Was it not always weird? I haven't logged on in years. I never really understood the appeal of LinkedIn. When I did use it, I mostly just saw marketing wank from companies trying to pretend they...
Was it not always weird? I haven't logged on in years.
I never really understood the appeal of LinkedIn. When I did use it, I mostly just saw marketing wank from companies trying to pretend they are awesome places to work, and my peers posting nonsense engineered to get recruiters excited.
Back when there was still some value to be found in social media, it usually wasn't on LinkedIn. All the interesting conversations pertaining to my vocation were on Twitter or Reddit.
It's a central place to host a resume and look for jobs or for recruiters to look for you. Also good for reconnecting with colleagues from past jobs. Then there's the whole separate alternate...
I never really understood the appeal of LinkedIn.
It's a central place to host a resume and look for jobs or for recruiters to look for you. Also good for reconnecting with colleagues from past jobs.
Then there's the whole separate alternate universe social media component to it, but that's for crazy people. The only people who use that, and the reason its so weird, is for people who mingle their personal and work lives and can't stop posting. If that part doesn't appeal to you, it's probably because you're normal.
There's also a sensible part that does use it for networking. There's a middle ground there where authenticity is absolutely essential, but it's usually hijacked by the "look at meeeeee" types...
There's also a sensible part that does use it for networking. There's a middle ground there where authenticity is absolutely essential, but it's usually hijacked by the "look at meeeeee" types until they get told to hush.
The way I think about it is I use facebook for sharing photos of my kids to friends and family members, and looking at photos of their family activities in return. Then, I use LinkedIn to keep in...
The way I think about it is I use facebook for sharing photos of my kids to friends and family members, and looking at photos of their family activities in return.
Then, I use LinkedIn to keep in touch with former coworkers the same way, though instead of posting about our kids we are sharing posts and stories that are relevant to what we do in our field. Or, I will connect with customers and partners from other companies that I'm actually working on projects with to grow the network and keep in touch with them over time.
It's also the primary way that I market and grow my podcast audience, since it's a business podcast.
What I would love is if people would stop posting politics and social justice stuff there. Just tell me what interesting tech stuff you're working on and keep the politics out of the office. I'm progressive but I subscribe to the Brian Armstrong philosophy. If it isn't directly related to growing our business, put it on facebook or instagram or whatever for your friends.
To me twitter is the really weird place because people use it for politics, professional stuff, keeping up with friends, sharing academic information, hearing what famous people think, and all kinds of other jumbled nonsense. Pure cacophony.
That breaks down into different components too. There are the normal people who just post their resume, but then there are the people who are seriously prospecting for sales, consulting work, MLM...
That breaks down into different components too.
There are the normal people who just post their resume, but then there are the people who are seriously prospecting for sales, consulting work, MLM or something like that. Then there are the people who want to be"thought leaders" who sometimes intersect with that. Then there is all the spam.
I went through a time of using LinkedIn heavily as "all of the above" and deleted my account because it had brought so many bullshitters, "idea people" who would bring in top experts and not listen to them, and sales people who couldn't sell into my life.
I remember feeling that I’d begun to lose sight on how to use LinkedIn as a professional network when I realized that I would only (and still do) “connect” with those I actually had a professional...
I remember feeling that I’d begun to lose sight on how to use LinkedIn as a professional network when I realized that I would only (and still do) “connect” with those I actually had a professional relationship with (present and past colleagues, vendors and reps I engage with, friends for their professional connections, etc) while it seemed to be a more common trend to “connect” with everyone under the sun (random recruiters, random unrelated requests, random employees that worked at one’s former company 15 years after they have no longer worked there, etc). While my network now is a healthy ~500, I’ve seen (in my field) it’s more common to be 1000+. Not saying there’s a right or wrong approach here, but that was my first feeling of “Wait, what is this? Is there more or less value in networking with a connection of a colleague vs a stranger?”
Then the blurring of casual and professional which this article focuses on only added to that disconnect.
It’s similar with Blind. Once touted as the ultimate, professional network of anonymous, transparent discourse seems to primarily be (IMO terrible) relationship advice posts.
Blind is legitimately the worst social media app I've ever used lol. I have it to get a quick glance on the industry but my company is too small to use it effectively anyways, and everyone else on...
Blind is legitimately the worst social media app I've ever used lol. I have it to get a quick glance on the industry but my company is too small to use it effectively anyways, and everyone else on there is only there to jerk off their own companies and TC.
It’s not a normal social media for sure. I think it’s useful for its niche. You need thick skin and to not take anything too seriously, but there’s a lot of legitimate rumors and some semblance of...
It’s not a normal social media for sure. I think it’s useful for its niche. You need thick skin and to not take anything too seriously, but there’s a lot of legitimate rumors and some semblance of authenticity, especially in the private company groups. I’d never use it as an avenue for socialization, but as somewhere to see if those layoff or reorg rumors have smoke, it’s really the only place, even if you need a metaphorical hazmat suit.
Also decent for scouting potential new companies - just understand that selection bias means everyone hates where they work - after all, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t spend so much time on blind.
Ironically I feel like most people on blind are bit too thin-skinned, it seems a lot can "trigger" someone on there. But yeah that's basically all I use it for as well, just to see what rumors and...
Ironically I feel like most people on blind are bit too thin-skinned, it seems a lot can "trigger" someone on there. But yeah that's basically all I use it for as well, just to see what rumors and goings on are in the tech world. I wish they would just focus on that tbh, the socially awkward relationship posts and such are wayyyyy too prevalent.
I only go to LinkedIn to update my profile when I want to change job and this article made me says out loud: What The Fuck. Which, incidentally is also a great summary for it, I'd say :D
I only go to LinkedIn to update my profile when I want to change job and this article made me says out loud: What The Fuck.
Which, incidentally is also a great summary for it, I'd say :D
A couple of weeks ago, a company truck was turning around in my neighborhood. Out the passenger window came two 16oz beer cans, into the street, it's 8am. I started looking up the company (which...
A couple of weeks ago, a company truck was turning around in my neighborhood. Out the passenger window came two 16oz beer cans, into the street, it's 8am.
I started looking up the company (which had it's name on the side of the trucks) to mention that whomever is driving their trucks is a drunk and an asshole for throwing garbage out the window. Before I bitched, I decided to look around a little bit more and turned up their LinkedIn. I discovered it was a pretty small company and looked at the person who I assumed would be handling my complaint, the Office Manager. Looking at their LinkedIn, I immediately decided it wouldn't be worth my time to bitch, as their entire feed was filled-up with Right Wing memes, as well as Memes making fun of those who think LinkedIn ought to be kept professional.
I don't ever use LinkedIn, though I have an account with my skills and professional contacts, but god damn it's baffling that people use it like another Facebook.
I use LinkedIn pretty much daily. Senior Leadership means I have to chime in a lot. I mostly talk leadership, shop talk and neurodiversity. But my god there are so inane posts on there done for...
I use LinkedIn pretty much daily. Senior Leadership means I have to chime in a lot. I mostly talk leadership, shop talk and neurodiversity. But my god there are so inane posts on there done for attention.
My favourite at the moment are recruiters coming off leave and posting holiday photos for engagement. Endlessly ripped to shreds.
The self-promotion is why I don't participate in most of the social media stuff out there. I find myself repelling from self-aggrandizement, and that's what a lot of the most popular sites are...
The self-promotion is why I don't participate in most of the social media stuff out there. I find myself repelling from self-aggrandizement, and that's what a lot of the most popular sites are completely filled with. There is a very fine line between talking about yourself (which is fine) and talking about how great/pretty/blessed/smart you are (which just suuuuuucks so bad).
Spot on. I talk about leadership a lot, one of the biggest things that people are following now? Authenticity. I'm not talking someone who goes "yes, yes, mental health... but business" - It's the...
Spot on. I talk about leadership a lot, one of the biggest things that people are following now? Authenticity. I'm not talking someone who goes "yes, yes, mental health... but business" - It's the people who don't buy into the bullshit, who straight talk and are exactly who they say they are in action and not just words.
The difference between a 'personal brand' (bleugh) and bullshitters is simple. The later are the fuckwits we all take the piss out of, the other is something to take pride in and use as a vessel for your next role OR... to lift someone up behind you.
I think LinkedIn is taking in a lot of X/Twitter refugees, especially companies and professionals that commonly posted there. I know my company used to post a lot on Twitter but since the...
I think LinkedIn is taking in a lot of X/Twitter refugees, especially companies and professionals that commonly posted there. I know my company used to post a lot on Twitter but since the Muskshittification they've migrated almost exclusively to LinkedIn.
My company has always done a ton of posting on LI. I'm wondering if that's going to change, or how the company uses LI will change in general in the future if this keeps up.
My company has always done a ton of posting on LI. I'm wondering if that's going to change, or how the company uses LI will change in general in the future if this keeps up.
I use it when I'm looking for a job. It gets updated with the latest info, then dropped like it gives me diseases, just so I can tell potential employers that they can look at my history and...
I use it when I'm looking for a job. It gets updated with the latest info, then dropped like it gives me diseases, just so I can tell potential employers that they can look at my history and skillset there.
What a terrible place to be, even worse now that people are using it as yet another "muh freeze peach" platform, right down to the insane conspiracies.
I still use LinkedIn to keep in touch with people I've worked with and liked over the years. I'll post a recommendation if they're looking for work, or just touch base to see how they're doing....
I still use LinkedIn to keep in touch with people I've worked with and liked over the years. I'll post a recommendation if they're looking for work, or just touch base to see how they're doing. Detailed positive recommendations on LinkedIn really do show up favourably when companies are looking for people to interview.
I do follow a small group of reputable professionals in my field because their technical updates are interesting and useful. That tiny list of follows outside people I actually know still gets me spammed with posts that are only tangentially related, from people I wouldn't follow even if I got paid by the line.
And I'll keep my profile updated because you never know who's looking for my peculiar skillset. I still get recruiters reaching out a couple of times a month even though I'm not set as available.
But ghods no, I wouldn't dream of putting anything more personal out there than "seeking new position"/"not looking for work". It's bad enough that Microsoft has my professional social graph, as well as any potentially nefarious actors who hack the site (or whatever data brokers have access). I don't need to be doing the performing monkey social curation dance to hype myself. Maybe that's because I'm old-fashioned, but I have a hard line for professional decorum and discretion. No one is entitled to know anything about me other than whether I can get the job done successfully and have good peer/customer relationships.
[My spouse's employer used to regularly police employees' LinkedIn accounts to see if anyone set themselves available, or had posted anything that might cast the company in a negative light. By all means, assume your employer does, too.]
I deleted mine years ago and will try to continue working at places that have no requirement for it nor value it. It was awful when I left and has gotten worse since.
I deleted mine years ago and will try to continue working at places that have no requirement for it nor value it. It was awful when I left and has gotten worse since.
I used to have a LinkedIn account and obsessed over maintaining it and making connections. One day, I decided to stop using it to see what would happen. Eventually, I decided to delete it. It just...
I used to have a LinkedIn account and obsessed over maintaining it and making connections. One day, I decided to stop using it to see what would happen. Eventually, I decided to delete it. It just made my mental health so much better.
People on LinkedIn really get on my nerves, I kinda just want to get rid of my account. I work for a decently big tech company so I get a lot of connection requests from random people asking for...
People on LinkedIn really get on my nerves, I kinda just want to get rid of my account. I work for a decently big tech company so I get a lot of connection requests from random people asking for referrals. Despite the fact that I've clearly put in my account to not connect with me just for a referral, people still do it. I used to give a simply reply saying I don't give referrals out to random people but now I just deny the connection request.
Was it not always weird? I haven't logged on in years.
I never really understood the appeal of LinkedIn. When I did use it, I mostly just saw marketing wank from companies trying to pretend they are awesome places to work, and my peers posting nonsense engineered to get recruiters excited.
Back when there was still some value to be found in social media, it usually wasn't on LinkedIn. All the interesting conversations pertaining to my vocation were on Twitter or Reddit.
It's a central place to host a resume and look for jobs or for recruiters to look for you. Also good for reconnecting with colleagues from past jobs.
Then there's the whole separate alternate universe social media component to it, but that's for crazy people. The only people who use that, and the reason its so weird, is for people who mingle their personal and work lives and can't stop posting. If that part doesn't appeal to you, it's probably because you're normal.
There's also a sensible part that does use it for networking. There's a middle ground there where authenticity is absolutely essential, but it's usually hijacked by the "look at meeeeee" types until they get told to hush.
The way I think about it is I use facebook for sharing photos of my kids to friends and family members, and looking at photos of their family activities in return.
Then, I use LinkedIn to keep in touch with former coworkers the same way, though instead of posting about our kids we are sharing posts and stories that are relevant to what we do in our field. Or, I will connect with customers and partners from other companies that I'm actually working on projects with to grow the network and keep in touch with them over time.
It's also the primary way that I market and grow my podcast audience, since it's a business podcast.
What I would love is if people would stop posting politics and social justice stuff there. Just tell me what interesting tech stuff you're working on and keep the politics out of the office. I'm progressive but I subscribe to the Brian Armstrong philosophy. If it isn't directly related to growing our business, put it on facebook or instagram or whatever for your friends.
To me twitter is the really weird place because people use it for politics, professional stuff, keeping up with friends, sharing academic information, hearing what famous people think, and all kinds of other jumbled nonsense. Pure cacophony.
That breaks down into different components too.
There are the normal people who just post their resume, but then there are the people who are seriously prospecting for sales, consulting work, MLM or something like that. Then there are the people who want to be"thought leaders" who sometimes intersect with that. Then there is all the spam.
I went through a time of using LinkedIn heavily as "all of the above" and deleted my account because it had brought so many bullshitters, "idea people" who would bring in top experts and not listen to them, and sales people who couldn't sell into my life.
I rarely check in on my LinkedIn account and never post anything there, and this article makes me feel pretty good about that.
Same same. I updated when I started my last job over 6 yrs ago. I've never felt compelled to share anything on LinkedIn.
Glad I'm not the only one. I haven't touched mine since 2011 when I first created a profile (outside of just accepting connections).
I remember feeling that I’d begun to lose sight on how to use LinkedIn as a professional network when I realized that I would only (and still do) “connect” with those I actually had a professional relationship with (present and past colleagues, vendors and reps I engage with, friends for their professional connections, etc) while it seemed to be a more common trend to “connect” with everyone under the sun (random recruiters, random unrelated requests, random employees that worked at one’s former company 15 years after they have no longer worked there, etc). While my network now is a healthy ~500, I’ve seen (in my field) it’s more common to be 1000+. Not saying there’s a right or wrong approach here, but that was my first feeling of “Wait, what is this? Is there more or less value in networking with a connection of a colleague vs a stranger?”
Then the blurring of casual and professional which this article focuses on only added to that disconnect.
It’s similar with Blind. Once touted as the ultimate, professional network of anonymous, transparent discourse seems to primarily be (IMO terrible) relationship advice posts.
Blind is legitimately the worst social media app I've ever used lol. I have it to get a quick glance on the industry but my company is too small to use it effectively anyways, and everyone else on there is only there to jerk off their own companies and TC.
It’s not a normal social media for sure. I think it’s useful for its niche. You need thick skin and to not take anything too seriously, but there’s a lot of legitimate rumors and some semblance of authenticity, especially in the private company groups. I’d never use it as an avenue for socialization, but as somewhere to see if those layoff or reorg rumors have smoke, it’s really the only place, even if you need a metaphorical hazmat suit.
Also decent for scouting potential new companies - just understand that selection bias means everyone hates where they work - after all, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t spend so much time on blind.
Ironically I feel like most people on blind are bit too thin-skinned, it seems a lot can "trigger" someone on there. But yeah that's basically all I use it for as well, just to see what rumors and goings on are in the tech world. I wish they would just focus on that tbh, the socially awkward relationship posts and such are wayyyyy too prevalent.
I only go to LinkedIn to update my profile when I want to change job and this article made me says out loud: What The Fuck.
Which, incidentally is also a great summary for it, I'd say :D
That is something I've also wondered about Facebook. You'd think people would care a little about how their profile looks, but they don't.
A couple of weeks ago, a company truck was turning around in my neighborhood. Out the passenger window came two 16oz beer cans, into the street, it's 8am.
I started looking up the company (which had it's name on the side of the trucks) to mention that whomever is driving their trucks is a drunk and an asshole for throwing garbage out the window. Before I bitched, I decided to look around a little bit more and turned up their LinkedIn. I discovered it was a pretty small company and looked at the person who I assumed would be handling my complaint, the Office Manager. Looking at their LinkedIn, I immediately decided it wouldn't be worth my time to bitch, as their entire feed was filled-up with Right Wing memes, as well as Memes making fun of those who think LinkedIn ought to be kept professional.
I don't ever use LinkedIn, though I have an account with my skills and professional contacts, but god damn it's baffling that people use it like another Facebook.
I use LinkedIn pretty much daily. Senior Leadership means I have to chime in a lot. I mostly talk leadership, shop talk and neurodiversity. But my god there are so inane posts on there done for attention.
My favourite at the moment are recruiters coming off leave and posting holiday photos for engagement. Endlessly ripped to shreds.
The self-promotion is why I don't participate in most of the social media stuff out there. I find myself repelling from self-aggrandizement, and that's what a lot of the most popular sites are completely filled with. There is a very fine line between talking about yourself (which is fine) and talking about how great/pretty/blessed/smart you are (which just suuuuuucks so bad).
Spot on. I talk about leadership a lot, one of the biggest things that people are following now? Authenticity. I'm not talking someone who goes "yes, yes, mental health... but business" - It's the people who don't buy into the bullshit, who straight talk and are exactly who they say they are in action and not just words.
The difference between a 'personal brand' (bleugh) and bullshitters is simple. The later are the fuckwits we all take the piss out of, the other is something to take pride in and use as a vessel for your next role OR... to lift someone up behind you.
Apparently some people are starting to use it like Twitter, sort of? If that keeps up, it seems like a possible case of convergent evolution.
I think LinkedIn is taking in a lot of X/Twitter refugees, especially companies and professionals that commonly posted there. I know my company used to post a lot on Twitter but since the Muskshittification they've migrated almost exclusively to LinkedIn.
My company has always done a ton of posting on LI. I'm wondering if that's going to change, or how the company uses LI will change in general in the future if this keeps up.
I should update my job title to Influencer/ Entrepreneur and see how that goes.
I use it when I'm looking for a job. It gets updated with the latest info, then dropped like it gives me diseases, just so I can tell potential employers that they can look at my history and skillset there.
What a terrible place to be, even worse now that people are using it as yet another "muh freeze peach" platform, right down to the insane conspiracies.
I still use LinkedIn to keep in touch with people I've worked with and liked over the years. I'll post a recommendation if they're looking for work, or just touch base to see how they're doing. Detailed positive recommendations on LinkedIn really do show up favourably when companies are looking for people to interview.
I do follow a small group of reputable professionals in my field because their technical updates are interesting and useful. That tiny list of follows outside people I actually know still gets me spammed with posts that are only tangentially related, from people I wouldn't follow even if I got paid by the line.
And I'll keep my profile updated because you never know who's looking for my peculiar skillset. I still get recruiters reaching out a couple of times a month even though I'm not set as available.
But ghods no, I wouldn't dream of putting anything more personal out there than "seeking new position"/"not looking for work". It's bad enough that Microsoft has my professional social graph, as well as any potentially nefarious actors who hack the site (or whatever data brokers have access). I don't need to be doing the performing monkey social curation dance to hype myself. Maybe that's because I'm old-fashioned, but I have a hard line for professional decorum and discretion. No one is entitled to know anything about me other than whether I can get the job done successfully and have good peer/customer relationships.
[My spouse's employer used to regularly police employees' LinkedIn accounts to see if anyone set themselves available, or had posted anything that might cast the company in a negative light. By all means, assume your employer does, too.]
I deleted mine years ago and will try to continue working at places that have no requirement for it nor value it. It was awful when I left and has gotten worse since.
I used to have a LinkedIn account and obsessed over maintaining it and making connections. One day, I decided to stop using it to see what would happen. Eventually, I decided to delete it. It just made my mental health so much better.
People on LinkedIn really get on my nerves, I kinda just want to get rid of my account. I work for a decently big tech company so I get a lot of connection requests from random people asking for referrals. Despite the fact that I've clearly put in my account to not connect with me just for a referral, people still do it. I used to give a simply reply saying I don't give referrals out to random people but now I just deny the connection request.
Apparently I used to have a linkeden account years ago, last month i got an email saying someone had signed into it. I just deleted the account.