Networking: The Second Round

While I’d love to be able to just attend a single social event and be done with it, networking is, unfortunately, a process that we have to constantly do. Bearing this in mind, I decided to attend another event held by the Association of Indonesian Translator (HPI). This time however, it’s an informal meet-up organized by the West Java branch of HPI.

After my first networking event, I was feeling somewhat confident, though I still am afraid of embarrassing myself and offending other people. Luckily though, this time around, a friend of mine from my university days was also attending the event.

The presence of a familiar face helped a lot with easing my tension. Because of this, I don’t have to worry about staying quiet in the corner while wondering what to do, I can just talk to him.

It also helps that the person that I am sitting across with quite happily divulge not only advices in becoming translator, but also life backstory from what major did he picked during college to how he became a translator to anyone willing to listen. Because of that, I can just sit there, listen to what he said and occasionally asks a question or two, so I don’t have to worry about looking a kid all alone in a room full of adults.

Despite this, I still feel like I should walk around more and try to talk to other people during the event. Moreover, I can’t help but feel jealous, not only toward other translators who have found success in the field, but also my college friend who seem to be better connected to the other participants of the meet-up. He always been better at socializing than me, but seeing him interact with others like he is an old acquaintance of theirs still annoyed me somewhat.

Nonetheless, once again I managed to take a single, though admittedly, small step in my career. Here’s to many steps to come!