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Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

pcmaffey.com

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Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#261

Post by scarface74 »

inglor wrote: post #250
scarface74 wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the time I got my first real job as a developer in the mid 90s, I had already spent a decade doing hobby projects in assembly on 8 bit computers and later C on Macs. It had really just become a method to enjoy the big city life in my 20s to mid 30s (including a brief bad marriage). During that time I dabbled in real estate, was a part time fitness instructor and personal trainer. In my 40s, I enjoy just working ou…

Thanks for taking the time to respond. The transition I've seen people who enjoy traveling and hanging out with friends a lot is to developer advocate roles where they travel a lot to conferences. I actually did that quite a bit last year (14 conferences which is hardly a lot but then again I'm not a devrel). Now I'm stuck with the boring parts (making the talks) and none of the interesting ones (traveling, meeting p…

That decade was from the time I was 12 until I was 22. I was a short fat kid with a computer - what else was I going to do? By the time I got to college, I started having a social life.

I got into exercise and fitness after college and my circle started consisting of non-geek professionals who were active. That became my hobby.

Once I had to look at a computer all day, I wanted to do anything else besides looking at a computer after work. You can’t imagine how much fun it was to transform from “computer geek” during the day to “outgoing drill sergeant fitness instructor” in the evening.

I have turned down two or three decent paying ($120/hr+) side contracting opportunities because I would rather just spend time doing anything else when I get off of work.

As far as travel, post-Covid, my job will require extensive travel. I should be able to get frequent flier miles for my personal use.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#262

Post by headmelted »

bonoboTP wrote: post #231
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…

The "I deleted my [Facebook, Twitter, Medium, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok] account and this is why" is a genre in itself. They rarely say anything new. Social media is a waste of time, the news feed is enraging, people put on a fake perfect persona, FOMO, insecurity, inauthentic connection, signaling, controversy, drama, dopamine, addiction. Unplug yourself, use analog tools, read books, have real life fun and deep b…

But if I don’t have followers who’ll be left to love me? And how will I know?

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#263

Post by higeorge13 »

lildata wrote: post #247

Just from a performance point of view, opening LinkedIn webpage is a traumatic experience. I've rarely seen something so slow & heavy. It's quite sad because LinkedIn gave birth to a lot of fantastic techs, such as Apache Kafka...

And besides website performance, their recommender on news feed, jobs, similar profiles even their search is terrible. And while the news feed is probably heavily biased to influencers' posts (same as other social media platforms), I keep getting job recommendations for architect jobs just because i had a past job with "data architect" title.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#264

Post by wolco »

Nextgrid wrote: post #214
chrismatheson wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has not been my experience. Any recruiter I talk to asks for a CV. If I tell them my linked in is up to date they just ask me to convert it into a CV

The recruiter asks for a CV so they can redact any identifying details from it. They don't want to send your LinkedIn profile directly to the client to prevent them from talking to you directly.

The recruiter asks for your cv as a way to get paid.

If you submit a resume to a recruiter they can submit on your behalf to a company. If you submit to many in the same firm some will use the date received in order to assign any money earned.

Without this rule you would have people sending in resumes without the person's knowledge.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#265

Post by headmelted »

banifo wrote: post #215
matsemann wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is valueless content. I disagree. It poses several questions about the value of LinkedIn. And it spurred a discussion. If anything your comment really adds nothing here.. (Maybe some discussion, but a useful one?)

I read that because hn showed it on spot 1. I think it was a waste of time. I also started to think in this direction more the last few years: If we as a socity would be better of creating less but better, we would not have facebook or linkedin feets full of waste. We would have perhaps 10 hn articles per day, 10 world news, 1-2 local news and thats it. I would have the rest of my time 'free' of the burden of trying…

Extending this, news wouldn’t exist in its current form.

Broadcasts would be much more honest too:

“Hello everyone. There’s a pandemic sweeping the globe, which is unfortunate, but also cancer outcomes are the best they’ve ever been. Overall things are getting better.

Enjoy your weekend and we’ll be back on Monday. If something genuinely important changes. Otherwise, take a walk and maybe get some fresh air instead.

Clint Brockenheimer, Channel 1 news”

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#266

Post by john4532452 »

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…

> From a professional standpoint LinkedIn gave me a lot of value for free

Could you please explain like what value you derive out of it. LinkedIn primary purpose is to build your professional network so that you can find your next job easily. It does not work out because programmers does not vouch for someone unless they have worked directly in my experience.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#268

Post by aplummer »

john4532452 wrote: post #266
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…

> From a professional standpoint LinkedIn gave me a lot of value for free Could you please explain like what value you derive out of it. LinkedIn primary purpose is to build your professional network so that you can find your next job easily. It does not work out because programmers does not vouch for someone unless they have worked directly in my experience.

I know of at least half a dozen people who have found great jobs by HR reaching out to recruit them on LinkedIn.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#269

Post by the_af »

MattGaiser wrote: post #219
pnako wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's precisely what I hate about the LinkedIn feed. It's way too positive. The fake kind of positive. I don't understand why people do that. They're trying to fool other human beings by pretending that everything is awesome, positive, etc.

Because if you let yourself believe it for a little while, you continue believing it for the rest of time.

The problem is that it -- at least my feed -- is not true positivity, it's fake positivity, which brings a strong negative reaction in me. Gurus talking entrepreneur-, startup- or hiring- bullshit, recruiters extolling the virtues of their profession, "if you're having a bad time with COVID19, here's something to stay positive" [bullshit follows].

LinkedIn is useful as an online resume. But the feed is mostly garbage. Fake positivity is the worst.

Re: Finally, I Closed My LinkedIn

#270

Post by codingdave »

I've gotten multiple jobs from LinkedIn. I've caught up with old friends after not having talked for years, because I saw a job update from them, and it was a good reminder to get back in touch. I've reached out to people local to me, and to people from my college who I never knew, but I now see work in my field, in my area, and gotten to know more people. I've seen well-written articles, and found new people and blogs to follow who talk about the non-technical side of this industry - management, product ownership, leadership, and other such things.

Clearly, LinkedIn does have its share of warts. And if isn't for you, there is nothing wrong with not participating. But you get out of it what you put into it.

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