Recently I’ve tried to find more Germans in Austin to connect and network with. For that reason I’ve joined the local German ex-patriate group that meets once a month at a local bar. The other day I drove out of our neighborhood (which is pretty big with 2600 houses, almost a village by itself) when I saw an Audi A4 with a German D stuck to its bumper. At the red light at the exit of the neighborhood I rolled down my window and hollered over. After a second of hesitation the Audi’s window also lowered and we were able to exchange a few words before the light turned green. During those seconds I learned that he was indeed originally from Germany as I am and that he lives on street X in the neighborhood. While suggesting that we should have a couple of beers together sometimes, the light turned green and we each went our way.

The next day I went online and looked up the publicly available house owner data of that street and looked for a German sounding name. Mr Meier (name changed) was easily identified and I used his name for a search with LinkedIn, a professional networking community. Sure enough I found him working for another high-tech company in town. So I contacted him in turn through this website. After the exchange of a couple of emails we met yesterday in person the first time. Quite exciting – from a bumper sticker to a new neighborhood friend.

America is really great in that way.  Connecting with strangers isn’t considered strange at all. Of course the privacy aspect of this story is somewhat is scary.