Live data from Hacker News

All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go

thebaffler.com

51–60 of 71 posts

Re: All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, unless you're actually really happy with your current employment and income. In that case, why even bother looking for something "better"? At that point that's just greedy.

The best time to interview is precisely when you're happy with your job. You have zero pressure, you can practice interviewing, network and you can make extravagant requirements. If it doesn't work out, no big deal, you like where you are. But if it does, your career can make quantum leaps.

Free time is limited. I'd like to spend it doing something more rewarding than job hunting.

Re: All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go

#52
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most recruiters are lazy and just blast emails by language keyword search. No, I'm not interested in a 6-month PHP contract. No, I'm not interested in a junior IT role. I've found that removing any mention of specific languages and technologies has dramatically reduced the number of job offers, all of which were a complete waste of my time. Now if only recruiters would stop offering me my same title at a 20% pay cut,…

I have never received that sort of offer. Maybe your resume isn't competitive for the better jobs.

Another possibility is that they already have one of the better jobs, and most jobs do not offer a competitive salary.

Re: All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go

#53
post #9
post #2

A few years back, I found myself saying to a friend "I have no choice but to have a LinkedIn account". I realised how ridiculous that was, and within days, I deleted the account. I have not suffered in any way since, and have definitely benefited from not having constant spammy job offers.

> I have not suffered in any way You don't really know that, maybe you missed out on interesting jobs and you'll never know. At the very least, receiving recruiter emails from LinkedIn allows me to do networking and meet a lot of influential people at various companies, even if I don't end up landing a job there. It also builds my recruiter network, which is never a bad thing: if I ever need a job one day, I am plann…

I'm very happily employed anyway, and at no point in the 4 years since I quit LinkedIn have I struggled to find meaningful, well paid employment. If I had stayed on LinkedIn just maybe some amazing job offer would have appeared that otherwise hasn't - but I doubt it. For 8 years as a member of LinkedIn I never had one interesting conversation. And I could say "what if I moved to New York?" or "what if I learned to speak Spanish?" There's an opportunity cost to not doing those things as well.

I understand that some people can find value from LinkedIn, but I just don't feel that I'm one of them. I attend lots of meetups in London, and participate in online discussions, and that's good enough for me.

Re: All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a LinkedIn account ages ago but found it useless and chock full of recruiter spam. It was the first of all my social networks to go. I am always astonished when I hear phrases like "it's required". Really? By whom? I'm glad to hear there are other people out there who don't have it, because all I hear about is the other side: People bemoaning LinkedIn's existence but parroting this idea that their professional…

We're u getting 100s a week? I don't understand fellow coders who view recruiters as a nuisance when u can use them to get a way better deal on your next gig. With my LinkedIn I am vague re: where I currently work and provide them all with my spam contact info(spam email and spam google voice number that is a voicemail box which messages go to my email). Maybe it's the volume of recruiters? I get ten a week and enjoy…

I'm getting maybe one a month, but I specified clearly that I'm not looking for career opportunities. Either it's from always the same companies (Amazon and ARM are 80% of it) that won't let me work from home or it's completely outside my domain (web stuff---good companies to work for, but I work on the kernel not on web back-ends).

I did apply for my current job through LinkedIn, that's the only reason why I haven't deleted the profile. That said it was my first job, seven years after I would be able to find another job just through email if I needed one.

Re: All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go

#55
post #2

A few years back, I found myself saying to a friend "I have no choice but to have a LinkedIn account". I realised how ridiculous that was, and within days, I deleted the account. I have not suffered in any way since, and have definitely benefited from not having constant spammy job offers.

I changed careers and deleted my account 2 years ago. I still get occasional offers from recruiters. I guess deleting an account on LI doesn't really make it invisible.

Re: All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. They focus on the professional: marketing themselves, finding jobs, keeping in touch with people... There's no shame in a resume service with a social component. They bought Slideshare which - in my way of looking at things - forwards how they help people market themselves. Maybe they could probably do more with coding ability tests or partner with online education, but that's probably premature.

Sure, but I just find that focus incredibly uninspiring. Twitter, FB, Instagram...they changed the way we communicate to those circles. Not that an equivalent parallel exists for LinkedIn, but it's like they're not really trying.

A real world use can often be uninspiring. What would make solving a real world problem more interesting to you?

Re: All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go

#58

I think LinkedIn really missed the opportunity to change the way our culture thinks about work and professional communication. Another commenter called LI a glorified resume service, which really nails the point. Resumes from 20 years ago are no different from the current LinkedIn profile; the only incremental signal is the connection base...and that's only a signal if that information is public. The fact that Linked…

> I think LinkedIn really missed the opportunity to change the way our culture thinks about work and professional communication.

Any thoughts on what this might look like? Not denigrating your point, just curious.

Re: All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go

#59
Linkedin is the only social network profile I actively maintain.

FB, G+, Twitter, Snapchat and the like add no value to my life at all. If anything they are just another source of annoying notifications.

Linkedin has gotten me several hundred thousand dollars worth of contracts. Enough said.

Re: All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go

#60
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best time to interview is precisely when you're happy with your job. You have zero pressure, you can practice interviewing, network and you can make extravagant requirements. If it doesn't work out, no big deal, you like where you are. But if it does, your career can make quantum leaps.

Free time is limited. I'd like to spend it doing something more rewarding than job hunting.

You know what could give you more free time? A better offer from a different job. Or more money. That can typically be exchanged for free time too.
Post reply on HN