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Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

pcmaffey.com

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Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#91

Post by [deleted] »

sk0v wrote: post #79
osobo wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, in your metaphor he decided to get rid of all cars, forever. There are probably a ton of people who blog about that. Since there is no alternative for Linkedin and it is defacto the only professional social network out there, it is a categorical decision where quite a few people are wondering how it would affect them, of they did the same.

I get what you say to some extent - and as often is, there is no direct comparison. But let me elaborate a little bit on my view. LinkedIn may be an online professional network, but that doesn't mean there are no other means of "transportation". I take care of my network by meeting my professional peers a lot. I talk with the same recruiters normally, both in a hiring capacity and a candidate capacity. I know them, t…

[deleted]

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#92

Post by ssm008 »

I tried creating a LinkedIn profile some time ago. After having updated everything in the profile, it was restricted. To activate it again I have to verify my ID by sending pictures of my passport or something. I wonder which wire I tripped to get banned like that

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#93

Post by mcv »

I'm no fan of LinkedIn. It's a mess of dark patterns, and I think that shortly after I joined, they tried to con me into giving them my Gmail password. They certainly offer me a lot of contacts who I do know, but they have no business knowing that I know them. There's certainly fishy stuff going on.

At the same time, though, recruiters find me there. Despite my CV being years out of date, and me ignoring LinkedIn most of the time, recruiters keep finding me there and offering me interesting freelance positions.

A co-worker who is also a freelancer uses LinkedIn more actively, and uses it to connect to hiring managers of companies he might want to work for. That way he finds work without middlemen.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#94

Post by brendancahill »

I really enjoyed your article. LinkedIn seems to not know what it would like to be. Its initial model was good - bring resumes into the 21st century. But, in an era when one's Twitter account or personal blog is considered "the new resume" what is LinkedIn's value proposition anymore? Personally, I do like the platform, but I have found its users much less likely to respond/interact with content or DMs than Twitter. Thanks!

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#95

Post by prepend »

shafyy wrote: post #77

I've deleted my LinkedIn several years ago, as it was annoying and didn't bring any value to me. I do have a fake account to overcome their auth wall to see other people's profiles (useful once in a full moon). As others have said, LinkedIn should have stopped as a digital rolodex.

How was it annoying? I turned off LinkedIn’s notifications probably 10 years ago and they’ve been surprisingly not bad about coming up with new categories of messages that I need to block.

I think I only use it as a digital Rolodex and it’s been helpful as that. I can’t think of another site as useful for that purpose.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#96

Post by petercooper »

ageitgey wrote: post #26
BrentOzar wrote: post #6

If you ever want to become an independent consultant, LinkedIn has a value that won't be immediately apparent to you. While YOU might hate it, there are some business folks who search LinkedIn first. They want to see consultants/contractors who've been used by other people in their network, been recommended, etc. I know it sounds odd to us - I would neeeever search LinkedIn first - but I've heard from prospects who h…

As a consultant, LinkedIn is also helpful if you are trying to turn a niche consulting area into a resellable software product (the dream of every hourly consultant). You can find and reach the end users of whatever weird niche you want to sell into and have them try out a prototype, etc. Most of the world's employees aren't software devs who get annoyed by regular cold calls from recruiters. So often non-software pe…

Most of the world's employees aren't software devs who get annoyed by.. (insert one of many things here)

This is a really important point. Time and time again I see lengthy discussions on Hacker News around various topics (especially relating to advertising and marketing) where the consensus isn't even vaguely a majority viewpoint in the wider world, and it's useful to be able to focus on the big picture.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#97

Post by 42_ »

ThePhysicist wrote: post #28

From a professional standpoint LinkedIn gave me a lot of value for free so I'm mostly feeling positive about it, but I agree that like any social network it has downsides and can lead to psychological stress. Personally I live by the mantra that "scrolling is dangerous", i.e. I try to never interact with social media or news platforms that incite me to scroll down a feed of algorithmically curated news or updates, as…

Now that I think about it, most of my complaints about LinkedIn is about the "news feed". Its full of mostly useless content by wannabe thought leaders drowning out a few posts which may have been insightful/relevant. Job search and add/message connections are the only features I have found useful.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#98

Post by scarface74 »

bulka wrote: post #37
Avalaxy wrote: post #25

The author says it himself in the introductory paragraph: > I never used LinkedIn... hadn't even updated my profile in the 9 months since I left my last software engineering job. So you use LinkedIn only passively, never do anything on the platform and then write a rant on how it provides you no value? Maybe actually _try_ to use the strengths of LinkedIn before you dismiss it?

I think this is what author is saysing exactly. If you use it passively then there is no value (add?) and then the question is why to have a profile at all? Did not look like a rant to me.

I would never have gotten in contact with the external recruiters who eventually landed me 4/6 of the jobs I have had since 2008.

I definitely wouldn’t have been contacted by an internal recruiter at $BigTech that led to the remote job that I will be starting in July.

My LinkedIn profile is relatively bare. I definitely use it passively. It has just enough keywords to get noticed by recruiters searching.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#100

Post by iambrj »

sk0v wrote: post #63

I really consider getting rid of my car. I bought it a year ago, but it's only ever sat in the driveway, I never use it. The funny meta-thing about his post, is that the content he feels adds 0 value, is in fact his own post. He is literally making a post about a tool he doesn't use. It's the equivalent of a person making a blog post about a tv series they don't watch but have seen the trailer for; no actual value to…

> It's the equivalent of a person making a blog post about a tv series they don't watch but have seen the trailer for; no actual value to add to the discussion about the topic.

IMO a more accurate analogy would be a person dropping a tv series in between, in which case they can indeed add value to the discussion - why they dropped the series etc.

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