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I had an "all-star" profile with many recommendations and all sorts of endorsements, 500+ connections, ... One day, I simply tired of having my professional lif

I had an "all-star" profile with many recommendations and all sorts of endorsements, 500+ connections, ... One day, I simply tired of having my professional life "out there", ripe for the canvassing, so I deleted it. Liberating, and highly recommended.

corin_ 13y ago
Why? I can imagine how many things that others give up and I haven't might be liberating to do so, but not really LinkedIn. I'm not disagreeing that you found it so, just don't see why from my experience.
- shurcooL 13y ago
  It may feel liberating to eliminate things you do not actively use often. Reduce your cognitive load, less stuff to maintain (as little effort as it may be, it's non-zero).
- sspiff 13y ago
  I agree. LinkedIn costs me no time (20 minutes a year worth of updating, maybe), contains no information that is not already available if people look hard enough, but does make my profile visible and easy to find for potential recruiters. I get a few mails every month/week about some potential job that I might qualify for, and most of the time the job content is pretty in tune with what I want to do. So LinkedIn costs me nothing, but does offer me value. I don't see why closing my account would be liberating.
pieterhg 13y ago
I deleted my profile after figuring most of my profile was just ego-tripping. It's a one-sided perspective of achievement as it does not show the failures of a person. There's a charm in not bragging so much about your achievements and instead admitting we're all imperfect. The people I met that have achieved the most in life hardly bragged about it nor did they have "all-star" LinkedIn profiles.
- paraiuspau 13y ago
  Yes, you have a point in that modesty is virtuous. My "all-star" profile and it's recommendations were also keeping me fairly "externally referenced" in that I only kept the profile online for that fact that others has said nice things about me. I felt that knowing in myself that I am competent and fairly confident in myself was enough. No small feat given that I personally have a history of substance abuse, stemming from self-esteem issues. In this way, it did feel liberating.
- bad_user 13y ago
  For you it may be ego-tripping, but for others it's just marketing. There's nothing wrong in outlining your achievements and it is quite necessary if you're looking for a job, or if you're a consultant looking for clients, or if your startup died and you're looking for a new adventure and so on. LinkedIn is first and foremost a repository of online resumes. Resumes are by definition marketing pamphlets. > The people I met that have achieved the most in life hardly bragged about it If you pay attention, you'll realize there's a selection bias going on. The successful people you've met, are probably those whose achievements are known by everybody in their field. This is probably why you've met them in the first place. Like, when I go to a conference and I see somebody I know to be a really good developer based on my interactions with him on mailing lists or his open-source projects or the startups he worked on (or other such criteria), I do want to shake his hand and say hi. I have less such inclinations for people I know nothing about and I suspect my behaviour is not atypical. However, many people don't have achievements that are known. Many people may have done wonderful stuff and yet nobody will ever know about it, unless they tell their tale. And yet this is precisely what they need to do for growing in their careers, for getting to work on interesting stuff, for getting higher incomes and so on. I appreciate modesty, but sometimes it's not a virtue. Knowing how to market yourself is a necessity and yet engineers are really, really bad at doing it.
amourgh 13y ago
I've done the same thing.All my business relationships have come from real life networking.
rhizome 13y ago
Not completely liberating though, right? I mean, you're still commenting in LinkedIn threads.
- paraiuspau 13y ago
  Yeah I see your point, but just because I commented on the thread doesn't mean it still has me in it's grasp. I was simply sharing my experience.
  - rhizome 13y ago
    Don't make me twist the knife.
    - paraiuspau 13y ago
      Please do if you have something of value to share.

corin_ 13y ago

Why? I can imagine how many things that others give up and I haven't might be liberating to do so, but not really LinkedIn. I'm not disagreeing that you found it so, just don't see why from my experience.

shurcooL 13y ago
It may feel liberating to eliminate things you do not actively use often. Reduce your cognitive load, less stuff to maintain (as little effort as it may be, it's non-zero).
sspiff 13y ago
I agree. LinkedIn costs me no time (20 minutes a year worth of updating, maybe), contains no information that is not already available if people look hard enough, but does make my profile visible and easy to find for potential recruiters. I get a few mails every month/week about some potential job that I might qualify for, and most of the time the job content is pretty in tune with what I want to do. So LinkedIn costs me nothing, but does offer me value. I don't see why closing my account would be liberating.

pieterhg 13y ago

I deleted my profile after figuring most of my profile was just ego-tripping. It's a one-sided perspective of achievement as it does not show the failures of a person. There's a charm in not bragging so much about your achievements and instead admitting we're all imperfect. The people I met that have achieved the most in life hardly bragged about it nor did they have "all-star" LinkedIn profiles.

paraiuspau 13y ago
Yes, you have a point in that modesty is virtuous. My "all-star" profile and it's recommendations were also keeping me fairly "externally referenced" in that I only kept the profile online for that fact that others has said nice things about me. I felt that knowing in myself that I am competent and fairly confident in myself was enough. No small feat given that I personally have a history of substance abuse, stemming from self-esteem issues. In this way, it did feel liberating.
bad_user 13y ago
For you it may be ego-tripping, but for others it's just marketing. There's nothing wrong in outlining your achievements and it is quite necessary if you're looking for a job, or if you're a consultant looking for clients, or if your startup died and you're looking for a new adventure and so on. LinkedIn is first and foremost a repository of online resumes. Resumes are by definition marketing pamphlets. > The people I met that have achieved the most in life hardly bragged about it If you pay attention, you'll realize there's a selection bias going on. The successful people you've met, are probably those whose achievements are known by everybody in their field. This is probably why you've met them in the first place. Like, when I go to a conference and I see somebody I know to be a really good developer based on my interactions with him on mailing lists or his open-source projects or the startups he worked on (or other such criteria), I do want to shake his hand and say hi. I have less such inclinations for people I know nothing about and I suspect my behaviour is not atypical. However, many people don't have achievements that are known. Many people may have done wonderful stuff and yet nobody will ever know about it, unless they tell their tale. And yet this is precisely what they need to do for growing in their careers, for getting to work on interesting stuff, for getting higher incomes and so on. I appreciate modesty, but sometimes it's not a virtue. Knowing how to market yourself is a necessity and yet engineers are really, really bad at doing it.

amourgh 13y ago

I've done the same thing.All my business relationships have come from real life networking.

rhizome 13y ago

Not completely liberating though, right? I mean, you're still commenting in LinkedIn threads.

paraiuspau 13y ago
Yeah I see your point, but just because I commented on the thread doesn't mean it still has me in it's grasp. I was simply sharing my experience.
- rhizome 13y ago
  Don't make me twist the knife.
  - paraiuspau 13y ago
    Please do if you have something of value to share.