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Cover image for LinkedIn is for Losers? Think Again. From 💰 100k+ to 200K+ job opportunities. 🛠 Hacks Included.

LinkedIn is for Losers? Think Again. From 💰 100k+ to 200K+ job opportunities. 🛠 Hacks Included.

Andrew Brown 🇨🇦 on May 19, 2019

P.S. if you want some feedback on your linked in profile connect with me and send me a msg. I am convinced the ☝ number 1 thing you can do to acce...
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Ben Sinclair

If you have anything less than 500, recruiters and employers won't take you seriously.

I don't think this is true. I've worked for a few different software companies and seen both sides of the interview process. I've yet to see anywhere that cares about linkedin profiles in the slightest unless they either look like they're really bad or trying too hard.

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Allison Walker

Yeah, I agree with this too. But having a lot of connections can lead to more possibilities. So it's to your own benefit to have 500+ connections.

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David Israwi

Agreed -- is there a good reason for achieving that number of people in your network beyond other people's perception of it?

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Mehdi M.

Same. Also, I think LinkedIn is as nasty crap as Facebook, and the goal of any developer should be to delete his/her LinkedIn profile once enough true professional relationships ensure you to get enough works and easily switch to new companies.

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Fran González

Is there actually anyone who says that LinkedIn is for losers? I got most of my jobs and a lot of interesting offers from there.

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Ben Sinclair

I don't think people say it's "for losers", but there's definitely a lack of perceived value. It's seen as full of people who are trying to look better than they really are, partly by making connections with anybody and everybody they've ever spoken to or worked near.
People don't ask connections to make introductions to 2nd- or 3rd-level connections that I've ever seen (maybe it happens but nobody I know's ever mentioned it) and with the quantity-over-quality approach I suspect most people would be reluctant to agree to it.

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Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

Yes, especially among devs 8+ years into their careers in North America. There was a time when LinkedIn held no value and this is what these developers remember and it's unbelievably difficult to get them to reconsider LinkedIn.

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James

How much does the endorsement count matter? Uncertain. I think it has to be 99+ to be of value anything less doesn't matter.

I hope that's not true. I doubt I know 100 people, let alone 100 people who I am connected to on LinkedIn who know enough about my individual skills that their endorsement is worth anything.

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Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

When you endorse someone you are presented with the following additional information you can provide anonymously to LinkedIn. So you get an idea what LinkedIn thinks about the validity of endorsements (which is they are not taken that seriously).

Looking at Charles Max Wood LinkedIn is a good example of where 99+ makes sense. He is a long time Ruby/Rails developer and currently runs multiple developer podcasts which you can find here on DEV.to

See he is endorsed by Adam, (hes a personal friend in my network) and Chad Fowler (a famous developer). Seeing those people endorse him does validate that I should check out his content. It is also my guess that LinkedIn is being intelligent to show me which endorsements that will have the largest impact to influence my opinion. So if I had 500+ endorsements in a single skill I think they will cherry pick the most high profile or relevant endorsement.

  • A real endorsement that holds value is a LinkedIn Testimonial.
  • A Skill's Endorsements is the equivalent to a thumbs up.

So when I say I think it has to be 99+, I am thinking for a specific use case for content creators, and influncers. I don't have any information currently if 1 or 50 endorsements have a larger impact on job matching.

So should you try to get 99+ on a skill? Probably not.

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James

That's a really thorough response, thank you!

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Brian Barbour

I had the same ideas. I literally just made my first LinkedIn profile a couple weeks ago. If anyone wants to connect with me, that would be super awesome: linkedin.com/in/brian-barbour-9718...

Thanks!

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Doaa Mahely

Is Software Engineer a generic title? I recently graduated from university and am looking for my first job.
I'd love any comments on my LinkedIn 😊 I get some profile visits by recruiters but nothing pans out.

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Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

For your headline Software Engineer is generic.
Most CompSci grads like to use the "Engineer" and if you are trying to align with a company culture where the people hiring also hold CompSci titles than you may want to keep "Software Engineer"

I see your last project was .NET stack so I may suggest this as your headline:

Full Stack .NET Software Engineer

I think you need to pick a language and focus on it. Since you have Python, Java and .NET
Certain titles can imply the usage of more than one language and then allows you to choose a primary language you promote.

So for example, if you wanted to be a Data Engineer I'm going to expect you know Java really well and so you can double down on that.

If you are a Data Scientist I'm going to expect Python.

When you're mixing languages its normally going to be Javascript Flavor + Primary Langauge.

eg.

Typescript + Python
ES6 + PHP
Coffeecript + Ruby
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Doaa Mahely

That's the thing though, I'm applying for web dev jobs with different stacks so I don't want to limit myself. I'm even applying for mobile development and data science. I may try the ES6 + Python combination as I've done projects that used both and consider myself as a beginner in .NET.
Thanks a lot for your reply!

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Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

My suggestion, in this case, is to curate a unique résumé for the requirements of the job and keep your LinkedIn profile specific to one technology.

This will allow you a bit more reach.

I think that without specialization in your profile the result is likely you'll be applying to more jobs such as 20-30 applications before you see conversion and you may become overwhelmed with the number of challenges, take homes or additional study required which is a common complaint by juniors here on DEV.to.

Last time I went to the job market, I only applied to 7 and had 6 formal offers and I attribute this to exact 1-to-1 alignment with the job excluding anything unrelated even if it was transferable knowledge. I don't believe this is the result of being a senior since in-fact played down my years of experience to combat against ageism.

Python is an excellent choice and is on the rise.
React is also a great way to enter the market.

If you have an interest in data-driven startups which are clamouring for developers may I suggest:

ES6, Python, Django, Pandas

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sanidz

No its not, developer title is generic.

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Anish Kumar

One of the things I love about LinkedIn is how easily you can reach out to experienced professionals and potential employers, even if you are just getting started with no prior network. A few keystrokes and clicks can pretty much connect you with someone whom you can reach out for advice or opportunities. While I started out I used this process to get multiple interviews, eventually leading to my first ever job.
For the curious ones, here's the linked post I recently shared stating how you can get your first job via LinkedIn linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ac...

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Ashley Sheridan

A Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.

Using the phrase to denote something negative detracts from it's real meaning.

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Jonathan Sexton

Hi Andrew! I enjoy reading your work and get an immense amount of insight out of these types of articles. Would you mind if I included this article in my June Newsletter? I'll link to this article and attribute you as well if you're alright with that?

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Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

You sure can. You may also want to include this complimentary article as well.

dev.to/exampro/700-web-developers-...

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Jonathan Sexton

Thank you very much! I will include the other article as well! I know my readers will find them both very helpful and informative.

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Leandro Ardissone

Thanks for the tips. The hardest thing I find on creating my CV (on LinkedIn or anywhere) is the writing part. The description about myself. I think I'm not good at describing me, first because I'm not good writing a convincing letter without sound techie, and second I think it's mostly related to the Impostor Syndrome that makes me think: "mm, no, better I don't write that".
I don't know if there are companies or people that offer that service of writing your cover letter or presentation letter based on your skills and that.

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Andrew Harpin

Be yourself, you'll either end up with a job that you hate and doesn't fit or you're not suited to in the first place.

If you're applying for technical jobs, they're looking for someone technical.

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kurisutofu

I will have to review my linkedIn profile after reading this!

In my case, I sometimes see people I want to connect to (interesting company or product) but I always shy away from requesting it.
I always feel that it could be seen as rude to connect without any real reason like applying to a position.

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Pedro Cruz

LinkedIn for me, it’s our weapon to find the best fit until you want to build your own company🔥 . You can check more about me here: pedropcruz.pt I had all social links there as well. I appreciate feedback, from all of you :) congratulations on the post @andrew Brown :)

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Juneau Lim

Thank you for useful advice. What do you say to who has no contact at all when for a connection?

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Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

Hi Juneau,

I can see you live in the GTA. Go to tech meetups listed on Meetup.com such as

  • ServerlessToronto
  • DevTO
  • TechTO
  • Lunch && Learn
  • AWS Toronto User Group
  • Ruby on Rails Meetup
  • React Meetup
  • Scala Toronto Meetup
  • BigData and DataScientist Meetup

Try to volunteer your time if they will allow you to.

Look for events at MaRS or any of the economic development centers in the GTA and attend.

Whatever your skill is start sharing it for free.

Get a LinkedIn with a Profile Photo, and same here get a Profile Photo on your DEV.to. Nobody wants to spend their time helping or networking with an anonymous person online because it feels like time wasted.

There are lots of opportunities in the GTA.
If you can figure out a way to get free or inexpensive tickets to Collision Conf that would be ideal as well.

Find a tech mentor in Toronto. There are plenty of senior entrepreneurs that will mentor you to grow your network if you in exchange but time in and do busy work and menial tasks for them.

From this article, I received 400+ connections on LinkedIn in 2 days asking feedback on their LinkedIn Profile. That is menial work for myself but I do it without thinking what my return will be.

Instead of thinking "what can I get out of this?", think "how I can help someone today?"

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Juneau Lim

Thank you for the thoughtful comment! It's good I am at least volunteering several places already. I was shocked by the number +500, so thought If I Should massively send connection requests. What a great work of yours! A admire it.

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Dan Wozniak

Let's connect through LinkedIn and build our network! linkedin.com/in/danwoz/. This is a great write-up, appreciate the time you put into this.

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ken

Dang! This is what I was looking for. Thanks for the article <3

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Youth

Brilliant! I have already modified my profile of Linkedin and prepare to update it in the future. Thanks!

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Marek Zaluski

Hey Andrew, great article. I featured it in my latest video:

dev.to/marek/dev-to-career-insight...

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Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

Cool, Interesting format where you have vertical split with video.
Just relinking here with liquid tags so it has more visibility:

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Louise

Thanks, Andrew. Updated my LinkedIn profile with your great advice.

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Manyong'oments

Awesome post. Striving for 500+ mark does truly make a considerable difference

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Srikanth Anantharam

I think having a LinkedIn profile has got its value. But the job applications made on LinkedIn seems to reach a black hole. Has anybody had similar experience(s)?

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Maciek Chmura

Great article! Thank you. I am applying all your tips.
I would be grateful for any comments on my profile 😊
linkedin.com/in/maciekchmura/

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Juneau Lim • Edited

I have a question about Endorsements. Is it OK to ask others to ask for Endorsements? (Of course, only when they already know about my skill and I think they will certainly endorse it.)