Map your network

Start with warm then expand to warm-ish then cold.

• Warm: former teammates, classmates, managers, mentors, hackathon buddies.
• Warm-ish: alumni you’ve never met, maintainers whose repos you’ve contributed to, people who liked your post.
• Cold: shared company/role interest with no prior touch.

Make a quick inventory:

• People: names you can actually message.
• Shared context: school, repo, talk, community.
• Angle: how you’re relevant to them (not just to you).