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Stop Using LinkedIn

stopusinglinkedin.com

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Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#191

Post by [deleted] »

ytjohn wrote: post #175
justrudd wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. The site had no information on it. But I wonder, is LinkedIn really "the" way to connect professionally? My personal bit of anecdotal experience is that it isn't for me. I was on LinkedIn for maybe 15 years? I accepted everyone on LinkedIn (I was not discriminating at all). And in that 15 years, I never found one job through it. Right now in Seattle (where I've been for 10 years), I go through my "people I drin…

I'm a Linux Sysadmin/Automation Engineer/"devops guru". My last 3 jobs (each better than the last) all came from recruiters finding me on LinkedIn. 2 years ago I was trying to move upwards in my career path. I had a good job, but boring and I could go weeks with doing almost no work. I was simultaneously considered a valuable employee while actually operating as fluff. I decided to move into the world of configuratio…

[deleted]

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#192

Post by fsloth »

dkarapetyan wrote: post #102
fsloth wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dear fellow, if you - Oh, screw with the wordplay. I use Linkedin as a friendly reminder of who I know and how they are positioned careerwise. I'm pretty sure in case I need a new job I can contact the people I know and something will turn up. People who know me professionally respect my skills and I don't need to flaunt them around github or anywhere else. I'm sorry, but it's just not about skills but who one knows…

> People who know me professionally respect my skills and I don't need to flaunt them around github or anywhere else. Then why do you need to flaunt it on linkedin?

Like I said: the main feature of LinkedIn is a contact list of known people who I can approach easily.

To rephrase:

LinkedIn is a professional tool. The revenue model which makes Facebook a bit creepy (sell the contact info of the users to the world) is actually, in professional context a feature. LinkedIn helps its users maintain a professional brand and market it to other professionals. The difference is between an olde phonebook that would also contain info on all the personal details and the yellow pages.

Typically, professional indices have charged for inclusion. Linkedin provides the minimum feature set for free.

If one does not have any contacts in LinkedIn then the value of the service of course drops to near zero for the individual professional user.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#193

Post by fsloth »

rnovak wrote: post #104
monochromatic wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I can't understand why anyone would give any entity access to their email, it's really baffling. I personally see LinkedIn as horrible, and deleted my account long ago. They don't let you restrict who can view your profile, and they allow people to remain anonymous. For anyone who cares about Privacy, this should be a huge no-no.

I agree, the email access thing is crazy. Both from a feature side and that someone would agree on it.

However, I would claim the fully visible profile is actually a feature.

LinkdedIn is not Facebook. LinkedIn is a professional index, like the yellow pages, with the difference that the minimum inclusion is free.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#194

Post by fsloth »

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.

"All the people I consider professional equals can be found on mailing lists, blogs, weekly digests, stackoverflow, meetups,"

You have cultivated other networking channels. Great! But I would like to point out to you that now you make the basic cognitive fallacy thinking that anyone who is not doing it "your way" is doing it wrong.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#196

Post by fsloth »

dkarapetyan wrote: post #176
mindcrime wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 co…

It indeed is just you. I don't know how you're going to find anyone worthwhile if all you do is keep everything restricted to linkedin. I've met plenty of awesome people at meetups, conferences, etc. that don't have a linkedin profile and maintain control of their own web presence. A simple bookmark and an email contact list is not much of a burden to keep track of such people in my opinion.

"It indeed is just you. "

Now you are projecting otherness to people who do things differently than you. "Being a programmer" is not some weird club where everyone needs to behave exactly the same. Bytes and algorithms have zero tribal affinity, you know.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#198

Post by thesomelioma »

ruperp wrote: post #61

OP here. So the FDR verbage is not popular. Anyone willing to help write better text? Please email contact@stopusinglinkedin.com and we'll get it swapped out. Apologies for the intro copy faux pas.

I'd feel better about helping you if I knew who you were. For all I know, you represent a shady company who tried to make bank by scraping LinkedIn data and creating customized phishing profiles.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#199

Post by dkarapetyan »

fsloth wrote: post #192
dkarapetyan wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People who know me professionally respect my skills and I don't need to flaunt them around github or anywhere else. Then why do you need to flaunt it on linkedin?

Like I said: the main feature of LinkedIn is a contact list of known people who I can approach easily. To rephrase: LinkedIn is a professional tool. The revenue model which makes Facebook a bit creepy (sell the contact info of the users to the world) is actually, in professional context a feature. LinkedIn helps its users maintain a professional brand and market it to other professionals. The difference is between an…

I think we're talking past each other here. There are many programmers that I could connect to on linkedin but there is no value that linkedin is adding since I also can get in touch with them through email and through friends or friends of friends that I know from other settings like meetups and conferences. The fact that I can do this and that it doesn't even require that much effort means there is some kind of disconnect between how you see linkedin and how I see it.

To me linkedin is just another digital silo capitalizing on the fact that it is de facto middle man between professionals because of network effects. Defending their actions in my opinion is also a very weak position to hold when even someone like me that tends to be on the anti-social side of spectrum has managed to build up a network of professional friends without linkedin's help.

Re: Stop Using LinkedIn

#200

Post by dkarapetyan »

fsloth wrote: post #194
dkarapetyan wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"All the people I consider professional equals can be found on mailing lists, blogs, weekly digests, stackoverflow, meetups," You have cultivated other networking channels. Great! But I would like to point out to you that now you make the basic cognitive fallacy thinking that anyone who is not doing it "your way" is doing it wrong.

They are indeed doing it wrong if the outcome is a company like linkedin. As technology professionals we can and should be doing much better but instead we are cultivating digital silos that add very little value.

I have opted out and nothing about my professional career has diminished so there is an alternative approach that requires nothing like linkedin. Since I'm a counter-example to all the claims your making and my way obviously leads to a more decentralized and democratic approach to professional development I don't really understand the continued support of digital silos like linkedin from people like you.

The claim that they are a digital rolodex is a very weak one since an email contact list serves that purpose just as easily. I'm starting to suspect you are PR spokesperson for linkedin.

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