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I'm surprised why people here hate on LinkedIn so much. I'm able to find and contact professionals working on very niche fields (the ones with little online pre

I'm surprised why people here hate on LinkedIn so much. I'm able to find and contact professionals working on very niche fields (the ones with little online presence) and follow their latest work. This is access I've previously never had. I'm not a developer so I don't get a lot of recruiter spam, but the ones that do contact me usually have very relevant openings for my experience.

arkitaip 7y ago
It's the HN echo chamber at work that finds little value in social networks targeting non-devs. I don't use LinkedIn myself but know lots that do and most do find work and opportunities through it, otherwise they wouldn't bother using it.
bluedino 7y ago
It's just another outlet for spammers/recruiters. And the sharing of Facebook-style posts is annoying. Indeed and LinkedIn are basically the only job sites these days so you need an account to use it. I wish I could block certain employers or be able to tell LinkedIn to quit telling me about jobs from certain companies.
allthecybers 7y ago
In a decade plus of my career, four of my most significant jobs, including my current role have come from being sourced/recruited on LinkedIn. I hate being on any social networks, and I feel like LinkedIn has declined in quality over the years, but I stay with LinkedIn. The primary reason is that you never know when you are going to be thrust into the job market, and its the key place to find future opportunities, identify gatekeepers and leverage your professional rolodex when an opportunity to earn an income is on the line.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  > a decade plus of my career, four of my most significant jobs This is an extremely niche persona among professional careers, overrepresented on HN.
  - jmchuster 7y ago
    is it also a persona that is overrepresented on linkedin?
  - spullara 7y ago
    Pretty common in Silicon Valley imho. One of the reasons people live here is that you can often change jobs without even considering moving.
- city41 7y ago
  You pretty much must have a LinkedIn profile. It really isn't optional. I think most companies would see the lack of one as a red flag, and a sign you're hiding something.
  - jiveturkey 7y ago
    I've never had a LI profile (nor FB nor G+ nor myspace etc). I've never had a problem finding or getting a job. Both from the candidate side and the hiring side, it seems pretty optional to me.
    - city41 7y ago
      That might be true, but I would guess most people take the "better safe than sorry" approach and just have one.
      - jiveturkey 7y ago
        Maybe. I find it hard to believe people do it because it "looks bad" not to have LI. Rather, people do LI because it's easier to let them come to you, even if you have to deal with recruiter spam along the way.
        allthecybers 7y ago
        I’m sure I could build a personal web cv, optimize for SEO, pay for hosting, etc but LI has all of that plus the ability to dig into connections, and connections connections. It’s also the default sourcing database for recruiters to find professionals. If I need a job, I flip that switch that says “I’m looking for a job” and let the roles roll in.
inetknght 7y ago
> I'm able to find ... professionals working on very niche fields ... and follow their latest work. No, you find the people who are posting their latest work on LinkedIn. A lot of niche field professionals won't do that.
- adrianmonk 7y ago
  I don't think they meant they are able to find 100% of those people. Just that they are able to find some, which is more than the none they could find before.
  - criddell 7y ago
    Do many people post exclusively to LinkedIn? In my experience, anything I've found there has also been spammed to Twitter.
lordnacho 7y ago
My main issue is they seem to be reducing functionality, even when you pay for it. - Why can't I see the path to other users anymore? That used to be a thing you always got. Now sometimes even a level 2 connection page won't tell you who the common friend is. - Why can't I categorize my contacts anymore? There's still how-tos about how to do this, and they for some odd reason removed the ability to do this. LI is a much more promiscuous network than FB or others, so I need to be able to throw all the recruiters in one bucket, people I've worked with in another, and interesting people who've added me with zero other contact in yet another. I'm happy to spend the time doing the labelling, but I can't.
notahacker 7y ago
The extreme level of contempt LinkedIn displays towards its users with its dark patterns is a much bigger problem than recruiters frankly. The content discovery and discussion features really aren't very good relative to other niche sites either.

arkitaip 7y ago

It's the HN echo chamber at work that finds little value in social networks targeting non-devs. I don't use LinkedIn myself but know lots that do and most do find work and opportunities through it, otherwise they wouldn't bother using it.

bluedino 7y ago

It's just another outlet for spammers/recruiters. And the sharing of Facebook-style posts is annoying. Indeed and LinkedIn are basically the only job sites these days so you need an account to use it. I wish I could block certain employers or be able to tell LinkedIn to quit telling me about jobs from certain companies.

allthecybers 7y ago

In a decade plus of my career, four of my most significant jobs, including my current role have come from being sourced/recruited on LinkedIn. I hate being on any social networks, and I feel like LinkedIn has declined in quality over the years, but I stay with LinkedIn. The primary reason is that you never know when you are going to be thrust into the job market, and its the key place to find future opportunities, identify gatekeepers and leverage your professional rolodex when an opportunity to earn an income is on the line.

lonelappde 7y ago
> a decade plus of my career, four of my most significant jobs This is an extremely niche persona among professional careers, overrepresented on HN.
- jmchuster 7y ago
  is it also a persona that is overrepresented on linkedin?
- spullara 7y ago
  Pretty common in Silicon Valley imho. One of the reasons people live here is that you can often change jobs without even considering moving.
city41 7y ago
You pretty much must have a LinkedIn profile. It really isn't optional. I think most companies would see the lack of one as a red flag, and a sign you're hiding something.
- jiveturkey 7y ago
  I've never had a LI profile (nor FB nor G+ nor myspace etc). I've never had a problem finding or getting a job. Both from the candidate side and the hiring side, it seems pretty optional to me.
  - city41 7y ago
    That might be true, but I would guess most people take the "better safe than sorry" approach and just have one.
    - jiveturkey 7y ago
      Maybe. I find it hard to believe people do it because it "looks bad" not to have LI. Rather, people do LI because it's easier to let them come to you, even if you have to deal with recruiter spam along the way.
      - allthecybers 7y ago
        I’m sure I could build a personal web cv, optimize for SEO, pay for hosting, etc but LI has all of that plus the ability to dig into connections, and connections connections. It’s also the default sourcing database for recruiters to find professionals. If I need a job, I flip that switch that says “I’m looking for a job” and let the roles roll in.

inetknght 7y ago

> I'm able to find ... professionals working on very niche fields ... and follow their latest work. No, you find the people who are posting their latest work on LinkedIn. A lot of niche field professionals won't do that.

adrianmonk 7y ago
I don't think they meant they are able to find 100% of those people. Just that they are able to find some, which is more than the none they could find before.
- criddell 7y ago
  Do many people post exclusively to LinkedIn? In my experience, anything I've found there has also been spammed to Twitter.

lordnacho 7y ago

My main issue is they seem to be reducing functionality, even when you pay for it. - Why can't I see the path to other users anymore? That used to be a thing you always got. Now sometimes even a level 2 connection page won't tell you who the common friend is. - Why can't I categorize my contacts anymore? There's still how-tos about how to do this, and they for some odd reason removed the ability to do this. LI is a much more promiscuous network than FB or others, so I need to be able to throw all the recruiters in one bucket, people I've worked with in another, and interesting people who've added me with zero other contact in yet another. I'm happy to spend the time doing the labelling, but I can't.

notahacker 7y ago

The extreme level of contempt LinkedIn displays towards its users with its dark patterns is a much bigger problem than recruiters frankly. The content discovery and discussion features really aren't very good relative to other niche sites either.