Fellow introvert here. I don't have as many years in industry under my belt as you, but I have been through several job transitions and am enjoying the job I'm at right now.

Every single one of my jobs came not from networking, but just cold applying to positions. If networking feels inauthentic to you, I would say just to forget about it and work at getting good at your craft. If you can demonstrate you have the skills and a company has a need for that skillset, they will hire and networking skills will be irrelevant.

Also, if you're not having much success at applying for a type of position, it may be that the timing is just not right, e.g. a company has a superabundance of web developers, but what they are really in need of is embedded software developers. In a lot of cases, it's not about you, but about what the company's needs are.

At one point in time, I applied to a company and failed to get in, but later on, I tried again, got the position, and it was a great opportunity. Was I that much better? Not really, just a timing thing.

So don't give up and keep moving forward with practicing your skills and applying. The more you prepare and try, the better the odds of success.

I know I'll sound elitist but introvert or not this doesn't make any difference, the most important part of your network are the people you've worked with already.

If none of them is pinging you at times to see if you're available, you were probably an unremarkable professional or you have extraordinarily bad luck.

It's not a bad thing to be average or mediocre, it's what most of us are, with a very small percentage of great professionals in a classical gaussian distribution.

But people that impressed their former colleagues have queues of jobs lining for them. And that's where most of your focus should go if you want to have a career.

The tech field is full of introverts (me included). While the severity of the introvert behaviors can vary greatly, things like computer programming attract people like us like a moth to a flame.

Most (normal) people would cringe at the thought of spending 8 hours straight, alone in your office, to fix a bug or write some new code; but we thrive on it.

Still, even introverts need human interaction on occasion. Networking is important, even if you are just interacting with others like yourself (with the same apprehensions).

If you find it extremely uncomfortable to socialize at all; you have to work at it, even if it feels unnatural. Like many things in life, the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

It's true that networking often plays a significant role in finding a new job. If you find it hard to build new relationships, that's OK, because that skill can be learned.

Most introverts I know don't enjoy being around people all the time, but still build and maintain meaningful relationships with a small number of people close to them.

If you do want to be better at this, but you're finding it difficult, have you considered therapy? A good therapist can help you feel more confident in building relationships, so you don't feel as drained by them, and give you a safe space to learn and practice those skills.

You could form relationships with recruiters. You don't need to be close with recruiters, just reliable. I've found that connections with other professionals is better for getting into niche positions, but good recruiters have placed me into excellent positions as well. It's just a slog to weed out crappy shotgun recruiters from quality ones.

Ultimately, though, I ponder about your professional connection problem. You don't need to be super close friends to have people refer you for things. Just pleasant. I see what you say, but part of your career as you advance is managing people's feelings. If people don't walk away feeling good from interactions with you, then I don't think you're doing your job well. That doesn't mean you have to smiley and be fake, but people can't feel like you don't care at all about what they are emotionally invested in whether that be the project or their career or whatever. It's worth considering that you might be lacking a skill for higher levels of work and even if you got those positions you'd hate them because of how much emotional labor is involved.

I'm wondering the same thing, and as an introvert I have not meet many other people in my field.

I'm no longer happy with my current position since they stopped remote work, and I've been looking for other opportunities as a java developer. I've applied to at least 30 positions so far and NONE have responded back....

If you have time, blog or share code. If things work well, you could get audiences, but there is much less socializing. Writing also helps in becoming more articulate when opportunities for conversations arrive.

Change you self talk from "I'm not good at networking" to "I'm not currently good at networking", go read "How to Win Friends and Influence People", then implement a bit of it in your daily life and reap the rewards.

People suck.

Have you thought about a career coach or hitting up a recruiter at a recruiting company? They can 'advertise' and promote you to their clients. Often times they only staff temporary positions (i.e. v-endortrash), but sometimes it is permanent placement.

Have you considered personal branding/networking via either social media / blogging?

Making Peace with Personal Branding: https://www.fast.ai/posts/2017-12-18-personal-brand.html

Your blog would detail some of your work experiences you wish to write about, such as tutorials, case studies, etc. I realize it's likely a longer game than classic networking.

A related discussion from 2019 that came to mind: To hire neurodiverse workers, one firm got rid of job interviews (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21309024)

Fellow introvert. Feel your pain.

Connect:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonic

Happy to help.

> About 80% of my colleagues were hired this way, while a few of us got in by luck.

How do you define that?

When people discuss "networking" what do they mean?

Posting on linkedin?

Going to events?

"Networking seems to drive career advancement."

I come to this realization too. The world is not a meritocracy like we are taught as children.

In my case, I have a disability that makes networking difficult and feel immoral to me. Frankly, any company spouting DEI and still supporting networking is hypocritical.

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