The new semester starts tomorrow so I thought I'd share some useful advice on how I made friends during remote learning from scratch - I just finished my first semester at a new university taught entirely online so I haven't met anybody in person nor have I set foot on campus

1) Send emails introducing yourself to ppl in your cohort. I emailed the other two PhD students starting with me after we attended our virtual induction and started a group chat. I also emailed another student whose work I knew of already and started a friendly chat using that
2) If your class doesn't involve breakout rooms, ask your lecturer to perhaps introduce them. I am taking German and 50% of the class takes place in breakout rooms. It's a place to vent, laugh, and make the small talk that normally happens before/after class
3) For classes that can't have breakout rooms: I asked a lecturer if they could put my email in the zoom chat during class if anyone is interested in starting a group chat. It worked, I hadn't spoken to anyone during class but we were all in the same boat and now the chat is lit
4) Ask your supervisor/lecturer to put you in touch with others in your department - particularly those who have similar research interests. Trust me when I say I get so excited if someone new emails me asking if they want to chat, and others probably feel the same
5) Don't be afraid to zoom private chat. I was at a London-wide student workshop and messaged a guy I had seen at a previous workshop because we had similar research interests. We added each other on social media and had a video chat and it was lovely
6) Ask your department if they can set up buddy groups. My uni did this over the holidays I was partnered with 2 other students (one of whom I was mutual with here already lol). We have an active group chat and it's a place for advice and general friendly chat
7) Finally, speaking of mutuals. Use Twitter to meet other students!! I've made several friends over the last few months because of a simple 'Hey I'm a student at x and saw you're interested in y, want to have a chat?' message. Chances are, other ppl are also looking to network
@threadreaderapp unroll pls

More from Education

New from me:

I’m launching my Forecasting For SEO course next month.

It’s everything I’ve learned, tried and tested about SEO forecasting.

The course: https://t.co/bovuIns9OZ

Following along 👇

Why forecasting?

Last year I launched
https://t.co/I6osuvrGAK to provide reliable forecasts to SEO teams.

It went crazy.

I also noticed an appetite for learning more about forecasting and reached out on Twitter to gauge interest:

The interest encouraged me to make a start...

I’ve also been inspired by what others are doing: @tom_hirst, @dvassallo and @azarchick 👏👏

And their guts to be build so openly in public.

So here goes it...

In the last 2 years I’ve only written 3 blog posts on my site.

- Probabilistic thinking in SEO
- Rethinking technical SEO audits
- How to deliver better SEO strategies.

I only write when I feel like I’ve got something to say.

With forecasting, I’ve got something to say. 💭

There are mixed feelings about forecasting in the SEO industry.

Uncertainty is everywhere. Algorithm updates impacting rankings, economic challenges impacting demand.

It’s difficult. 😩
OK I am going to be tackling this as surveillance/open source intel gathering exercise, because that is my background. I blew away 3 years of my life doing site acquisition/reconnaissance for a certain industry that shall remain unnamed and believe there is significant carryover.


This is NOT going to be zillow "here is how to google school districts and find walmart" we are not concerned with this malarkey, we are homeschooling and planting victory gardens and having gigantic happy families.

With that said, for my frog and frog-adjacent bros and sisters:

CHOICE SITES:

Zillow is obvious one, but there are many good sites like Billy Land, Classic Country Land, Landwatch, etc. and many of these specialize in owner financing (more on that later.) Do NOT treat these as authoritative sources - trust plat maps and parcel viewers.

TARGET IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION:

Okay, everyone knows how to google "raw land in x state" but there are other resources out there, including state Departments of Natural Resources, foreclosure auctions, etc. Finding the land you like is the easy part. Let's do a case study.

I'm going to target using an "off-grid but not" algorithm. This is a good piece in my book - middle of nowhere but still trekkable to civilization.

Note: visible power, power/fiber pedestal, utility corridor, nearby commercial enterprise(s), and utility pole shadows visible.
I get asked a lot how you can improve your skills and chances of getting a job as a developer. Best way is to work on a real-world project, deploy it, make it open-source, get feedback from others, share your knowledge, rinse, repeat.

Here are my top 7 project ideas. Thread 👇

1. 📊 Build an embeddable user feedback form (clone of
https://t.co/xFHvT7iFEf) . Have a top notch design, fully working, minimal bugs, open-source, deploy it free on Heroku / Netlify / Vercel. If you can spare $11, buy a domain. Share with the whole world when done.

2. 🚀 Build a product roadmap SAAS.(https://t.co/Rq9DBeCMlh) Users can create new projects, create different stages for their projects. The community can submit project ideas, vote on existing ideas. Project owners pay a monthly fee per project.

3. ⛈️ Build a digital marketplace. (https://t.co/BWd1aeWMt5) Sellers can upload digital products for sale. Customers can purchase digital products and securely download. Sellers are paid out at the end of every month. Don't make it complicated, implement a great design.

4. 👨‍🏭 Build a job board software (https://t.co/EjWoMyqi9H). Companies can post jobs for a price, providing a link to the job application form. Jobs can be highlighted as urgent for an additional price.

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