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Internet is full of advantages of having a linkedin profile. I, despite being a software engineer, don't feel comfortable (and feel anxious a lot - extremely panic feeling) broadcasting myself and my employment history. Overall, I am not active on Social Media and haven't made myself 'googlable'. However, I enjoy face to face conversation.

Will it be possible for me to survive in software industry where having a fully loaded public profile has great importance?

Are there anyone out there who feel the same? If yes, do you find it difficult to land on a job?

Any soutions?

Edit: To further clarify myself, I can totally understand the advantages of linkedin. It is just the extremely strong feeling of overpowering which I am not able to overcome over past years which makes me think will I be ever able to join?. It is like a paradox with kind of self conflicting conclusion. That is why I have requested to share your experience that may help in me understanding this long lasting problem of me.

Edit 2: Take an example of dieting. Despite knowing advantages, some people never able to follow. It is like climbing a steep hill or jumping in a deep swimming pool when you don't know how to swim. Hopefully, this further clarifies the question.

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    Not having a LinkedIn? Probably not the end of the world. Not having any online presence? That could make things challenging.
    – AffableAmbler
    Feb 20, 2019 at 19:43
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    What exactly does it mean to you to be able to "survive in the software industry"?
    – sf02
    Feb 20, 2019 at 19:45
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    Internet is full of advantages of having a linkedin profile - Really? I can't think of a single advantage. I can't think of a single thing that's been beneficial to my career that came from LinkedIn. If you don't mind being pummeled by recruiters or seeing an endless stream of sycophantic ramblings from "Influencers" and "Thought Leaders" then LinkedIn is probably worthwhile to you. Otherwise it's just so much noise in an already too noisy online landscape.
    – joeqwerty
    Feb 20, 2019 at 19:47
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    FWIW I've never had one, never looked at one, never even thought about it. I don't know anyone in my core circle who has one. Social media is a really old-fashioned idea. Maybe for 60+ year olds it's worth having or was of interest in the old days, I don't know.
    – Fattie
    Feb 20, 2019 at 20:39
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    "github stuff" is now a total waste of time: nobody cares, nobody will look at it. it means nothing. You might as well have "a blog" or, well, a linkedInn account. Or (rofl) a Facebook page. 1990 was 30 years ago.
    – Fattie
    Feb 20, 2019 at 23:50

4 Answers 4

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Here's a contrarian view: LinkedIn is totally overrated.

The only thing it is good for is attracting spam from recruiters who want you to work jobs you probably aren't interested in taking. I get "Hi, I saw your profile and I'm interested in reaching out" messages all the time and they're never worth reading.

Occasionally someone tries a novel approach, like "Hey, I'm not trying to give you a job, but don't you hate all of those Senior Developers who are Old People with their Old People Ideas?" This was a month after I got promoted to Senior Software Engineer and hadn't yet updated my LinkedIn. Updating LinkedIn is a waste of time because all it does is encourage more of these sorts of messages.

As long as you have an up to date resume and you're willing to put that up on appropriate job sites while you are looking, you should be fine in this current highly tight labor market for software development. Or even in a non-tight labor market, as having a LinkedIn during a bad labor market didn't really help me either.

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    It's strange to describe this as "contrarian"! This is the mainstream, normal view. LinkedIn is "silly".
    – Fattie
    Feb 20, 2019 at 20:41
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    @Fattie I'm getting enough downvotes to cancel out all the upvotes, so I'd say at minimum it's controversial if not contrarian.
    – Joe
    Feb 20, 2019 at 21:47
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    It's not controversial to me. I've never had a LinkedIn account but that's never stopped me from getting IT jobs.
    – Matthew Barber
    Feb 20, 2019 at 22:16
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    I get around LinkedIn by reading job ads, sending my CV in, attending interviews and getting recommended by my colleagues; that's how people used to do it before internet job sites and, guess what, it still works. Pulling those things into a single internet application was a neat trick that I'll give LinkedIn credit for, but that's all it is; a thin veneer over a system that's already existed for decades. You no more need them to get a real world job than you need Facebook to make a real world friend.
    – Matthew Barber
    Feb 20, 2019 at 22:47
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    @Anonymous , linkedIn is a bit of a joke. You don't need to "get around" not having it :O (1) look at serious job ads (2) contact the company.
    – Fattie
    Feb 20, 2019 at 23:49
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For many jobs you will still need a CV, which will contain you past employments, but is not broadcast to the world.

As a software developer, you might want to consider having your own GitHub, and there are other sites that allow you to show your programming prowess online, but are not social media ones.

In my opinion, LinkedIn makes it easier to apply for jobs online, but also creates opportunities for an employer to find you. It's a missing opportunity not to have one, but not a fatal mistake.

Then again, why not having a LinkedIn? You can simply avoid adding personal friends and past coworkers, you can select what goes to the page or not. It should certainly outweigh the burden of exposure if and when you are unemployed. Note that you'll likely not be able to build a good page or have nice referrals overnight, so don't wait to be unemployed and in a hurry for a job to start a LinkedIn page, if you think this may be needed in the future.

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  • Adding information on Github is a good idea and I think I will be able to do that with relative ease.
    – Anonymous
    Feb 20, 2019 at 21:37
  • Linkedin, as I understand and as you mentioned, has quite a lot benefits. Problem is that It feels overpowering beyond my words (despite knowing its advantages).
    – Anonymous
    Feb 20, 2019 at 21:48
  • I don't mind creating Resume and giving it to 1000 different employers by physically visiting their office or emailing by carefully tailoring my email which is customized. I find it easier to do all of this physical effort rather than simply broadcast
    – Anonymous
    Feb 20, 2019 at 22:18
  • "For many jobs you will still need a CV"?? The OP is in software - make that for *all jobs, with the possible exception of the old boys' club/family, where you don't need LinkedIn anyway
    – Mawg says reinstate Monica
    Feb 21, 2019 at 9:19
  • @Anonymous : Despite some people creating blogs over LinkedIn telling a story of how awesome they are, this is mostly meant for network building and product selling, none of which seems to be your interest. What you need in LinkedIn is some CV information (all is best, but you can limit it to whatever you feel like sharing) and some skill tags, which are actually used when searching candidates for a job or searching job suggestions for a user.
    – Mefitico
    Feb 21, 2019 at 12:14
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I would highly recommend against not having a LinkedIn profile in particular. Facebook or WhatsApp or Instagram or Twitter, fine. But LinkedIn is really a must. I would say I get 90%+ of my active job recruitment contacts through LinkedIn, and 10% from every other method combined. LinkedIn really is necessary.

If you have social anxiety and don't want to "engage" in social media, you don't have to. I read my LI feed maybe once every 6 months and almost never update my personal profile. All I did when I set up my LI was copy-paste my resume details into LI and that's it. I log in when I get a new message so I can read/respond to it, or when I want to update my resume or employment status, and that's it. Otherwise I don't engage with LI at all. But it's still great to have, because it allows recruiters to find you, rather than the other way around (which is a lot more work, let me tell you!)

So go and sign up for LinkedIn, take 10 mins and copy-paste your resume in there, and then let it ride and see what happens. That's all you need to do!

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  • It also allows you to apply to postings through linkedIn. You can't expect companies who've chosen this as their go-to recruiting platform to provide an alternative application process for those few individuals who are afraid of social media.
    – AffableAmbler
    Feb 20, 2019 at 20:28
  • really, it's not like you have to friend people you'd rather never see again, or chat up a storm. I've never posted to one of their forums, but it's a great way to keep track of the people I do like, and to show that I did work at those jobs (mostly long-gone companies in my case)
    – user90842
    Feb 20, 2019 at 21:47
  • I'd say that really depends. Sure, I get 100% of unwarranted job offers via the fake-LinkedIn account I sometimes use to look around. But 100% of actual job offers I consider, by other means. LinkedIn makes it easier to receive job offers when you are not actively looking, but I've got yet to find a region where you cannot get the same jobs via other means that are offered via LinkedIn. It might require more activity from the job searcher. But in the current market, for developers my problem is not to get job offers but to find the right ones and at this LinkedIn doesn't seem to help (much?).
    – Frank Hopkins
    Feb 21, 2019 at 12:58
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despite being a software engineer, don't feel comfortable (and feel anxious a lot - extremely panic feeling) broadcasting myself and my employment history.

While you'll probably survive, it will certainly be a hindrance. In general, not being on any social media will hurt your ability to network. You don't have to have a perfect LinkedIn account just a simple page with a few sentences about your current job, and probably a picture.

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  • Yeah I can totally feel how much hindrance I would have to face by not using it
    – Anonymous
    Feb 20, 2019 at 22:02
  • And yes it limits my ability to network. That is why I am concerned but not able to make a obvious rational decision of starting using it
    – Anonymous
    Feb 20, 2019 at 22:05
  • As a software engineer you don't even need a 'real' profile. Just add your skills, skip every other information, no photo and you'll get annoyed by recruiters multiple times per day because they are so desperately looking for applicants.
    – user94342
    Feb 20, 2019 at 23:53

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