

Ask HN: Horrible boss wants to connect on linkedin. Do I? - had_a_bad_boss

I worked under the absolute worst manager I've ever had for about half a year. He was a micro-managing, second-guessing, passive-aggressive asshole. Coming home everyday after working for him left me an irritable and exhausted mess. The product I worked on had potential, but his ham-fisted attempts at controlling every little aspect of it left my creativity neutered.
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div
Don't spend energy on someone that makes you feel negative enough to make this
kind of post.

Once you're able to do that, it doesn't matter if you add him or not, go with
whatever costs the least amount of energy.

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GiraffeNecktie
The short answer is no, absolutely not. You should be making a deliberate
decision about who you invite into your social graph. Ideally, these will be
people you respect and admire, but it's fine to have people with whom you only
had a typical decent working relationship. Do not, under any circumstances,
connect with people who did not treat you with dignity and respect. For one
reason, you don't want them badmouthing you behind your back if a recruiter
goes to them for a reference. More importantly, the people you highlight in
LinkedIn also represent a vision of how you would create your future
professional life. Choose people you would work with again, not people that
were a blight on your existence.

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brudgers
It depends.

If you take the LION approach, then yes.

If you are already selective then it's fine not to, but keep in mind that
Linkedin is about business networking not friending and burning bridges
without good reason is bad business.

I'll point out that bad workplaces make bad managers, too. All of the faults
you list can be embedded in a corporation's culture.

Finally, it is an opportunity to place professionalism above some past
personal friction in a workplace you have moved beyond.

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keeptrying
Same thing happened to me. I just ignored the request.

"The most dangerous type of asshole is the one that thinks he's not one."

The only benefit in accepting this guy's "connection request" is that you
would be introduced to his social graph. These are people who either think
he's an a-hole and arent interested in meeting you (as his connection) or who
are accepting of the way he behaves. Either way I dont think it'll benefit
you.

