Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Tech Gal Knows How to Mingle

Sometimes a tech gal needs to get dolled up and get her network on. Friday was one of those nights. My company threw a fabulous cocktail party (thankfully too exclusive to be on valleywag!) at a swanky flat in pacific heights and we went all out. Between makeup at Smashbox (I am obsessed!) to a fantastic cocktail dress to a killer blowout from Amy (adore her!) at Glama-Rama, let's just say I looked my best. We had web 2.0 themed drinks, killer food options, and the bloggeratti were all in attendance. It was a BLAST!

But this brings me to the larger topic of parties and how prevalent and expected they are in the valley. Networking is like a sport here and the more people you know, the greater likelihood that you will turn into a Internet celebrity (think Kevin Rose, Robert Scoble or Jason Calacanis) which is every tech geek's dream. What's up with this economic downturn that everyone seems to be talking about? While I'll note that quite a few tech companies are dropping employees like a bad habit (Yahoo, anyone?) that doesn't seem to affect the SF/silicon valley social scene. There is always some new company launch, social media happy hour, tweetup or tech panel. There are weeks when I attend 3-5 parties before Thursday which in itself is pretty disgusting. Whatever happened to having an independent work and social life? I guess I shouldn't really complain since I am constantly meeting new young tech guys and gals like myself, checking out new interesting venues in SF and learning about the hottest new web software...but a tech gal needs something to complain about, right?

2 comments:

laine said...

"tweetups"? seriously? I'm so behind...

Tech Gal said...

people who are on twitter will suggest a "tweetup" which is like a meetup but for twitter. So it may be folks that you have had online convos with, but not in-person.