[nycbug-talk] LinkedIn: Worth it or not?

[Brad Schonhorst]

On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 3:14 PM, Steven Kreuzer <skreuzer at exit2shell.com> wrote:
>
> On Oct 21, 2008, at 2:00 PM, Matt Juszczak wrote:
>
>> Slightly off topic, but here goes:
>>
>> I'm on a lot of "Social Networking Sites".  I find that they are more
>> hassle than they are worth.  First, I find that the only true
>> contacts you
>> can really make are either people you meet in person or people that
>> refer
>> you directly -- but most of these sites like "Linked In" are turning
>> into
>> everyone being friends with everyone and half the people I'm friends
>> with
>> are recruiters, or people I've never met before.  MOST of the
>> successful
>> job leads I get are from places like this list, or people contacting
>> me
>> directly on monster/dice, etc. which I only have active when I'm
>> looking.
>>
>> So what are your thoughts?  Do you find LinkedIn (and similar sites
>> like
>> Pulse) to be beneficial to your tech career, or too annoying to
>> manage and
>> think about?
>>
>> -Matt
>
> For what its worth, my current employer found me through LinkedIn.
> Another nice
> feature is that if you add all your former coworkers into your
> network, you'll usually
> have access to their most current and accurate contact information
> which comes in
> handy when a potential employer asks you for references.
>

Agreed.  I find it much easier to manage than a stack of business
cards.  I never could figure out the Rolodex.