young me especially would have hated hearing this but networking is literally the most important thing you can do to improve your situation like forget economic barriers to education etc just keep making friends with different people and eventually someone will offer you a hand up just because they dig your vibe and that is exactly all that’s happening when undeserving people surpass you anyway
When I look at how I survived my 20s, it was always helpful friends putting work my way. And often the helpful friends were people I had only known for weeks.
schools love to go on and on about networking but they do a shit job of teaching you how to do it.
networking isnt going to job fairs and accumulating a collection of business cards and having a good linkedin profile
networking is meeting someone on a dating app and even though you never get the chance to meet up irl you talk a bit on discord and they offer to help you job hunt because they have good technical writing skills and they really think youre cool
networking is meeting someone at a sports event and becoming friends and when you need a new place to live they already have a friend of theirs who just so happens to be looking for a new roommate
networking is joining a club and making really good friends with older members who just also happen to be good professional connections
“networking” is a term so poisoned and sanitized by capitalism that what it actually really is has been obscured in the minds of most people