Networking Through Streaming on Twitch
Leah Thompson's talks how Twitch streaming could potentially create networking opportunities in tech. She recently started working at Laravel, she busts the myth that you need fancy gear—she started with just a MacBook Air, basic streaming software, and background music.
Reframing networking as genuine friendship-building, it's about making real friends, not just promoting yourself. Don't spam other streamers' chats with your links; instead, hang out in streams, share content across platforms, talk with your viewers, and support others through raids.
The benefits extend beyond Twitch: you get better at technical interviews, learn concepts deeper by teaching them, and unlock opportunities like job referrals and speaking gigs. Leah shared that her own first conference talk came because she had proof of explaining tech concepts on stream. Her story shows how putting yourself out there can open doors you didn't expect.
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Transcript
Hi, everyone. Okay. So today, I'm going to be talking about networking through streaming on Twitch. Actually, JK, I'm going to be teaching everyone trigonometry, so get out your notepads. Okay. So about me, my name is Leah Thompson.
And if you follow me on social media, so Twitter or anywhere, you'll know that I've been job hunting the last few months. And it's been like my whole life. So on social media, all I've been posting about is me job hunting and interviewing and stuff like that.
And I've been teasing that I started a new job this Monday. So I'm really excited to tell everyone about my new job at no, but I am I am a front end slash marketing engineer at Laravel.
So Kent thought he was only getting Josh. He also is getting me. So this is now a Laravel conference. I'm sorry, Kent.
Okay. So let's talk about Twitch. So what Twitch is, is it's a live streaming platform. It is primarily known for gaming streams, but it also has categories for just chatting, co working, and software and game development. And then why this talk is about Twitch and not YouTube? It's just per personal preference. Words are hard.
I like streaming on Twitch. I feel like it's easier to form, an organic audience and get organic interaction through Twitch. If you already have a platform or a, subscriber base on YouTube, it might make more sense to start streaming on YouTube instead of Twitch or just stream on both. Okay. So let's talk about getting started streaming.
So of course, you're here. You know who Kent Dodds is. You probably see his setup. And you're like, I need a fancy setup like his or Josh Sears or Aaron Francis. I need, like, the hair light, the everything. You don't. You don't need a fancy set up to start streaming.
That picture on the right is what I had when I started streaming. So it was just a MacBook Air. The same one. No external mic. No external camera. Two external, like, other monitors. But no, like, ring lights or anything fancy. What you do need is you need a computer, streaming software, and then a mic and camera.
But you can use the built in ones on your laptop. You don't need external ones. A list of DMCA free music to play during stream so that it's not just, like, crickets and then you're click clacking as you're typing on your keyboard. And then what streaming software do I use? I like OBS.
It can have a bit of a learning curve when you're getting started. So if it makes more sense or it's easier for you to use stream labs OBS or something like that, then feel free to start with that and then just pivot to using OBS later on if you want to. Okay.
So now the do's and don'ts of networking. When we think networking, we can think it's more formal. But really all you want to do is make friends and be genuine. Like Madison said in her talk earlier, you're not going into someone's stream and saying, like, hi, mister streamer, sir. I would like to be your acquaintance. You know?
Like, no one talks like that. That's not how you make friends. So don't go into expecting something from another person. Don't constantly try to promote your own streams and other people's chats, and don't only engage with people in hopes that they'll rate you or boost your stream. That's not making anyone friends. Okay.
So now we've reframed how we think about networking. Let's talk about how we build a network on Twitch. Watching other streams on the platform and engaging with those streams is a great way to make friends with other streamers. You can also post about your streams on your other other social media platforms.
I'll post pictures before I go live on Twitch. You can post clips from your stream. You can also, like, say you did something really cool on stream, like, with your project. You can record a, like, little demo of that. Post it on Twitter or somewhere, and say a person who sees it wasn't in your stream.
That might intrigue them and make them want to go to your stream next time. Engage with your chat, so try to reach out messages and respond to them. Acknowledge people as they show up. And then rate other channels which will just take your audience to another person's stream when you end your stream. Okay.
So what are the outcomes? You might be asking, like, why would I want to do this? Why do I want to subject myself to this? I don't want to be seen by anyone or perceived. Doing this helps prepare you for technical interviews.
So it's a great way to practice, like, live coding, having someone watch you and talking through your thought process. When you teach others, it helps solidify those concepts in your mind. So that really helps as well. It can unlock opportunities. So you can get referrals. You can get jobs. You can get sponsorships or free license license? Licenses?
Okay. Sorry. By streaming. You just get a bunch of opportunities such as even speaking on the stage here at Epic Web. This is my first ever conference talk. But since I had proof of me talking through technical concepts on Twitch, I think that really helped with me getting accepted to speak at conferences as well. And thank you.
Thank you everyone.
