I don’t have a #LinkedIn account. And it’s been harder and harder to keep it that way. From a professional network perspective, it’s a huge #paywall. Without having that access, a lot of the contact information and reference people are sending me is just beyond my reach. And I don’t know what is the right approach at this point. Thoughts?
@judeswae i think it depends on the severity of ones Situation. It could be viable for some to also join linkedin to get "immediate" increase in chances.
In general the market needs an open and maybe also distributed/federated disruption. At a certain point the imbalance could lead to unfairness
In the end it really depends on the local and alternative possibilities available to you. I'm not yet convinced that it's already too hard to find opportunity outside of LinkedIn
@w4tsn To be clear, I’m not looking to join LinkedIn to find candidates or job opportunities.
My current role invites me to network more with people outside of my company and usually, the only thing I can find about them is a LinkedIn profile that I can not access.
That’s the main reason I’m considering opening an account. Just to pass that paywall.
@judeswae I also think especially in a professional environment participants should be open to accept alternatives from your side. IMHO it's quite unprofessional to be too picky about networking alternatives and deny personal preferences
@judeswae I keep coming back to this question myself every year. Especially now being on a sabbatical and missing the professional network of Thoughtworks. But every time I decide against it. Mostly because my experience there (until ca. 2014) was awful. There is also this: https://divinations.substack.com/p/linkedins-alternate-universe
@treppo Thank you. That’s the article I needed to read. I did not know it was this bad in there. ;)
@judeswae Is it time for a professional networking site in the fediverse?
@treppo I think the Fediverse is already a professional network to some degree. But more in the way Twitter is a professional network to some than LinkedIn.
I’ve never heard anyone working on an #ActivityPub LinkedIn equivalent. I wonder what that would look like.
@judeswae @treppo You mean @flockingbird? :)
@celia @judeswae @flockingbird thanks for the pointer, I’ll keep an eye on it
@treppo @celia @flockingbird Oooh. Nice to see someone is working on it :) Thx.
@judeswae @treppo there's @flockingbird at least
@judeswae Think back to all the other social networks you ignored that are now withered up and gone. Do you regret not having spent the time maintaining profiles on them?
@praxeology You're totally right. And that's the thinking process what has kept me going until now.
But recently, at ThoughtWorks, I've been moving to a leadership position where I see myself trying to access more and more profiles of people I need to get in touch with. And that's where the paywall kicks in, hard.
The company is making tech choices for me which I wouldn't do for myself (buying a Mac, for ex.) I do wonder if LinkedIn is one of those obligation with my new role
@judeswae @praxeology Well, I was in the same boat more or less. Due to a new professional role I felt I had to recreate a profile. Luckily a free account is more than enough for me.
I try to use it in a very minimal way. Switching off all notifications and other BS. Also: no app and only on the laptop I use for work. I guess now it is much like those other applications I have to use for work. It is a bit like an annoying obligation for work, but probably not the only one...
@judeswae I have found that there's very little real action that takes place on LI – mostly just signaling and performance. Perhaps you can just politely /passively say "no" and if there is some desperate need to find some obscure contact info that is not available anywhere other than on the worlds least thrilling social network, you can just ask HR to do it?
@praxeology Yeah. You're probably right. I might ask a friend in the company to show me what's behind the paywall if I really really need it. In the meantime, I'll keep away from it. Thanks for bouncing ideas around this with me.
@judeswae recently a friend forwarded me a job opportunity that appeared on that network that could have been right,
I actually answered by emailing the responsible person directly (found on the company's website)
he asked me to answer the call on LinkdIn, which I declined citing "ethical and professional reasons" ... it didn't hindered my opportunity to have an interview
(which went well, even if I didn't got the job : I was too senior/experimented for that available post ;p )
@judeswae linked in is really good for now working with people that really exist. But the site and the functionality is terrible. It’s now like Facebook for professionals and any website that makes recruiters into thought leaders gives me the heebie-jeebies.
@judeswae I use it, it's the only major social network I keep a profile on. My biggest reason is LinkedIn is the only network that I stand to make a living because of. But if you feel so strongly about it stick to your guns, I respect that.