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> There are likely 100s-1000s of app developers involved in the LinkedIn app I don't understand why you'd need 1000 or even 100 developers to produce such app.

by gertop 3y ago

> There are likely 100s-1000s of app developers involved in the LinkedIn app I don't understand why you'd need 1000 or even 100 developers to produce such app. It's a CRUD frontend for a backend that already exists. What am I missing? Are you counting the developers of all the third party libs they integrate?

emj 3y ago
Management might have been too interested in features to fix deep technical issues. > I had conversations with that manager where I was told in literally so many words, ‘You’re too idealistic. You don’t care enough about the bottom line. You should change your values.’ And I was like, no, nope, that’s not how this is going to work, man. Uh, outside I did the politic. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39612443 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39612443
rob74 3y ago
Furthermore, I would like to see some stats how much of their traffic is via the app and how much is via the website. Of course many people have LinkedIn profiles, but are there really so many "hardcore" users who install the app? So maybe the app just isn't that important for them in the grand scheme of things, and the bloat is more the result of neglect than of hundreds of developers working (specifically) on the app?
- ungreased0675 3y ago
  The mobile web version is intentionally feature degraded, with occasional pop-up nags pushing the app. For that reason, I’d guess a lot of people are using the mobile app.
  - rob74 3y ago
    Ah! I know that from Yahoo Mail (the email address I still use for historical reasons). I even tried the app once, saw that it was actually worse than the website (which is not feature degraded as far as I can tell, at least not the features I use), and since then I just curse and ignore the nags...
  - RyanHamilton 3y ago
    If you use firefox mobile, there's a toggle switch under the menu to set "Desktop Version", I have found it prevents these intentional mobile degraded sites.
    - iggldiggl 3y ago
      Although "Desktop version" is also tied to a desktop viewport, so you have to deal with either too tiny font sizes or lots of scrolling.
      - mrguyorama 3y ago
        Because god forbid tech companies actually build compliant and responsive web sites!
  - gravescale 3y ago
    Crippling your website on mobile to push your app is a scumbag move and guarantees I'll never create any persistent account on your system. Definitely won't be installing the app, because if you're already scum, you probably have no limits and I'm not installing what you're pushing.
- rvba 3y ago
  Id argue that the people who pay for linkedin are the ones who use the app. So the group of users can be small, but those can be the "whales". Also recruiters and HR who use paid features also probably use the app.
LudwigNagasena 3y ago
You need at least 100 developers to produce such an app. If there were only 5 or 10 devs, it would be much more performant and less bloated.
phillipcarter 3y ago
> It's a CRUD frontend for a backend that already exists. What am I missing? Probably a million features that are all relevant to different people who use the app? As a developer you probably use maybe 1% of LinkedIn, but you're not the primary user. It's a professional social network. It's going to have a lot to do.
eddd-ddde 3y ago
You are missing: - Every interaction needs to be recorded (metrics!) - Every interaction needs bot protection - A/B testing, show some users new stuff - Gather all that good user data for tracking and selling - Probably at some point they refactored the UI and now they maintain old and new stuff, they still ship everything of course If you in the web app and open the network tab you will ve surprised how much junk they are moving around for a seemingly simple app.
jamesfinlayson 3y ago
I kind of agree but I've worked for two companies in the same industry - one had an app team of five people, the other had an app team of 50 people. The apps were roughly identical in the services that they provided (they both sold the same products but maybe some of the payment methods were different). I'm still not sure why one company needed 10x the people to maintain the same thing.

by gertop 3y ago

emj 3y ago

Management might have been too interested in features to fix deep technical issues. > I had conversations with that manager where I was told in literally so many words, ‘You’re too idealistic. You don’t care enough about the bottom line. You should change your values.’ And I was like, no, nope, that’s not how this is going to work, man. Uh, outside I did the politic. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39612443 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39612443

rob74 3y ago

Furthermore, I would like to see some stats how much of their traffic is via the app and how much is via the website. Of course many people have LinkedIn profiles, but are there really so many "hardcore" users who install the app? So maybe the app just isn't that important for them in the grand scheme of things, and the bloat is more the result of neglect than of hundreds of developers working (specifically) on the app?

ungreased0675 3y ago
The mobile web version is intentionally feature degraded, with occasional pop-up nags pushing the app. For that reason, I’d guess a lot of people are using the mobile app.
- rob74 3y ago
  Ah! I know that from Yahoo Mail (the email address I still use for historical reasons). I even tried the app once, saw that it was actually worse than the website (which is not feature degraded as far as I can tell, at least not the features I use), and since then I just curse and ignore the nags...
- RyanHamilton 3y ago
  If you use firefox mobile, there's a toggle switch under the menu to set "Desktop Version", I have found it prevents these intentional mobile degraded sites.
  - iggldiggl 3y ago
    Although "Desktop version" is also tied to a desktop viewport, so you have to deal with either too tiny font sizes or lots of scrolling.
    - mrguyorama 3y ago
      Because god forbid tech companies actually build compliant and responsive web sites!
- gravescale 3y ago
  Crippling your website on mobile to push your app is a scumbag move and guarantees I'll never create any persistent account on your system. Definitely won't be installing the app, because if you're already scum, you probably have no limits and I'm not installing what you're pushing.
rvba 3y ago
Id argue that the people who pay for linkedin are the ones who use the app. So the group of users can be small, but those can be the "whales". Also recruiters and HR who use paid features also probably use the app.

LudwigNagasena 3y ago

You need at least 100 developers to produce such an app. If there were only 5 or 10 devs, it would be much more performant and less bloated.

phillipcarter 3y ago

> It's a CRUD frontend for a backend that already exists. What am I missing? Probably a million features that are all relevant to different people who use the app? As a developer you probably use maybe 1% of LinkedIn, but you're not the primary user. It's a professional social network. It's going to have a lot to do.

eddd-ddde 3y ago

You are missing: - Every interaction needs to be recorded (metrics!) - Every interaction needs bot protection - A/B testing, show some users new stuff - Gather all that good user data for tracking and selling - Probably at some point they refactored the UI and now they maintain old and new stuff, they still ship everything of course If you in the web app and open the network tab you will ve surprised how much junk they are moving around for a seemingly simple app.

jamesfinlayson 3y ago

I kind of agree but I've worked for two companies in the same industry - one had an app team of five people, the other had an app team of 50 people. The apps were roughly identical in the services that they provided (they both sold the same products but maybe some of the payment methods were different). I'm still not sure why one company needed 10x the people to maintain the same thing.