When I started posting actively, my feed needed to be curated to bring in diverse thinking. So I went looking, and followed people with different ideas. I have also been lucky to get connection requests that opened up conversations my original feed would have kept out of view.
My lane is development, infrastructure, architecture, and now AI. My posts come from my active projects and research. Therefore security, AI memory, learning, infrastructure, and local LLMs are my topics, and I expect my feed to support that.
Then I connected with designers, artists, and writers who are wrestling with the same question I am, what AI does to the work, but from a craft I have never practiced. What they focus on and how it is composed are genuinely different from what I write.
You do not get there by scrolling. A comment, a follow, a connection request, each one risks being ignored. I have sent a few that went nowhere. Those that turned into real conversations were worth it.
It runs both ways. When a request comes in, I look for a photo, some work history, a few posts, enough to see a real person on the other end. It makes sense that people are cautious about adding to their network, so some work on your own profile is worthwhile.
A few new ingredients in your network, and the whole dish changes.
Who have you connected with outside your own craft, and what did it change about how you think?
Written by Duane Grey
AI Strategy & Implementation
Independent AI consultant helping companies cut through hype and deploy systems that produce real results.