I've signed up for linkedin.com as part of my job search regimin and it appears to rely heavily on connections and recommendations.

So I wondered if anyone here also used the service and would like to connect via it? Maybe even exchange recommendations (most of you here have seen my work and i'll be happy to take a look at yours).

Linkedin Profile

I'd also be interested to hear of other job sites that you have found to be good, particularly those in the software development sector. I've been recommended to try Xing which I plan to do this week.

Becky

Ironic, I just applied on REED.co.uk.
I'd go on that and recommend you, but I don't have any work to show formyself so I don't think you could recommend me back.

All sorts of jobs around here, Carbon emissions technology programs and everything. Very interesting, hopefully someone takes a chance on someone with no qualifications. It won't stop me applying to those really hard2get jobs though!

I think I could, *returns from reading your signature*

"I have not worked with Jake rather I got to know him through his music which he creates with great artitic interpretation and creativity whether reworking an old classic or originating a new composition from his mind. He has the synacism of intelligence and a rudimentary honesty. If I had the opportunity to work with him on a future project I would not hesitate.".

Quote from Becky Rose :

I think I could, *returns from reading your signature*

"I have not worked with Jake rather I got to know him through his music which he creates with great artitic interpretation and creativity whether reworking an old classic or originating a new composition from his mind. He has the synacism of intelligence and a rudimentary honesty. If I had the opportunity to work with him on a future project I would not hesitate.".

I like your style, let me sign up!

I signed up for a LinkedIn account yesterday, after this thread. But now I'm in the same position I find myself with most social networks - what am I supposed to do with it now?

Thread finally prompted me to sign up.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/benkeough

The purpose of linkedin is a professional network. Whereas facebook is littered with pictures of parties, alchohol, clubbing and other aspects of debauchery, linkedin shows your professional life.

By building up a CV of previous positions and projects, and colleagues recommending your work, you gradually create a profile demonstrating your competency. Additionally your professional network - isolated from the facebook picture of you drunk on the pavement in Camden last month - are available to communicate with which can prove useful in those times when you are looking for work or for a new project.

For those working in a professional discipline, and who also enjoy leaving curry stains on London's pavements, it's an ideal way to socially network with other professionals, stay in contact with them, and call upon them when professional needs match.

As for how to get the most out of the service, well i've only just signed up myself but from what I can tell the system rellies on your network of contacts, and the recommendations you have received for your work.

You can also join groups which typically have job boards and discussion between professionals - which seems like an ideal way to expand ones professional contacts.

Quote from Becky Rose :

linkedin shows your professional life. ...

By building up a CV of previous positions and projects, and colleagues recommending your work,

Colleagues, or people you asked to be your pretend colleagues on a forum.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Colleagues, or people you asked to be your pretend colleagues on a forum.

Quote from I actually said :

(most of you here have seen my work and i'll be happy to take a look at yours).

Those recommendations i've received i've tied to the CTRA project, and when I get time over the next few days i'm going to make it clear that the recommendation are from users of the system (afterall, the wording of those recommendations are better suited to doing that anyway).

I doubt you're the only person on there who's got a profile full of bogus recommendations anyway. Which sort-of makes the network a bit pointless, doesn't it?

It probably limits the usefulness a little.
But I guess if you see someone has recommendations from loads of people around the world, you can trust them less than if they have recommendations from a load of people in a fairly local area. That way you can be fairly sure they have either worked with each other or known each other offline. Probably makes freelance web work a little bit of a dodgy area though, since you can do that remotely.

It can still be skewed, but what system can't?

I just don't see the value in it. I certainly wouldn't use it to assess a job candidate's skills or suitability. And - sorry Becky but - certainly not if they reached their 30s and didn't have any actual qualifications or professional experience on their profile, just personal interests and the recommendations of people they've never met let alone worked with.

You're right I need to sort my profile out, you're also right it's a site with limited use, I've been looking around it and I'm not overly enthused.

Having said that every lead is a lead and you never know so I'll probably get around to setting up my profile soon.

Kev, I know you've never been keen on any of my releases, but that doesn't give you licence to assume you know all about me. For a start, highlighting that I don't have a degree and am in my thirties isn't offensive - particularly in the software industry which cares only about your last project.

Quote from Becky Rose :

For a start, highlighting that I don't have a degree and am in my thirties isn't offensive - particularly in the software industry which cares only about your last project.

Exactly, just to add that I'm 21, have no degree, dropped out of uni to continue my passion of web development (of which I now have 2 years full time experience) and have recently applied for about 5 jobs, gotten 3 interviews and 1 definite offer already (which I turned down) - which in this 'economical climate' isn't too bad I guess. Not once was I asked why I don't have a degree.

As it happens I actually joined linkedin the other day, but haven't got around to setting a profile up yet. At the moment I am lucky enough to have the liberty to be very specific about the work I choose to do, so I'm not sure it'd benefit me right now.

Quote from Becky Rose :

Kev, I know you've never been keen on any of my releases, but that doesn't give you licence to assume you know all about me.

I've only ever seen one thing you did - the CTRA thing - and yeah there was a lot I didn't like about it but overall it was a good thing, and I certainly can't comment on the code because I never saw it.

Quote from Becky Rose :

For a start, highlighting that I don't have a degree and am in my thirties isn't offensive - particularly in the software industry which cares only about your last project.

Well either way it came out sounding worse than I intended, so I'm sorry about that. But don't you have any professional experience or has it always been a hobby for you?

Incidentally I don't have a degree either. Actually my qualifications amount to a grand total of 4 GCSE. Which is probably why I'm self-employed...

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Well either way it came out sounding worse than I intended, so I'm sorry about that. But don't you have any professional experience or has it always been a hobby for you?

Incidentally I don't have a degree either. Actually my qualifications amount to a grand total of 4 GCSE. Which is probably why I'm self-employed...

The last 2 years I was working professionally as a web dev and the recommendation on my linkedin profile is genuinely from a senior manager at the firm who I shared office space with (on the rare ocassions I visited the lab).

Before that I released a commercial app on the Mac, although that's not covered in my linkedin profile yet (which is a bit of a rush job as I really havnt had time to make it CV like).

Before that I was a hobbyist, where I made a name for myself twice on the freeware scene under different branding.

Before that I was a pirate, a fraudster and a junkie and utterly insane.

I'm not dripping with professional experience, I worked in the IT Support industry because I happened to know a thing or two about computers and have a good attitude for customer services, and I broke out of that by writing software into my current career.

Whether I stay doing IT is debateable, the industry appears to be what I know best and I can substitute qualifications with experience and knowledge, but every firm in it seems to be struggling even during boom times. I've not the skills to make it as a sole trader, so maybe I need to do something else.

Through all my life i've been a coder, and i'm very good at it, with an endless list of releases across multiple platforms, seriously I cannot count them all. I think I broke 100 releases some years back but i'm not terribly sure - especially as I have forgotten the majority of them, and there's also the grey area over team projects as to whether to count them or not.