[Grimblewald]

Not using linked in is the solution. It's a cess pool and terrible at offering what it advertises. I have a profile where my bio starts with the fact you wont reach me on linked in and to email me instead. This works for me, but mileage my vary.

[raw_anon_1111]

I’m sure that recruiters are going to scour the Internet looking for you.

I created my LinkIn account in 2012. By then I had been a developer for 15 years in Atlanta and knew all of the local recruiters and had met some in person. For the next 8 years, LinkedIn really didn’t serve a purpose. When I looked for a job in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018, I just reached out to my network and interviews and offers fell into my lap. Admittedly they were just regular old enterprise dev jobs in Atlanta.

But in 2020, things changed. AWS reached out to me about a remote position in the consulting department (ProServe full time with the standard four year package) and after that my last two jobs have been based on either targeted outreach on LinkedIn where I was an industry expert in a niche of AWS that most people don’t have (2023) or an internal recruiter reaching out to me on LinkedIn 2024.

[mindcrash]

> I’m sure that recruiters are going to scour the Internet looking for you.

They don't have to do that. Apparently there are services which link any known email address, mobile phone etc. to your LinkedIn account through a browser addon even when you didn't hand these over to LinkedIn.

I know because my mom was called several times on her mobile phone (which has a number not in any phone book) by a very aggressive and disrespectful recruiter looking for me while I even was not looking for a job. (her first initial and mine are the same).

Only when I threatened him to report him and his company to LinkedIn and the authorities, and blocking him on LinkedIn the calls stopped.

[Grimblewald]

Like I said, mileage may vary. I can see how for some roles it would be useful, clearly it must be. It cant all be braindead takes, lies, and self-aggrandizing. However, in some countries linkedin has strong competition and poor presence. My stance is that if you value your time you wont use linkedin. It is an enormous time waste, which unlike conventional social media doesnt even entertain.

Saying linked in is good for jobs is like saying tinder is good for dating, or facebook is good for socialising. It sure can be, but the quality and substance of what youre after does need to factor in, and so does the time you spent there over higher value time sinks. For me, tinder does not serve my needs, and neither does linked in. Both offer poor signal to noise and terrible time economy.

[nerdsniper]

Can’t apply to YC without a LinkedIn profile, AIUI.

[muzani]

What does it offer? It's bad at jobs. But it's an alternative to business cards and Facebook.

[Peroni]

Like it or not, LinkedIn is still by far the most used platform by recruiters (agency and internal) looking to hire. I despise the platform but it's undeniably valuable as your career progresses and the probability of being approached by a recruiter increases.

Ultimately, if you're not looking for work, there's zero value in LinkedIn. Realistically, most people choose or need to look for a new job eventually and in that scenario, LinkedIn is by far the most effective platform to increase your odds on finding a new job.

[santa_boy]

To add, I'm a year into starting my product-dev agency and trying with figure out a stable lead gen model.

Tons of courses and posts say that LinkedIn is their most effective Lead gen model.

I'm yet to make it work for me, but it seems like it works for them.

[bitfilped]

I've never needed LinkedIn in a 20 year career. I think you're way over estimating the so called "value" you get from this platform.

[raw_anon_1111]

I have gotten plenty of value out of the platform - including BigTech companies reaching out to me. One offer I accepted and where I worked for almost four years paying way more working remotely than I could have made locally.

My last two jobs have also come from LinkedIn. Exactly how am i supposed to find remote jobs?

And I have been working for 30 years…

[jmye]

Because of an anecdote/data point of one? Odd take.

Networking is wildly better, but you know what makes it easier? Having a Rolodex of people I’ve worked with that shows where they’re currently at.

[bitfilped]

If you aren't sure where people are you haven't been networking with them.