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Stop Using LinkedIn

stopusinglinkedin.com

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111–120 of 237 posts

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#111

Post by betenoire »

monochromatic wrote: post #93
MagicWishMonkey wrote: post #50

LinkedIn screwed me over real good a few weeks back. They sent me an email saying "There are 108 people you might want to connect with", so I click on view all and it shows a giant list of people with checkmarks by their names. Nice. I uncheck all of them, and scroll through checking a few folks who I want to network with (5 people in total). Click next, it takes me to a screen showing the 5 people and the banner cle…

> The assholes sent 300 people linkedin connection requests through my own personal gmail account. With zero warning whatsoever. The fact that they requested access to your email account should have been warning enough.

This type of wisdom only comes with being burnt and cynical. We shouldn't require that of our users.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#112

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

dkarapetyan wrote: post #92
mindcrime wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh I don't know... how about keeping track of former co-workers, people you meet at networking events, and other professional connections? How about finding useful interesting industry or topic specific news and discussion via groups? Or if you are job-hunting, for finding a path to somebody who works at the company you're targeting, so you can try to get an inside testimonial? Or getting a warm intro when trying to…

I don't think you're a programmer or maybe you were but are now at a higher level. My advice was more for practicing programmers than others. I personally get zero value out of linkedin. All the people I consider professional equals can be found on mailing lists, blogs, weekly digests, stackoverflow, meetups, etc. Keeping track of them is quite easy and I don't need a third party in that process that just spams me.

Just because you get no value out of LinkedIn, doesn't mean other programmers don't.

I get useful information about available jobs in my segment of the industry because LinkedIn knows what kind of work I do as opposed to just "he's a programmer." The recruiters who contact me from LinkedIn are looking for people in a specific domain, as opposed to "knows language X and framework Y." I consider that to be a hell of a lot more useful than the usual email job spam.

I also get to see if I know someone who knows someone else that I might want to be introduced to. It's a lot harder to do this on your own without a stack of cross referenced rolodexes.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#113

Post by jrochkind1 »

jacquesc wrote: post #90
jrochkind1 wrote: post #70

I hate LinkedIn, and wish it was not a de facto requirement for getting a job in certain industries/areas. To make it not so, _users_ need to stop using Linked In. This OP is very developer-focused in it's audience, it will not be clear to the non-developer user (or even to many developers) what they are talking about at all, or why it matters. It is written assuming you already know what they're talking about and al…

Developers are a huge resource for LinkedIn. The only reason they can sell their spammy products to recruiters is because those recruiters count on LinkedIn having quality people on their network to send it to. If everyone who didn't need a LinkedIn profile to get a job shut off their profile, LinkedIn's revenue would collapse quickly.

> If everyone who didn't need a LinkedIn profile to get a job shut off their profile...

Right. And clearly someone that actually _needs_ a LinkedIn profile to get a job is not going to shut off their profile, which is the hard part.

But either way, I think this OP is not written/structured as well as it could be to convince people to shut off their profiles and/or stop recruiting on it, it seems to be targetted more at people who write software for linked in API, and doens't do a great job of making the argument even there.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#114

Post by jqm »

My opinion is that being on LinkedIn is like being on the shelf at WalMart (where the masses can easily find you).

Most unique quality merchandise won't ever found on the shelves of a WalMart. That's a place for interchangeable, disposable, mass produced items.

Oh, and Fuck companies that engage in scummy behaviour like email hijacking.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#115

Post by afandian »

tbrownaw wrote: post #78
MagicWishMonkey wrote: post #50

LinkedIn screwed me over real good a few weeks back. They sent me an email saying "There are 108 people you might want to connect with", so I click on view all and it shows a giant list of people with checkmarks by their names. Nice. I uncheck all of them, and scroll through checking a few folks who I want to network with (5 people in total). Click next, it takes me to a screen showing the 5 people and the banner cle…

Why the holy flying fuck would anyone give someone they met on the Internet the ability to impersonate them? That's like online safety 101, right after not giving out your home address and vacation schedule. Especially when that someone already has a bad reputation like linkedin has.

I completely agree. It still happened to me. Like lots of other people here, I don't quite know how.

I sent a message to support saying "I never gave you permission to do this" and they took the time to reply and say "yes you did".

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#116

Post by mindcrime »

dkarapetyan wrote: post #92
mindcrime wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh I don't know... how about keeping track of former co-workers, people you meet at networking events, and other professional connections? How about finding useful interesting industry or topic specific news and discussion via groups? Or if you are job-hunting, for finding a path to somebody who works at the company you're targeting, so you can try to get an inside testimonial? Or getting a warm intro when trying to…

I don't think you're a programmer or maybe you were but are now at a higher level. My advice was more for practicing programmers than others. I personally get zero value out of linkedin. All the people I consider professional equals can be found on mailing lists, blogs, weekly digests, stackoverflow, meetups, etc. Keeping track of them is quite easy and I don't need a third party in that process that just spams me.

Oh I'm definitely a programmer... but I do more than just program, yes. I have a startup I've been working on for a while, and I consider networking an essential activity... and LinkedIn has been a valuable resource in that regard.

That said, I think LI has value even if you're not interested in founding a startup or whatever. I mean, I'd rather keep a (more or less) master "rolodex" of people I know and have some connection to, on LinkedIn, than have to spend all sorts of time trawling through old email lists, Quora, Meetup, SO, etc., just to find somebody's info. But that's just me.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#117

Post by jackmaney »

monochromatic wrote: post #93
MagicWishMonkey wrote: post #50

LinkedIn screwed me over real good a few weeks back. They sent me an email saying "There are 108 people you might want to connect with", so I click on view all and it shows a giant list of people with checkmarks by their names. Nice. I uncheck all of them, and scroll through checking a few folks who I want to network with (5 people in total). Click next, it takes me to a screen showing the 5 people and the banner cle…

> The assholes sent 300 people linkedin connection requests through my own personal gmail account. With zero warning whatsoever. The fact that they requested access to your email account should have been warning enough.

Yeah, I'm always weary of allowing any app to send emails on my behalf, unless it's something I've put together myself (eg email alerts for internal stuff breaking, etc).

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#119

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

dkarapetyan wrote: post #31

Dear programmers, if you are using linkedin you are doing it wrong. Use github, careers.stackoverflow, a plain html resume page, the ladders, and basically anything else that is not linkedin to showcase your skillset.

"The Ladders"? I've never seen a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#120

Post by FD3SA »

btipling wrote: post #25

API issues aside, I recently deleted my LinkedIn account and my life has been better off for it. My recruiter spam volume dropped from daily emails to maybe two or three times a month. I'm not sure if LinkedIn provides any value, I've never gotten a job that way. I think stalking people on social networks is also a net negative experience. I realized I should spend less time worrying about what other people are doing…

Agreed with all of your points, but I'd like to add that your employment history is very personal and can quite often be used against you in ways you wouldn't imagine ahead of time.

Just like any personal information, its best to keep it as private as possible and default to a "need to know" basis. The era of naively optimistic voluntary sharing of sensitive personal information ended when we saw the potential consequences.

Potential employers want to know where you worked? They can ask you themselves. I'd also like to know who the board members are playing golf with, what their future capitalization plans are and if/when they plan on jumping ship. Too bad none of that will ever be shared with me. So why should I share intimate details of my past?

Information asymmetry is power in the modern world. It is foolish to relinquish it voluntarily.

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