Carlos Perez wrote:

How do you do it? I noticed that you had over 400 linked in contacts. That’s pretty impressive considering that you ‘just got out of the boat’ and are still in grad. school. What’s your secret?

How do I do it? One person at a time. I go to events that I find
interesting, and happen to meet lots of people with whom I want to
keep in touch and whom I want to help. I smile. I’m enthusiastic about
life. This is probably the key thing that draws people to me and which
makes it easier for people to talk to me, as I’m often shy about
starting conversations myself! I’m interested in other people. I make
it easy for people to get to know me, too. Is that a secret? Not
really… Isn’t that something everyone can do?

I’ve met all sorts of wonderful people. I think *that’s* the secret to
having lots of contacts on LinkedIn or elsewhere! Share *stories* with
people, not just business cards, and you’ll see how wonderful they
are. Become part of people’s lives and let them become part of yours.
I wish I had a million lives so that I could get to know all these
people better. If you can figure that out, you’d be set.

I’ve been a little quiet in both the Toronto and Manila tech scenes,
preoccupied with my thesis and with other matters. I’ve started from
scratch before, though, so I know that when I choose to return, I’ll
be able to.

I don’t really have a big network, and I’m not collecting names. I
just want to collect experiences and wonderful people… and that’s
not hard at all!

Random Emacs symbol: define-modify-macro – Macro: Define a `setf’-like modify macro.