5 ms·

Dear programmers, if you are using linkedin you are doing it wrong. Use github, careers.stackoverflow, a plain html resume page, the ladders, and basically anyt

Dear programmers, if you are using linkedin you are doing it wrong. Use github, careers.stackoverflow, a plain html resume page, the ladders, and basically anything else that is not linkedin to showcase your skillset.

mindcrime 12y ago
LinkedIn is useful for more than just "showcasing your skillset" though.
- dkarapetyan 12y ago
  How is that? The only thing I've ever gotten from them is a shitty user experience, overabundance of dark UI patterns, and recruiter spam.
  - mindcrime 12y ago
    Oh I don't know... how about keeping track of former co-workers, people you meet at networking events, and other professional connections? How about finding useful interesting industry or topic specific news and discussion via groups? Or if you are job-hunting, for finding a path to somebody who works at the company you're targeting, so you can try to get an inside testimonial? Or getting a warm intro when trying to contact VC's or Angel investors? Or perhaps for looking up an individual before meeting them in a professional setting, so you have some background on their experience / interests / etc? I mean, really, there are a million ways that LinkedIn is useful. The fact that they suck in so many other ways is pretty much orthogonal. Yeah, I think we'd all prefer a site like LinkedIn that somehow manages to avoid "recruiter spam" and all that, but for me personally, I can tolerate a little recruiter spam... and hell, every once in a while I get something like that, that is actually interesting enough to pursue.
    - dkarapetyan 12y ago
      I don't think you're a programmer or maybe you were but are now at a higher level. My advice was more for practicing programmers than others. I personally get zero value out of linkedin. All the people I consider professional equals can be found on mailing lists, blogs, weekly digests, stackoverflow, meetups, etc. Keeping track of them is quite easy and I don't need a third party in that process that just spams me.
      - HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
        Just because you get no value out of LinkedIn, doesn't mean other programmers don't. I get useful information about available jobs in my segment of the industry because LinkedIn knows what kind of work I do as opposed to just "he's a programmer." The recruiters who contact me from LinkedIn are looking for people in a specific domain, as opposed to "knows language X and framework Y." I consider that to be a hell of a lot more useful than the usual email job spam. I also get to see if I know someone who knows someone else that I might want to be introduced to. It's a lot harder to do this on your own without a stack of cross referenced rolodexes.
      - mindcrime 12y ago
        Oh I'm definitely a programmer... but I do more than just program, yes. I have a startup I've been working on for a while, and I consider networking an essential activity... and LinkedIn has been a valuable resource in that regard. That said, I think LI has value even if you're not interested in founding a startup or whatever. I mean, I'd rather keep a (more or less) master "rolodex" of people I know and have some connection to, on LinkedIn, than have to spend all sorts of time trawling through old email lists, Quora, Meetup, SO, etc., just to find somebody's info. But that's just me.
        dkarapetyan 12y ago
        It indeed is just you. I don't know how you're going to find anyone worthwhile if all you do is keep everything restricted to linkedin. I've met plenty of awesome people at meetups, conferences, etc. that don't have a linkedin profile and maintain control of their own web presence. A simple bookmark and an email contact list is not much of a burden to keep track of such people in my opinion.
fsloth 12y ago
Dear fellow, if you - Oh, screw with the wordplay. I use Linkedin as a friendly reminder of who I know and how they are positioned careerwise. I'm pretty sure in case I need a new job I can contact the people I know and something will turn up. People who know me professionally respect my skills and I don't need to flaunt them around github or anywhere else. I'm sorry, but it's just not about skills but who one knows and Linkedin is a really handy rolodex. Rather than write stuff to Github, a much better advice to build career is to do a good job at ones current gig and co-operate and respect your colleagues. Those are the references one needs to get a job. Not a random github account with yet another blog engine. Unless the repo is really astoundingly good and usefull and called 'Clojure' or in that caliber. Just like in startup scene, small time players like individual engineers want to target a niche. The easiest niche to reach are ones colleagues. And I don't mean this in a sociopathic sense,just that be professional, be good at what you do, don't be a dick and remember the people you work with will be around for a long time to come.
- dkarapetyan 12y ago
  > People who know me professionally respect my skills and I don't need to flaunt them around github or anywhere else. Then why do you need to flaunt it on linkedin?
  - fsloth 12y ago
    Like I said: the main feature of LinkedIn is a contact list of known people who I can approach easily. To rephrase: LinkedIn is a professional tool. The revenue model which makes Facebook a bit creepy (sell the contact info of the users to the world) is actually, in professional context a feature. LinkedIn helps its users maintain a professional brand and market it to other professionals. The difference is between an olde phonebook that would also contain info on all the personal details and the yellow pages. Typically, professional indices have charged for inclusion. Linkedin provides the minimum feature set for free. If one does not have any contacts in LinkedIn then the value of the service of course drops to near zero for the individual professional user.
    - 12y ago
kevin_thibedeau 12y ago
"The Ladders"? I've never seen a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
- dkarapetyan 12y ago
  As opposed to linkedin?
- benburton 12y ago
  TheLadders is just a worse LinkedIn you have to pay for up front.
  - spooneybarger 12y ago
    we miss you too ben.

mindcrime 12y ago

LinkedIn is useful for more than just "showcasing your skillset" though.

dkarapetyan 12y ago
How is that? The only thing I've ever gotten from them is a shitty user experience, overabundance of dark UI patterns, and recruiter spam.
- mindcrime 12y ago
  Oh I don't know... how about keeping track of former co-workers, people you meet at networking events, and other professional connections? How about finding useful interesting industry or topic specific news and discussion via groups? Or if you are job-hunting, for finding a path to somebody who works at the company you're targeting, so you can try to get an inside testimonial? Or getting a warm intro when trying to contact VC's or Angel investors? Or perhaps for looking up an individual before meeting them in a professional setting, so you have some background on their experience / interests / etc? I mean, really, there are a million ways that LinkedIn is useful. The fact that they suck in so many other ways is pretty much orthogonal. Yeah, I think we'd all prefer a site like LinkedIn that somehow manages to avoid "recruiter spam" and all that, but for me personally, I can tolerate a little recruiter spam... and hell, every once in a while I get something like that, that is actually interesting enough to pursue.
  - dkarapetyan 12y ago
    I don't think you're a programmer or maybe you were but are now at a higher level. My advice was more for practicing programmers than others. I personally get zero value out of linkedin. All the people I consider professional equals can be found on mailing lists, blogs, weekly digests, stackoverflow, meetups, etc. Keeping track of them is quite easy and I don't need a third party in that process that just spams me.
    - HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
      Just because you get no value out of LinkedIn, doesn't mean other programmers don't. I get useful information about available jobs in my segment of the industry because LinkedIn knows what kind of work I do as opposed to just "he's a programmer." The recruiters who contact me from LinkedIn are looking for people in a specific domain, as opposed to "knows language X and framework Y." I consider that to be a hell of a lot more useful than the usual email job spam. I also get to see if I know someone who knows someone else that I might want to be introduced to. It's a lot harder to do this on your own without a stack of cross referenced rolodexes.
    - mindcrime 12y ago
      Oh I'm definitely a programmer... but I do more than just program, yes. I have a startup I've been working on for a while, and I consider networking an essential activity... and LinkedIn has been a valuable resource in that regard. That said, I think LI has value even if you're not interested in founding a startup or whatever. I mean, I'd rather keep a (more or less) master "rolodex" of people I know and have some connection to, on LinkedIn, than have to spend all sorts of time trawling through old email lists, Quora, Meetup, SO, etc., just to find somebody's info. But that's just me.
      - dkarapetyan 12y ago
        It indeed is just you. I don't know how you're going to find anyone worthwhile if all you do is keep everything restricted to linkedin. I've met plenty of awesome people at meetups, conferences, etc. that don't have a linkedin profile and maintain control of their own web presence. A simple bookmark and an email contact list is not much of a burden to keep track of such people in my opinion.

fsloth 12y ago

Dear fellow, if you - Oh, screw with the wordplay. I use Linkedin as a friendly reminder of who I know and how they are positioned careerwise. I'm pretty sure in case I need a new job I can contact the people I know and something will turn up. People who know me professionally respect my skills and I don't need to flaunt them around github or anywhere else. I'm sorry, but it's just not about skills but who one knows and Linkedin is a really handy rolodex. Rather than write stuff to Github, a much better advice to build career is to do a good job at ones current gig and co-operate and respect your colleagues. Those are the references one needs to get a job. Not a random github account with yet another blog engine. Unless the repo is really astoundingly good and usefull and called 'Clojure' or in that caliber. Just like in startup scene, small time players like individual engineers want to target a niche. The easiest niche to reach are ones colleagues. And I don't mean this in a sociopathic sense,just that be professional, be good at what you do, don't be a dick and remember the people you work with will be around for a long time to come.

dkarapetyan 12y ago
> People who know me professionally respect my skills and I don't need to flaunt them around github or anywhere else. Then why do you need to flaunt it on linkedin?
- fsloth 12y ago
  Like I said: the main feature of LinkedIn is a contact list of known people who I can approach easily. To rephrase: LinkedIn is a professional tool. The revenue model which makes Facebook a bit creepy (sell the contact info of the users to the world) is actually, in professional context a feature. LinkedIn helps its users maintain a professional brand and market it to other professionals. The difference is between an olde phonebook that would also contain info on all the personal details and the yellow pages. Typically, professional indices have charged for inclusion. Linkedin provides the minimum feature set for free. If one does not have any contacts in LinkedIn then the value of the service of course drops to near zero for the individual professional user.
  - 12y ago

kevin_thibedeau 12y ago

"The Ladders"? I've never seen a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

dkarapetyan 12y ago
As opposed to linkedin?
benburton 12y ago
TheLadders is just a worse LinkedIn you have to pay for up front.
- spooneybarger 12y ago
  we miss you too ben.