to the intro email. You don’t have to respond within minutes, but when you first see the email, go ahead and reply.

Don’t wait for the other person to offer to connect with you. Chances are, if you don’t reply, they won’t reply. Plus, if you respond quickly to the intro, it shows enthusiasm. If days go by without you replying to the intro, it just seems that you’re not very interested or this intro isn’t important.

Of course there are situations when you can’t reply quickly, but if you ask for an intro, make sure you follow up — and the sooner the better.

2. When you ask for something, give them an out

Generally, if you’re getting introduced to someone, you’re going to be asking them for something. Make sure you make a very specific ask, but also give them an out. Give them an easier or less time consuming way to help you out.

For instance, a common ask is to “meet up for 30 minutes over coffee to learn more about ‘Company X’.”

This is a perfectly reasonable ask, but understand that while 30 minutes isn’t that much time, there’s travel time to get to and from the coffee shop, there’s context switching in the middle of the day, and there might be some hesitancy to meet up with a stranger that you’ve never met before.

If your primary ask is for an in-person meeting, give them an option to connect over the phone, which is less of a commitment:

Would you be up to meet for 30 minutes over coffee so I can learn more about Company X? If coffee doesn’t work, happy to schedule a time to connect over the phone. Either way, if you’re up for a coffee chat or a phone call, I can send over a few times to find a time that works best for the both of us.

This is a very considerate way to ask for someone’s time. Notice that I not only give an additional, smaller commitment ask, but also, I first ask if they’re willing to connect at all. I then follow it up by saying I’ll take on the burden of scheduling if they agree. I’m trying to make it as easy as possible for them to help me.

As a rule of thumb, when offering an option, suggest one that is one level down from your primary ask in terms of commitment. So if you’re asking for an in-person meet up, give them an option for a phone call. If you’re asking for a phone call, give them an option for you to “send over a few specific questions via email”.

3. Show that you’ve done some research

Include a sentence about why you’re excited about the company you’re asking about. Maybe it’s a recent product launch or a business partnership. Look through the company’s blog or search for recent press articles. You can say something like,

I saw that [Company X] just launched a new [insert feature]. That’s super exciting, I think it has a lot of potential to gain traction.

Even though this statement is generic, it goes a long way to at least demonstrate you’ve done a little bit of digging to find what’s currently going on at the company.

Putting it all together, here’s a template you can use to reply to an intro email when you’re looking to connect, in order to ask for a referral or more information about a company.

Hey [Name],

Nice to meet you! Thanks for offering to connect. It looks like [COMPANY] has been doing a lot lately - I noticed you all just launched a new product/partnership [INSERT ANY COMPANY NEWS]. Would love to hear more about that and any other big initiatives [COMPANY] is look to tackle this year.

Would you be free for a quick call during any of these times? [INSERT AVAILABILITY]

If a call doesn’t work, happy to send over a few questions over email.

Thank you!

– [YOUR NAME]

Remember, your friend is vouching for you!

Keep in mind that both your friend and their connection are doing you a favor. When you reply to an intro email, set a tone of gratitude and excitement. Being gracious and enthusiastic goes a long way, especially when you’re asking for something!

Is your job search stuck? Want to figure out how to break through and land a job in tech?

Click here to get step by step strategies to get the job you want, plus see the exact resume I used to get a job at Dropbox.

Originally published at hackcareer.com

Hello, everyone. I’d like to tell you about what I learned by attending the just concluded Google I/O Extended hosted by GDG Warri. Charles Freeborn Eteure, who was the organizer, was really amazing — thumbs up sir! I also met an astonishing UI/UX designer — Miss Perrie — and her talk on the importance of good design was marvelous.

This quote kept coming to mind:

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow — Anthony J. D’Angelo

So, I was very humbled to see quite a number of young people turning up to attend this event, even though it was the first of its kind in Warri. At the event, I was approach by many people who wanted to know how to get started learning web development or programming in general.

Those questions opened my eyes to some valuable lessons:

1. Young folks are really eager to learn about the whole tech ecosystem.
2. There is a need for guidance for the young upcoming developers.
3. The whole idea of what developers do is still hazy to most people in Delta State.
4. There is a deficit in the knowledge of where to get resources or seek help.
5. More awareness needs to be spread in order to re-orient the mindset of Deltans about technology in general.

With all these lessons in mind, I want to point out some cool resources and also give some advice I think will be helpful for any beginner developer (especially to the young developers-to-be from #IO18Extedended).

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

― Eric Hoffer

Advice to young developers

Know the why before the how.

What this means is that you have to know why you want to get into tech. It’s not so much knowing it intellectually, but you have to know it emotionally (and have a strong conviction) as well.

This is necessary because, like anything worth learning, development in general is difficult but do-able. So I reckon having a strong tangible reason is a formidable force in keeping you coding and moving forward in those trying times of frustration or a coding rut.

Attitude is everything

You have to maintain a learning attitude. What you don’t know, ask and read about (in any order you want) and you have to do it daily. Coding is a skill, and like any skill you get better at it by doing it. This article is great at pointing out what learning style will suit your uniqueness.

Go back to the fundamentals

Lastly and most importantly (I think), development is both an art and a science. Like both fields, it has rudiments — learn them. It has pioneers (top dogs, senior developers, mentors) — find them and follow them closely. It is challenging — embrace it (because it makes you better). And it is geared towards fostering solutions to new problems or making an old solution better — focus on that!

Checkout these resources and articles

Oh and before I forget — this article has links to useful resources that may be of help on your journey — if you are just starting out, do check it out. You can reach out to me as well. Read this , this and this for more inspiration — we all need it on this exciting journey!

“If you know the why, you can live any how.”

― Friedrich Nietzsche

Thanks for reading. Do leave comments (they’re very much appreciated) and claps as well. Happy coding!