Instagram and the golden goose

Something about golden eggs
I remember something about a fairy tale about someone that had a goose that laid golden eggs.  The details are fuzzy, but I think that the owner of the goose eventually got greedy and killed the goose to get all the eggs at once.  Obviously, that didn't work for them.

By now you should have heard that Facebook bought Instagram for a billion dollars.  A billion dollars.  Try and imagine that number.  Sheesh.  That's one-thousand millions.  That would be enough to build forty world-class indoor skateparks... in EVERY STATE IN THE U.S. (I only need ONE!)

A lot has been said about whether Facebook overpaid for Instagram.  I don't really care.  It's their money, and they can spend it however they want.  I wasn't an Instagram user, so I don't care about this rebel alliance getting bought by the evil empire.  I don't plan on building a career in mergers & acquisitions, so I don't care to make a case study about what you can get for a billion dollars (unless we're talking about skateparks.) What I DO care about is the lesson that we can take from Instagram about patiently

Effective Networking Part 1

Every good opportunity has come from people I knew

Starting with my first job in my career, every new opportunity has come from a relationship with someone I knew.  The best jobs, the kind of jobs you really want, don’t make it to the job listings.  The interesting, challenging jobs that require thinking will never be listed in the Help Wanted ads or recruited for at career fairs.  The open-ended jobs that require responsibility and innovation will always be given to someone with whom the hiring manager has a relationship.

That sounds unfair to people that don’t have any contacts.  It did to me when I was a student and my classmates were being offered internships from friends of their parents.  “Must be nice,” I’d think to myself as I spent my afternoons online applying for summer positions.  But the reality is, there’s no point feeling bitter about it or feeling left out.  Networking is the great career equalizer.   Anyone can do it and everyone should. 

I'll give one example... after the jump.