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The thing that's been around the longest that always bugged me was: Getting endorsed for skills by people who have no ability to evaluate my competency at thos

The thing that's been around the longest that always bugged me was: Getting endorsed for skills by people who have no ability to evaluate my competency at those skills. It's so shallow and badly designed at its job. But like every social network out there, it's buoyed by its inertia and network effects, and will last far longer than it should given its quality beyond the size of its network of users.

whimsicalism 5y ago
They also have stack ranked tests you can take to demonstrate skills, which seems like a relatively fair way to do it.
- version_five 5y ago
  One day linkedin proposed a test to me (it was Python) so I tried it because I was curious what kind of questions they ask. It was like 10 questions, with some random stuff about syntax, maybe how to use a dict for example. And then I got a badge. I have no idea how I would use that when hiring, it tells nothing about the candidates actual ability or experience with the "skill"
- ornornor 5y ago
  Have you seen the questions though? Ridiculous, useless trivia.
  - whimsicalism 5y ago
    I disagree. It is only 15 questions so obviously can't be a comprehensive test, but it does test whether you understand various mechanisms in Python
    - ornornor 5y ago
      The JS "assessment" was all trivia and no substance.
      - whimsicalism 5y ago
        What would an example of substance be?
        ornornor 5y ago
        Off the top of my head, it was edge cases of code to process in your head and write down the exact result the computer would output. Things like “what is the result of 1 + ‘1’”. And of course there was some kind of “protection” to keep you from copy pasting the code into the console which can be circumvented a number of ways. Too bad that wasn’t part of the test, it would actually be a better signal than their trivia questions.
J5892 5y ago
I have an endorsement for HTML by a salesperson at a publishing company I did some IT work for during college.
lordnacho 5y ago
Yeah it makes little sense. I have my primary school teacher endorsing me as a derivatives expert. Seems to not bother LinkedIn, weighs the same as an actual colleague endorsing me. I think nobody really cares though, they see it's a cheap signal and adjust accordingly.
tiborsaas 5y ago
We used to troll each other with my friends by endorsing with Drupal skills :)
- thematrixturtle 5y ago
  My favorite trio of endorsements is Lubrication, Flexibility and Potatoes.
  - hn_version_0023 5y ago
    I have an endorsement in bacon. It is my proudest endorsement.
  - AtlasBarfed 5y ago
    My friend's linkedin photo: https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C5103AQHf_hGI8go5Tg/profile-displayphoto-shrink_200_200/0/1516311606518?e=1649289600&v=beta&t=GIvlT264ifjOv1FbfL6GrrNnZNOWsfbW4-dRfT6YGak https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C5103AQHf_hGI8go5Tg/p...
Bromeo 5y ago
The best is when the prompt is something like: "Who would you go to for a question about /mathematics/" and then shows me four people who all have a PhD related to math and science...
aendruk 5y ago
I left LinkedIn the day I received one of those endorsements. It’s such a disgusting red flag that I want nothing to do with the place.
kumarvvr 5y ago
The idea seems to be that endorsements are by people who are your colleagues, and, hopefully, ones who have seen you apply your skills. If pulled off correctly, its a powerful endorsement. However, how does one really check if the endorsement is real or a favour for a reverse endorsement.
bitdestroyer 5y ago
Forever ago, I created a Chrome extension that allowed you to annotate skills that had been endorsed by others with a "Hell No" label if you felt it was not deserved. For obvious reasons, it never got traction but got a few laughs on the podcast that inspired it, which was enough for me.
- throwaway675309 5y ago
  I mean unless it had a backend server no one would ever see the "hell no css styling" (and even then only others who also had the extension) so it doesn't really make much sense.
  - bitdestroyer 5y ago
    You're right re: needing a backend server, but that was kind of the point of it. You'd have to be "in the know" enough to install it and then you'd see the styling. It relied on Firebase storage for the backend piece. In the end, it was mostly for a joke in regards to ongoing discussion from an old Mule podcast. As such, it was just for fun anyways and never really intended to be more than that.

whimsicalism 5y ago

They also have stack ranked tests you can take to demonstrate skills, which seems like a relatively fair way to do it.

version_five 5y ago
One day linkedin proposed a test to me (it was Python) so I tried it because I was curious what kind of questions they ask. It was like 10 questions, with some random stuff about syntax, maybe how to use a dict for example. And then I got a badge. I have no idea how I would use that when hiring, it tells nothing about the candidates actual ability or experience with the "skill"
ornornor 5y ago
Have you seen the questions though? Ridiculous, useless trivia.
- whimsicalism 5y ago
  I disagree. It is only 15 questions so obviously can't be a comprehensive test, but it does test whether you understand various mechanisms in Python
  - ornornor 5y ago
    The JS "assessment" was all trivia and no substance.
    - whimsicalism 5y ago
      What would an example of substance be?
      - ornornor 5y ago
        Off the top of my head, it was edge cases of code to process in your head and write down the exact result the computer would output. Things like “what is the result of 1 + ‘1’”. And of course there was some kind of “protection” to keep you from copy pasting the code into the console which can be circumvented a number of ways. Too bad that wasn’t part of the test, it would actually be a better signal than their trivia questions.

J5892 5y ago

I have an endorsement for HTML by a salesperson at a publishing company I did some IT work for during college.

lordnacho 5y ago

Yeah it makes little sense. I have my primary school teacher endorsing me as a derivatives expert. Seems to not bother LinkedIn, weighs the same as an actual colleague endorsing me. I think nobody really cares though, they see it's a cheap signal and adjust accordingly.

tiborsaas 5y ago

We used to troll each other with my friends by endorsing with Drupal skills :)

thematrixturtle 5y ago
My favorite trio of endorsements is Lubrication, Flexibility and Potatoes.
- hn_version_0023 5y ago
  I have an endorsement in bacon. It is my proudest endorsement.
- AtlasBarfed 5y ago
  My friend's linkedin photo: https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C5103AQHf_hGI8go5Tg/profile-displayphoto-shrink_200_200/0/1516311606518?e=1649289600&v=beta&t=GIvlT264ifjOv1FbfL6GrrNnZNOWsfbW4-dRfT6YGak https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C5103AQHf_hGI8go5Tg/p...

Bromeo 5y ago

The best is when the prompt is something like: "Who would you go to for a question about /mathematics/" and then shows me four people who all have a PhD related to math and science...

aendruk 5y ago

I left LinkedIn the day I received one of those endorsements. It’s such a disgusting red flag that I want nothing to do with the place.

kumarvvr 5y ago

The idea seems to be that endorsements are by people who are your colleagues, and, hopefully, ones who have seen you apply your skills. If pulled off correctly, its a powerful endorsement. However, how does one really check if the endorsement is real or a favour for a reverse endorsement.

bitdestroyer 5y ago

Forever ago, I created a Chrome extension that allowed you to annotate skills that had been endorsed by others with a "Hell No" label if you felt it was not deserved. For obvious reasons, it never got traction but got a few laughs on the podcast that inspired it, which was enough for me.

throwaway675309 5y ago
I mean unless it had a backend server no one would ever see the "hell no css styling" (and even then only others who also had the extension) so it doesn't really make much sense.
- bitdestroyer 5y ago
  You're right re: needing a backend server, but that was kind of the point of it. You'd have to be "in the know" enough to install it and then you'd see the styling. It relied on Firebase storage for the backend piece. In the end, it was mostly for a joke in regards to ongoing discussion from an old Mule podcast. As such, it was just for fun anyways and never really intended to be more than that.