4 ms·

That's a silly position. You could have said "I disconnected from the internet, and haven't suffered in any way since, and have definitely benefited from not ha

That's a silly position. You could have said "I disconnected from the internet, and haven't suffered in any way since, and have definitely benefited from not having constant spammy job offers". You just don't know what you missed.

vinceguidry 10y ago
It doesn't really work like that. To do anything right, you need to devote time and attention to figuring it out. If you won't or can't devote that time and attention, then you're way better off just not doing it. This is how you rapidly sift through all the myriad opportunities the world offers you to find the most salient ones. You can't devote your time and attention to just anything, so first you select for those you can reasonably see yourself putting in the time and effort to actually get something out of it. Returns follow a power law distribution, it's tempting to think that there are activities that you can do that provide returns on the same scale as the effort you put in, but in reality 80 percent of the returns on practically anything go to the 20 percent of the people that take the time to do them effectively. The rest get the other 20% divided amongst them, basically nothing. Spammy job offers is precisely what LinkedIn offers those who can't or won't take the time to do LinkedIn effectively. What does it offer those who do take that time? I have no clue. My guess would be a slightly accelerated path up the career ladder. Not really worth it. I have a tough time even imagining a possible return that LinkedIn could offer me career-wise that would offset the opportunity cost of working out how to get it.
coldtea 10y ago
You could say the same for not learning Swahili (which I presume you don't speak) or going into Biology rather than computer science. In other words, the argument from ignorance is useless -- reminds me of a very weak version of Pascal's wager. Not only because he's still doing OK, but also because statistically I can assure you that the people I know who still have the LI account haven't gotten anything worthwhile out of it career wise. Besides, the whole argument is oblivious of the notion of Opportunity Cost.

vinceguidry 10y ago

It doesn't really work like that. To do anything right, you need to devote time and attention to figuring it out. If you won't or can't devote that time and attention, then you're way better off just not doing it. This is how you rapidly sift through all the myriad opportunities the world offers you to find the most salient ones. You can't devote your time and attention to just anything, so first you select for those you can reasonably see yourself putting in the time and effort to actually get something out of it. Returns follow a power law distribution, it's tempting to think that there are activities that you can do that provide returns on the same scale as the effort you put in, but in reality 80 percent of the returns on practically anything go to the 20 percent of the people that take the time to do them effectively. The rest get the other 20% divided amongst them, basically nothing. Spammy job offers is precisely what LinkedIn offers those who can't or won't take the time to do LinkedIn effectively. What does it offer those who do take that time? I have no clue. My guess would be a slightly accelerated path up the career ladder. Not really worth it. I have a tough time even imagining a possible return that LinkedIn could offer me career-wise that would offset the opportunity cost of working out how to get it.

coldtea 10y ago

You could say the same for not learning Swahili (which I presume you don't speak) or going into Biology rather than computer science. In other words, the argument from ignorance is useless -- reminds me of a very weak version of Pascal's wager. Not only because he's still doing OK, but also because statistically I can assure you that the people I know who still have the LI account haven't gotten anything worthwhile out of it career wise. Besides, the whole argument is oblivious of the notion of Opportunity Cost.