I know this might come across as a very impractical expectation but I wanted to hear from people who have a fulfilling career and also a sense for privacy: How did you do it?
I’ve recently had trouble finding a new job in the tech sector. So far I’ve been doing alright without LinkedIn, just directly applying to companies, but it seems less successful now. So I thought what the hell, might have to do this after all. After I’ve made an account I got quickly banned for logging in once from a VPN connection. Only way to get unbanned is to give my government ID to them - but that really rubs me the wrong way (so many leaks of IDs recently and all).
I’m remaining banned for the moment, contemplating what impact this might have on my career. It gives me a fair bit of anxiety, considering that my sense of where my boundaries are seems to be deemed unacceptable by the monopoly of international job markets. Should I just give in and send my ID? Am I delusional?
As always, I appreciate the discourse of this wonderfully decentralized community we have here on lemmy! ☺️
If you want/need to have a prominent public professional presence, and you probably do at least during the current bout of “we don’t need western born devs anymore” the industry is going through, you probably need to bifurcate a patsy persona that plays by the invasive corporate internet rules for public observation and a private persona that is private and does not and just never mix the streams (two phones, dualboot, etc)
bifurcate a patsy persona that plays by the invasive corporate internet rules for public observation and a private persona that is private and does not and just never mix the streams (two phones, dualboot, etc)
Now, none of my entrepreneurial businesses use LinkedIn, and I’ve never had an account there. From what I hear, LinkedIn is a pretty fucked up scene. However, sometimes one must do as the Romans do. The trick is, as you say, dividing your private life from your public/business life, and as you mentioned, never cross the streams. It’s difficult because we are social animals, and it is very easy to slip and divulge info from either our private or public/business lives. Loose lips sink ships. Since my businesses doesn’t require a lot of meet n’ greet type affairs, it’s a little easier for me.
One on my businesses deals with a branch of construction. I’ve found a lot of old heads with split personas. If you cold call one of them, and say you ask for ‘Barney Smith’. The person will automatically assume that persona or I have been asked ‘Who wants to know’. They are kind of practicing dual personas depending on their business angle which are all separate from their personal lives. It’s kind of an interesting phenomenon, and it’s one I’ve adopted.
Network other companies you could work for via people, old bosses, etc that you know. Get them to put in a good word for you and then give them a call and schedule a professional interview. I did this (not in the tech sector) and bypassed all the online job hunting bullcrap. I’ve got a really great job now that I’m happy to be at for many years to come. I’m even using a GrapheneOS pixel tablet at work
Thanks for the advice, so far I tried to not use contacts for this but it might be a bit idealistic and unworkable in a time where online platforms are filled with bots and real people are not easy to find 👍
I gave up on LinkedIn, and just bought a professional domain and point it at a VPS with my portfolio and proxied contact info on it. Last I was applying for jobs, employers were much more impressed by that. Your mileage may vary.
thanks for the tip, also good to hear you’re successful with your own style ☺️
I’ve never found LinkedIn useful. Indeed is fine, plus direct applications.
Don’t underestimate personal connections, either. Often, it’s not what you know, but who you know.
I’ve gotten plenty of tech jobs without LinkedIn, including one this year.
I have the rare ability to not attach my career to my self worth. This makes it much easier for me to be happy regardless of what I do to get paid.
Honestly it sounds like you might be making things more difficult then they need to be. Does your threat model actually require you to take the actions you are taking?
fair point. my hobbies aren’t expensive either so i could live a modest life.
however I wouldn’t consider my anxiety as relating to a threat model - it’s more like this: if i go to a career fair, i might need to show a ticket but often there’s no need to show anything. this is a career site so their request for data should be at the same level. however they request as much data as an airport, which has much higher requirements to achieve passenger safety. i really hate that internet users are just fine with these invasive data requirements these days
I just work a trade. Nobody is trying to network with the guy there to rewire an electrical system in a steel mill. Unless it’s to poach to jump ship to a different job haha
