Ask HN: As a developer/engineer, how do you use LinkedIn? - a_lifters_life
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Someone1234
No.

LinkedIn seems like nothing more than a spam hub. I constantly have friends
that send me LinkedIn spam, I receive spam directly from them for a closed
account many years ago, and they still want to harvest my contact list for
their spammy purposes.

If I wanted to put myself out there for recruitment I would use GitHub or
Stack Exchange; I'd be happy if LinkedIn died as a "thing."

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joezydeco
1) When working with a new client I'll spelunk through the contact to
understand the person better. What's their background? What technologies have
they worked with before? Do we have anything in common I can use? How long
have they been in this field?

After that, I'll circle out to their management and coworkers. What does their
org look like? Is my contact the decision maker or just a junior person who
will shoot everything back and forth to their boss? How many bosses _are_
there?

A little homework goes a long way, and LinkedIn is a very easy way to start.

2) I load my own profile with buzzwords and technologies that I know the
competition is using. Recruiters happily latch on to that and send me job
listings, 90% of the time I can decipher who is actually hiring. Recruiters
lazily cut/paste stuff and Google is your friend. Now I know a little more
about the state of my industry and who is struggling to get stuff out the door
(gee, why do they need 4 manufacturing engineers all of a sudden?)

Sometimes you see the same company trying to fill the same headcount for a
year or more. Multiple recruiters, same job listing. You make a mental note
that they are either a disaster to work for, their pay/benefits suck, or there
is a culture problem. Next time you network, you can dig deeper and learn more
(hey, what's the story over at FooCorp? Why can't they find an Android dev?)

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dirktheman
I was required to use LinkedIn by a previous employer. I set up an IFTTT
recipe so that twice a week 'interesting' stories from Buzzfeed get published
to my timeline automatically. Once every 2 months I confirm any incoming
friend requests, or whatever LinkedIn calls them.

My employer was very satisfied with my LinkedIn usage. Other than this, I
don't use it at all. It's a pain to use and I get nothing but recruiter spam.

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lsiunsuex
I've had success with it as a developer - my current and last job both found
me from it (both via recruiters)

I don't like it as a system; I think it's rather annoying how many
notifications they send and the constant pushing to use their 3rd party apps
like Pulse or signup for a paid account - but it has worked for me.

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enkiv2
As a developer/engineer, I signed up for LinkedIn in college and have tried to
avoid using it ever since, despite the steady flow of recruiter spam it sends
me.

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Avalaxy
I kinda use it as my resume. I still send my resume to companies, but having
it 'out there' makes everyone being able to look it up and come up with
opportunities that I wouldn't have gotten if I wasn't visible.

Other than that I don't really see a lot of value in its networking
capabilities. I usually approach people through email anyway.

Edit: just wanted to elaborate a bit more: I can often see that potential
clients have looked me up on LinkedIn. I wouldn't normally send them my resume
so they would just have to 'trust me'. But because they can freely lookup my
background info and see that people endorsed me for things, it gives me some
credibility.

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ArtDev
As place to keep my resume.

Also, its nice being able to to message old colleagues that I would not be
able to communicate with through any other channels.

The recruiters are a problem. Disabling all notifications from LinkedIn is the
only solution.

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a_lifters_life
By disabling all notifications, aren't you losing the convenience to be able
to receive messages from old colleagues?

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JBReefer
Does that actually happen though? I feel like it's more common to get emails
to my personal email address from people that I've given it to as I've left
jobs, than it is to get LinkedIn messages.

I use LinkedIn for two things: getting attention from recruiters, and
receiving copious amounts of email spam which must be disabled once or twice a
month.

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kasey_junk
Not at all. Deleted my profile ages ago to help stem the recruiter spam.

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newdaynewuser
I made my profile by mistake; it is way too spammy and uses dark patterns. I
would consider it the shadiest of all social networks. I don't use it anymore
and filter any mail from Linkedin directly to trash. But I keep it around for
occasional chat with old colleagues.

(Maybe if I haven't connected with my old colleagues on personal email by now,
then I should just forget about advancing our relationship any further.)

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seanwilson
Some people use LinkedIn more than other sites, some people use Twitter more
than other sites etc. Even if LinkedIn has its issues it's worth being on it
so you can get in contact or be contacted by people that prefer using
LinkedIn. I know lots of management types that love it and it's the first
place they check up on when background checking job applicants.

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theWold
I put things out there on it and I have had success leading to interviews at
companies. I had a Google Recruiter reach out to me via LinkedIn two years ago
while I was still in college, and ended up going deep into their interview
process. Never applied to Google, they just reached out.

I also keep up with friends/acquaintances (typically people on the 'business'
side of things). Though most of my software/programming buds and gals we
connect elsewhere (typically through Steam).

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forrestbrazeal
I keep an updated resume on LinkedIn and try to participate in a few groups.
I've also published a grand total of one post on their blogging platform.

I think there's some value in the tool, especially if you have listed skills
in a buzz-wordy section of the industry. The last time I did an in-person job
interview, everybody had printed copies of my LinkedIn resume beforehand,
which nicely sped things up. That said, as others have pointed out, there is a
very high noise-to-signal ratio in the network. Scrolling through a LinkedIn
feed is nobody's idea of a good time, unless you're a recruiter.

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Jemaclus
I don't. It's spam through and through.

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infinii
I hate it. I rarely use it but only keep it for that rainy day should I ever
need to seek employment.

what I hate the most is that they force me through that annoying multipage
wizard (with no cancel/skip) to connect to new contacts each time I open the
mobile app.

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kdamken
I get a few requests a month from random recruiters. If I'm happy where I'm
at, I decline or ignore. If I'm not, I may respond.

If I'm interviewing at a company I'll connect with the people I interview with
or talk with people at the company a bit before I interview.

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JakeAl
I use it to search job postings which often redirect to career pages on
corporate sites. I also use it to look up resumes of new colleagues to get an
idea of their background without coming right out and asking what they
know/what kind of experience they have.

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Marcus316
I don't. It's never provided me with anything but spam, so I deleted my
account.

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ausjke
Used to use linkedin a bit but rarely visit there these days, for job
searching I just do indeed.com and for real friends there are too many other
ways to connect, really, linkedin seems irrelevant to me these days.

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shepardrtc
I use it as a resume. It got me my last two jobs. Well, the last job was
actually through the LinkedIn Jobs app. But it used my LinkedIn profile as a
resume.

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prodaniel
It's very effective to showcase your skills, especially that others can
endorse your skills, it just gives credibility to you.

And I can see my classmates on the website too; somehow it updates me on their
life which is not possible on Facebook (because you may seem boastful).

Many recruiters have been able to reach me via LinkdIn. I don't treat it as a
spam. I feel proud that I don't look for jobs, jobs look for me. Someone from
Singapore even contacted me via phone just because of my credentials.

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gesman
Make LinkedIn to convey your growth and success story, not be a record of your
past mistakes.

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newdaynewuser
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari

Very interesting though later chapters become less of history and more of
philosophy.

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newdaynewuser
Sorry posted in wrong window, cannot delete it now.

