[yati]

> Being able to contact former co-workers is invaluable.

Agreed. Maybe I never felt the need of using LinkedIn for this because I'm already well connected with most of my former colleagues via other channels, since before this, I was at a pretty small startup.

My friends with management jobs love LinkedIn as a job finding tool, and some even claim that being connected to influential people in the industry on LinkedIn helps them stand out somehow, but most of my programmer friends do not like the type of recruiters on LinkedIn. In my personal job searches, I almost never needed anything other than a CV, a cover letter and Github/StackExchange accounts (as opposed to "connections" with famous people).