Everyone who I spoke to in the run up to my Saltire Foundation Internship stressed to me the importance of networking, not only during your internship but long after you return home as well. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who, after being told this, didn't really know how to network/ what networking actually means. The idea of networking previously made me feel quite uncomfortable but that has definitely changed now. I probably still don't have it mastered but I have at least got over the notion which was rooted firmly in my mind that all networking is stupid, pointless and a complete waste of time. I do still hate the phrase ‘It's not what you know, it's who you know’, though. I think that ‘It's neither what nor who you know but a combination of both as well as who knows what you know and what you know about who you know’ is a much more accurate way of describing things. Don't expect that one to catch on anytime soon though...

What I do have now is some idea of what there is to be gained from networking (however you might define it). As a final year Aeronautical Engineering student at Glasgow Uni, I am required to complete a 20 week industrial placement in order to finish my degree. Students are left to their own devices when it comes to arranging these placements so I set about feverishly email blasting anyone of any relevance with my CV and a covering letter explaining how I've always dreamed of working for their company and that since age 5 I had been in intensive training for the internship they would surely give me. The results of this were somewhat limited and I was beginning to doubt if I'd be able to get something until I had a chat with fellow 2010 Saltire Scholar Douglas McLaren. Dougie's internship was in Shenzhen, China with IBM and he had acquired a fair few contacts over there, one of whom was the HR (that's human resources - don't worry, I hate corporate jargon a lot and actively try to not know the meaning of as much of it as possible) director of an Irish-owned, Shenzhen-based Supply Chain/ Logistics (more borderline jargon to me) and more importantly (from my point of view) Mechanical Engineering company called PCH (a name with origins similarly enigmatic to that of my Saltire host company, Lab49).

A couple of emails back and forth later and the deal was sealed. I was going to China for 20 weeks. Fantastic. And it doesn't take a genius to see that none of this would've happened if I hadn't gatecrashed the Strathclyde Uni Saltire Foundation recruitment event last year after missing the Glasgow event.

This must've been what the speakers meant about doors opening and new opportunities presenting themselves. In order to avoid sounding like an Oscar winner's speech I had planned to write how grateful I am to everyone for giving me the chance to do all this in Chinese...but my Chinese isnt that good yet. So well done Saltire Foundation and Dougie for helping a networkaphobe overcome his reluctance to network.