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Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

elliotcsmith.com

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Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#381

Post by bfg_9k »

Henchman21 wrote: post #204
itsoktocry wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Classic zero accountability take. Why are you getting suckered into buying something you don't need because a commercials says so?

Because a megacorporation hires psychologists (in the form of marketers) to gin up scenarios where class mobility is implied as a subtext in the acquisition of their goods? I mean, who doesn't want to have the fun/get the girls/get the money because they bought {insert product here}? How is one to defend one's self against the constant onslaught of bullshit meant to part fools with their money? How is an individual s…

People still have agency. It's like when you were a kid and your mother asked you - "would you jump off a cliff too?"

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#382

Post by fred_is_fred »

adidoit wrote: post #38

Because LinkedIn makes your employment front and center it encourages status games . The way to understand LinkedIn is no one is actually trying to engage in good faith. Everyone is seeking status points in a game they're playing. And that status depends on their endowment (people they know, institutions they are part of) Status conferred from their boss, their peers, their underlings, people in similar roles - It's…

"it encourages status games". I think most social media does this. Read a Facebook feed and everyone is either on a beach, had a baby, or got promoted. Nobody is home sick or doing laundry or dealing with a terrible boss.

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#383

Post by spauldo »

darth_avocado wrote: post #332
bluedino wrote: post #262

LinkedIn is decent for jobs/searching/applying. That's all I really find it useful for. Things I don't find it useful for: Salespeople trying to sell me some enterprise product when I don't have anything to do with selection/purchasing those items. Everything from IP phones to enterprise storage to whatever SaSS is hot Low-effort recruiter spam. Jobs I'm not interested in, qualified for, over-qualified for, want me t…

As a general rule, if you’re an engineering candidate that made a profile years ago and is missing updates and haven’t put in much description about your work experience beyond “I worked here from this date to that date”, you’re probably a good engineer. That’s how I find LinkedIn useful.

That doesn't jive with my experience.

When I look at the people I've worked with over the years, all having a blank profile says to me is that they don't care about their LinkedIn profile. I know the quality of their work and it seems to have no relationship with how detailed their profile is.

Personally, I list every project I've worked on, what my role was for that project, and the technologies used. I do that for my own benefit as well as for recruiters.

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#384

Post by danparsonson »

rekenaut wrote: post #366
LeftHandPath wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The posts I see most often on LinkedIn are ones that try to capture a trope of "flipping expectations" that people associate with great business people. Silly, inane conclusions are made about everyday events so that people who are startlingly mediocre can cling to them as a differentiating factor. Basic politeness is sold as the secret hack to become the next Steve Jobs. Boasts of frugality are made and used to expl…

> Or a quote from Kurt Vonnegut's player piano, "Nobody's so damn well educated that you can't learn ninety per cent of what he knows in six weeks. The other ten per cent is decoration... Almost nobody's competent, Paul. It's enough to make you cry to see how bad most people are at their jobs. If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind." This advice surprises me. With…

Someone like you is likely not intended to be the subject of that quotation...

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#385

Post by danparsonson »

toolslive wrote: post #200

What bothers me most is how "fake" it all is. I've seen companies upholding an image of success while they are scraping by and leave a wake of unpaid invoices. Companies with fake job posts that keep on getting recycled (clicking "report this job" does not help at all) aso aso. It's sort of a parallel universe where everything is nice and dandy... sort of a Barbie universe.

> I've seen companies upholding an image of success while they are scraping by and leave a wake of unpaid invoices.

Devil's advocate: what else are they going to say? They're trying to land new business so they can pay those invoices. "We're really struggling and desperately need your money now!" is unlikely to help...

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#386

Post by alexchantavy »

> If writing online matters to you, you’re probably better off starting a blog and building things there. You’ll get less views and less engagement but there’s less temptation to post nonsense just for likes. You’re going to have a harder time getting people to stick around and read what you’re writing but that additional pressure raises the bar.

Telling people to “raise the bar”, and then suggesting they should aim for less engagement just sounds strange. Who decides where the bar is, and why should hitting it require fewer people to see what you made?

I agree that a lot of LinkedIn content is cookie-cutter garbage, but advising others to invest serious effort into thoughtful writing with the expectation of no reach feels deeply unhelpful.

Instead, you could encourage others to write content on LinkedIn that sounds less "what X taught me about B2B sales" and improve the culture of "toxic mediocrity".

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#387

Post by vincnetas »

tacitusarc wrote: post #215
cootsnuck wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what are the people with worthwhile products and services supposed to do then? Just not engage in marketing? Sincere question.

I think if we strengthened fraud provision we eliminate many societal problems, including marketing. If marketers were required to be completely honest and transparent, a lot of this goes away.

you can lie (advertise) by omission... I see no way one can legislate all the things that marketing campaign must tell you about the product/service

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#389

Post by zwnow »

fragmede wrote: post #172
zwnow wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LinkedIn is basically a marketplace for boomers. Facebook but for jobs pretty much. Im sorry to hear u think this highly of it, as its just a gathering of pretentious people.

> its just a gathering of pretentious people. Tell us more about HN...

Yea agree, same issue here.

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#390

Post by spauldo »

ozim wrote: post #278

Oh so it is OK to post mediocre stuff on your own blog where no one reads. But trying to show it to people is not. I like „content guardians” everywhere saying „oh this does not belong to HN”, „oh this doesn’t belong to linked in. Fuck that - let people do what they want and express themselves even if it is mediocre shoveling of ideas

I hate when people tell me I can't piss in the street. "Go to a bathroom," they say. "That's not appropriate here." Screw that, my junk is rated E for Everybody.

/s

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