⚡️ asmbld · Issue #007
Written for engineers on the job search, EMs building teams, and founders hiring them.
01 · STAND-UP
"Your network is the people who want to see you win." — Sahil Lavingia
Most people hear "network" and think LinkedIn requests.
Sahil meant something different. He meant the people already watching — who notice a typo in your GitHub repo, who forward your message to someone who books you on a panel.
You don't build that in a day. You tend it over years.
Start now.
02 · SPRINT
The typo that closed a contract
A friend messaged me out of nowhere last week.
She’d been looking through one of my public GitHub repos I launched for software engineers, where I open-sourced my three most popular writing prompts.
- Resume Reformatter
- LinkedIn Profile Updater
- Compensation Benchmark
(when I say open-sourced, it literally was a README and 3 .md files. Nothing fancy)
I had no idea she had seen the post, nor did I know she read through the repo. In fact, she read the README and found a typo.
She dropped me a DM. We laughed about it. We caught up for maybe twenty minutes. No agenda. No ask. Just two people who hadn't talked in a while, suddenly talking again.
By the end of the week, She’d hired me for a contract role to support her recruiting team. There was a gap that needed to be filled within her team.
I applied through the portal, interviewed with a core stakeholder, shared my recruiting knowledge, and got the verbal offer a few days later after her team had interview a few other recruiters.
The verbal offer literally happened two days ago. I’m still a bit in shock.
But then I realized, this is how networking, works. It’s built on repetition, doing good work, and sometimes posting a Github Repo to share with the public on LinkedIn.
(If you’ve read this far, here’s your sign to post on LinkedIn)
That same week, I had been chatting it up with an old acquaintance that was on the market for a new software engineering job. After a few messages, he asked if I offered services for resume writing.
I said yes, and sent him my standard package to update his job search docs using my prompts:
- Resume Reformatter
- LinkedIn Profile Updater
- Compensation Benchmark
After a bit of time fine-tuning, manual editing, and reading through the docs to make sure they didn’t hallucinate, I sent them over to him, alongside additional docs on interview prep and offer letter analysis.
Spoiler Alert: He loved the output.
So much so, he referred three friends, one of which he gifted the service to, and two of which he mentioned were on the job market.
And that’s when it hit me. Resumes are still a pain point. Updating them is still a real challenge.
So I reached out to others in my network to offer the same service, using his testimony, and got immediate “yeah, totally, would love to” responses from Product Manager and Software Engineering friends.
(safe to say, I found a new problem to solve for jobseekers. I think that’s pretty cool).
Where is this story going?
TL;DR I was invited to be a guest speaker for a panel delivering advice to a cohort of Software Engineers at Hacker Dojo in Mountain View this upcoming Tuesday.
But let’s rewind. How did I get there?
Great question. The resume service that generated over $1k in revenue last week, led me to productize my offering and share it with a few WhatsApp groups I’m a member of, which then caught the attention of a well-known Recruiting Leader in the industry.
He pinged me on WhatsApp.
“hey, would you be interested in speaking on a panel for software engineers?”
I said yes.
As I write this, I am grateful.
Ten years of meeting people, giving advice, building in public, sharing ideas.
No ad spend. No funnel. No cold outreach sequence.
Oftentimes people refer to networking as something you did when you needed something.
You activate the network when the job search starts, when the pipeline dries up, when the product isn't selling.
You go in with an ask. You follow the playbook. You hope someone converts.
That's not what happened to me this week.
What happened this week was the result of years of low-stakes, genuine contact. Staying in touch without a reason.
Being in rooms without a conversion goal attached. Sharing work publicly and letting people find it on their own terms.
The typo DM didn't come from a campaign. It came from a repo I built because I wanted to.
Literally, posting about a GitHub Repo. Seriously, 😬
The speaking referral didn't come from a cold email. It came from a community I'd been part of long enough that people trusted the message when it arrived.
The thousand dollars didn't come from a sales page. It came from an old acquaintance who remembered me as someone worth talking to.
And, honestly. It saved my startup.
03 · RETROSPECTIVE
✅ What went well
Three warm conversations generated a contract, a speaking slot, and $1K in revenue — in one week
🔧 What could be improved
I still don't have a clean way to track these relationships over time. Maybe I add this feature to the asmbld roadmap?
⚡ One action item before next week
Message one person you haven't spoken to in over a year. No ask. No agenda. Just contact.❓
Open question for readers
Want to chat 1:1 and talk shop, catch up, shoot the shit?
Reply to this email and let's find a time!
When you're ready, here are three ways I can help:
The Career Playbook — DIY ($64)
The system, handed to you. You run it.
The Career Playbook — DFY ($256)
Resume, LinkedIn, comp benchmark — delivered in 5 business days.
The Career Playbook — DWY ($512)
30 minutes. We work through it together, with your real materials.
⚡️ asmbld · Issue #007
Written for engineers on the job search, EMs building teams, and founders hiring them.
