

Ask HN [Developers]: LinkedIn Effectiveness - jpd750

HN Developers - when job seeking... I'm wondering:<p>1) how effective do you find LinkedIn in representing you to recruiters?<p>2) Do you really care who viewed your profile on LinkedIn?<p>3) Does LinkedIn properly represent your skill set?<p>4) Do you get a lot of recruiters' spamming you with positions that dont really have much to do with your background or outdated?<p>Do you feel like there are better ways they could do #1-4 above or make a more succinct profile?<p>Thanks.
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stevekwan
I'm a HUGE fan of LinkedIn. You get what you put into it, though. For me,
LinkedIn is my online resume - even moreso than GitHub, because the nature of
my work prevents me from contributing to open source.

I also definitely care who views my profile, as it can be used as a good
icebreaker. Whenever someone interesting has viewed my profile, I immediately
reach out to them. Odds are they wanted to learn about me for a reason. Maybe
I can help them with something.

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stevekemp
I've suffered _years_ of non-stop spamming from linkedin.

"Your friend Bob from India wishes to connect with you". "Reminder, your
friend Charlie from Canada recently invited .."

I've received hundreds of unsolicated mails, each of which was junked, binned,
and reported.

Recently I started issuing DMCA-takedown notices for content I'd produced
which was copy/pasted into their forums/groups.

I will be happy when linkedin ceases operations.

To keep this vaguely on-topic; most of the local friends I know who mention
linkedin regard is as a ghetto, something they used to use before they started
receiving connections from people they'd never met, in countries they'd never
visited.

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jpd750
Please explain what you don't / wouldn't use on LinkedIn and what you wish
was.

I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

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gamechangr
I get spammed a bunch. Really LinkedIn is intended to serve the employer (not
the employee), but it can be helpful when you need a very specific skill set.
I know over 400 programmers. I only know of one that took a job based on
linkedin interaction.

The truth, no platform is helpful or even necessary. I would only take a job
offer recommendation from a friend, mostly because they would better
understand what I am looking for.

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jpd750
Appreciate the succinct feedback gamechangr!

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gamechangr
I assume you are a recruiter??

If so, another HN coder posted this yesterday....may interest u!

[http://danrodriguez.me/blog/tips-for-tech-recruiters-from-
an...](http://danrodriguez.me/blog/tips-for-tech-recruiters-from-an-engineer)

~~~
jpd750
I am not, I am a developer myself. I already saw this - this is great actually
it validates my thoughts as a developer experiencing the same problems myself.

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speeder
I have a vert old LinkedIn profile, noone ever tried to recruit me, dunno why.

