I was turned down for a job I was fully qualified for due to not having enough contacts on linked in.
The hiring manager said he wanted a candidate with greater linked presence.
Actual scope of the job was fully orthogonal to linked in
The hiring manager said he wanted a candidate with greater linked presence.
Actual scope of the job was fully orthogonal to linked in
If you're a baseline software developer, it's still kinda odd to not have a network. You haven't worked with anyone in the past that you want to maintain professional ties with over the long term, kinda a red flag. (You can argue there are other ways to do these things, sure - but all else equal I'd go for the candidate with a good LI and a good network - shows competence and desire to connect)
So yea curious what work you think is totally orthogonal to LI?
Who the fuck cares about linkedin enough to think it actually matters?
It makes sense to have an account there, to appease HR people, but are there technical people who make use of this to create real connections? Or even display existing ones? There is some kind of mechanical "add randomly suggested people from the company" phase when getting a new job, but apart from this I do not see the point.
Desire to connect over LI is entirely artificial and does not represent anything meaningful (heck, I have my past bosses as connections, even though I wish to never see them ever again). Conflating number of linkedin contacts with some social skill seems vastly misguided at best.
I'll give you my example and let's see where you disagree.
A few months ago I was looking for a new job. Google and Amazon were on my radar so I looked who in my network is now in senior and relevant roles in those firms. I connected with two guys (one in each company) who were immensely helpful to me (a) shaping my resume (b) giving me the lay of the land and (c) championing for my candidacy.
The thing is: these are both guys I had worked with tangentially 10+ years ago. We weren't close enough to keep in touch after we left that company. But that didn't stop them from being immensely helpful when I reached out (and I do this for people I barely know, all the time.)
So then the questions to you:
1. Do you agree that I got a lot of valuable help from these people?
2. Do you agree that without LinkedIn, I would not have connected with them?
3. If 1 and 2 are true, would I be a fool to neglect this useful tool?
So sure, if you don't have LI you may be an awesome developer and problem-solver but it's also a flag that you are ignoring what, if used correctly, is a very capable and important tool. If it's a privacy stance (for example) I understand and deeply respect it. But if you're just confused about value of connections and don't know how to ask/give help, those are pretty concerning signals in a situation like hiring where I don't know a ton else about you.
I have probably worded my thoughts poorly. What I meant is that LinkedIn is not a tool of the trade, it is a tool for career building, which is quite different. I am adding people on linkedin as they come, sure, but that has no relevance to my work, only to my ability of finding work and being visible there.
So to answer tour questions:
1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Probably, but what is relevant to your situation may not be relevant to others, in many cases LI can only be a very marginal help.