Are you a fan of LinkedIn or do you find it overrated? Have you found exciting opportunities, made valuable connections, or encountered unexpected ...
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I wouldn't define LinkedIn as "hype" when it has been around for 21 years. It is a well-established platform where you can find gold (and a job) if you use it often and well. Lately, with social platforms imploding, there has been more "cringe content" than usual, but if you network and connect with people that you know, the experience can be great and fruitful. My last three jobs came from LinkedIn: I posted things I did in CSS or related to accessibility, and former coworkers reached out to me because their teams needed someone that did that.
...but, as a LinkedIn employee, I may be biased :-P
The issue with LinkedIn is that it's like a private club with public rules and hidden actual rules.
It's great for people who are in the know and know how things actually work becaused they followed LinkedIn training and stuff
It's mostly a bad investiment of your time for people who use LinkedIn the way it is supposed to work.
As a simple example, there is this badge
#opentoworkthat LinkedIn tells you to use if you are lookinf for a job.If you are naive user, you think oh I'm looking for a job, LinkedIn tells me to do that, I should probably do it.
If you are in the known, you understand that recruiters don't need the badge when they do the sourcing of who is available for work.
And more importantly you know that the badge only hurts your chance because it's the equivalent of
#opentowork= I can't find any girlfriend, please anyone, take me"It's mostly a bad investiment of your time for people who use LinkedIn the way it is supposed to work." The main issue that I've seen is that people don't actually use LinkedIn in the way it is supposed to work. They tend to interact on the platform when they need a job, but the platform works better for networking, and at that point, it is too late! Networking (both on LinkedIn and in real life) is something that is not a once-every-few-years type of thing, but an ongoing effort. There's no hidden training or rules on LinkedIn.
My experience then is that LinkedIn is a very inefficient way to do "networking".
I meet people in cafés and in one hour there I learn more than stuck on my screen behind LinkedIn.
I merely use LinkedIn as a database to find who I invite.
That's just not true, there are very expansive training on how to do content marketing on LinkedIn and those absolutely works because success with writing content on LinkedIn depends mostly on following the hidden rules of what works well with the algorithm, not on the merits of what you have to say.
The "hidden training" and "hidden rules" that you describe are not LinkedIn's. They apply to all social media. Some content (buzzwords, more images/videos, less hashtags, etc.) generates more engagement and leads than other. And it happens on Facebook, Twitter, Bluesky... It's not a mystery or a LinkedIn chapter of the Stonecutters.
I agree though that the personal touch goes a long way. LinkedIn is approaching the 1 billion users mark, and an in-person coffee with just 1 person can be more productive than a thousand hours on that or any platform... It's all a matter of quality interaction and time.
I agree with your first paragraph, I dislike all social media.
Private communities ala discourse/slack/discord + face 2 face conversation is what works for me.
While I see LinkedIn only as a necessary evil and personally do not like the platform at all (spammy notifications, endless virtue signalling, etc.), I think Alvaro is correct here. There isn’t any conspiracy or secret rulebook behind the scenes.
Nearly all my employment opportunities have come through the platform. Each one was the result of putting in time and effort to converse with recruiters and making the most of any opportunity that presented itself (sometimes they happen, sometimes they don’t).
In my case, LinkedIn was nothing more than a tool to match with recruiters, and everything following this was determined through my DMs with them.
But the one caveat is the amount of data mining LinkedIn does behind the scenes. Now that is definitely a black box (likely lots of shady/legally dubious activity going on) and an aspect I probably have serious objections to from an ethical perspective
Contacting the recruiters directly is the way to do it.
LinkedIn is also very useful as a datatabase of basic information about people.
What I think are the bad part of LinkedIn are the social network aspects.
It's time to change your car's brake fluid 🤣🤫
Just kidding, just kidding... Or maybe not 😂🤣
?
It was a bad joke about LinkedIn tracking too much. But the reply functionality is weird on DEV after 3 levels.
LinkedIn is definitely amazing. I am not a LinkedIn employee but I would love to be biased. LinkedIn has given me a lot. I mean, A LOT:)
There's no hype FWIW, I believe. It's not TikTok 😄
In terms of content it's mostly garbage and marketing/self-promo. Even if you just need to spot some trends, you better end up on Twitter.
In terms of networking — priceless. You can meet and connect with LOTS of great folks around all industries. I had some great conversations there.
So all in all, probably the most valuable and useful (professionally) social network around, and at the same time, the most useless place if you need to read/learn something.
In my experience, LinkedIn has served as a dynamic melting pot of diverse professionals, each contributing unique perspectives and insights from across a myriad of industries. This diversity is indeed one of the platform's strongest points, as it has the potential to inspire and provoke thought, while providing opportunities for knowledge sharing and collaborative dialogue.
However, my encounters with the platform have been somewhat tainted by the user experience it provides. Despite LinkedIn's powerful promise as a professional networking tool, its interface and functionality have, at times, struck me as somewhat lackluster. The site's general navigation flow can sometimes feel less than intuitive, leading to a sense of disorientation rather than the streamlined experience one would expect from a platform of its stature.
That being said, LinkedIn has its merits and can be an incredibly useful tool, depending on how one chooses to leverage it. I've found it particularly beneficial for keeping up to date with industry trends, learning about job opportunities, and even for gaining unexpected insights into my field of interest.
It is just a social network, you can use it properly if you know your target an your target uses linkedin.
The bad thing about is the hidden rule sand shadow ban, but you get those on all other social networks too.
LinkedIn is a great platform if:
You follow the right people. LinkedIn is probably the only platform where people create high-quality content. There's a lot of fluff and it's true. But there are also genuine people sharing knowledge.
You post content. Most people on LinkedIn post about the job they just landed, disappear for 2/3 years and then come back again, announcing the job they just landed and so on. That's not how you make the most out of LinkedIn. Post about what you know. You don't even need to post selfies of you or pictures of your dog to be great at LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is great for job-searching. A university mate of mine found his first job because I used the "Support" reaction on a job ad.
I have a love/hate relationship with LinkedIn
I love the personal benefit I get from the network. Having a dedicated network for professional contacts has enabled me to stay connected with past colleagues and has surfaced numerous opportunities over the years, several of which I was able to capitalize on.
My loathing for LinkedIn comes from the cold calls. In my role, I get at least a dozen business pitches a week and 99.99% of those pitches go nowhere.
I wish I could block entire companies from seeing my profile, I have a couple that are so bad at their jobs I've already blocked them at the email post-office level, but they continue to browse my profile and make phone calls.
I don't think it's overrated hype - all my jobs have come through LinkedIn 😄
BUT, the signal-to-noise ratio is really low. Too many "LinkedIn Top Voices™️", too much hustle culture, and honestly too many people posting opinions that are shocking coming from a network that has no anonymity.
Also, LinkedIn as a product is really lacking. The UX is terrible at times, their mobile version is very poor (I refuse to install the app), and there are lots of missing features.
I block a lot of people and curate my network quite a bit. With that, it's become a really powerful megaphone.
Use it wisely! It's the only social network that will not be copied and destroyed by Meta 💀