Yes? First job I just found on a company website. Second as well, but I did talk to the recruiter and connect with them through LinkedIn in the process.

Third job was entirely through LinkedIn. found the job post there, found an old contact from college through there who gave me a referral, introduced to the recruiter through LinkedIn.

4th job is still up in the air, but I was approached for freelance work via LinkedIn in the meantime.

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You definitely don't need to play the networing game to get a job, especially not if you're in tech. But having a publicly viewable resume sitting there and an old contact book of information (which is less intimate than asking for a number or email) was valuable enough for the $0 I directly paid for it. I do get 80% spam and recruiters who clearly never read my profile, but thats unfortunately most of society these days, be it internet, phone, or snail mail.

People on LinkedIn are real. If you use it like a communication tool, it can be very effective at locating opportunities or helping others do the same. I have thousands of loose connections on LinkedIn, many of whom I would/could never email/text/call directly looking for work. But with a single LinkedIn post, I am likely to get many responses / offers of help. I wouldn't bank on this being my only avenue to finding work, but it definitely is AN avenue if you use it right.

In parallel, many LinkedIn "influencers" are spamming garbage. You just need to ignore it, similar to how you might ignore garbage accounts on Twitter.

All my last 4 jobs were found by being reached out on LinkedIn by a recruiter. FAANG among these.

I use LinkedIn only as a public profile/CV. I don't really browse or ever read anything there.

None of my actual jobs were through linkedin, but that's just luck. I've done several onsites as a result of either applying through linkedin, or because someone messaged me.

I got my first job at big tech via recruiter outreach on LI. Changed my entire life.