Open Discussion: LinkedIn for Developers?

Open Discussion: LinkedIn for Developers?

on Sep 21st 2011 with 13 comments

Over at FreelanceSwitch, we’ve had a few posts recently discussing the usefulness of networking sites like LinkedIn for freelance professionals: 5 Reasons to Use LinkedIn, Are You Getting Clients on LinkedIn? In last year’s Freelancer’s Survey we learned that (among other things): a) a growing portion of freelancers indicated they’re finding more clients using social media and b) many of those freelancers are web developers and programmers.

LinkedIn seems geared towards more traditional employer-employee opportunities, so is it useful for landing development gigs on the side? I’d love to hear the Nettuts+ community weigh in! Do you use LinkedIn? Has LinkedIn ever landed you a gig or new opportunity? I was curious what the web developer demographic was for a network like LinkedIn, so I pulled up the stats:

  • 659,000 members currently list themselves as web developers.
  • 1.8 million members identify themselves as developers.
  • 817,000 members use “programmer” in their title.
  • Many major tech and web companies use LinkedIn to field new hires, including Google, eBay, Rackspace and more.
  • LinkedIn boasts some active web developer communities like End to End Web Developers and Open Source group. Also a Q&A section on Web Development.

Do you use LinkedIn to get in touch with other developers or clients? Participate in any active developer Groups? Share in the comments below!

If you’re interested in improving your LinkedIn activity, Rockable Press just released LinkedIn and Lovin’ It! in three, DRM-free formats (pdf, epub, and mobi). You can download a 14 page sample for free. It’s available for $17, but if you join Rockable Press’ own LinkedIn group, you can get a voucher for $3 off. Stop in and say hi!

Amanda Hackwith is AmandaHackwith on Graphicriver
 
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  • http://www.bleedingtree.com Bryan Chalker

    Personally, I HAVE gotten client contacts for freelance work, but agree with the “traditional” statement. I’ve gotten more using Twitter, @Forrst, and word of mouth. This niche seems to need to break out of LinkedIn. The other side of the coin is, employers and HR reps still (and will continue to) use LI for finding candidates. Devs looking for a more corporate environment may want to stay with LI, just for that aspect.

    • http://simonwjackson.com Simon W. Jackson

      That’s interesting that you mentioned @Forrst for getting clients. Are your clients other developers and designers?

      • http://www.bleedingtree.com/ Bryan Chalker

        Yes…or proj manager/creatives on the site. The community emphasis is strong, but imo, if “the directory” that’s available to members-only, was opened up, it would provide a viable alternative to LinkedIn. Not sure if that’s in Kyle’s plans, though.

      • http://www.sitebase.be Sitebase

        I don’t think Kyle will change this any time soon bacause this is just what makes it a good community.

  • http://rommelcastro.me Rommel Castro A.

    Here in Costa Rica, linkedIn is not really useful

  • http://www.havorneed.com adam awesomeface

    zerply! ftw.

  • http://www.ferdychristant.com Ferdy

    I don’t really see the big distinction between LinkedIn and social media, since LinkedIn now has quite a lot of social capabilities. But to answer the question, yes, I actually get quite a few gigs via LinkedIn. The funny thing is, I’m not a freelancer :)

    I guess your mileage may vary but at the very least invest in a decent profile:

    - Good description of your job title and skills (mind your keywords)
    - Historic overview of jobs, certification and education
    - Build your network continuously. If you meet somebody new in a work setting (colleague, business partner, client), find them on LinkedIn and add them. People you know for real are much stronger connections that random strangers. These people will know you, remember you, and later may become clients.
    - If you use Twitter or a Blog, link them into LinkedIn so your network will know what you are up to. This is how gigs are started.
    - Join groups of your interest. Most are quite poor and spammy but keep looking to connect.

    And finally, recommendations. Don’t be shy. Ask for them. At one point I asked almost my entire network to recommend me. About 30 actually did. These stay with you forever and mean a lot.

  • Ed Moore

    I must say that I have actually gotten quite a few job offers from linkedin. So I think if you are looking for more work then make sure your linkedin account is up to date.

  • Brendan

    I think that Stack Overflow Careers is definitely more suited to the development folk, whether recruiters know and are using it also is another question.

  • http://simonwjackson.com Simon W. Jackson

    I’ve spent most of my time looking for clients on twitter, but then my twitter feed started to resemble a spammer account. Cant wait to try LinkedIn!

  • http://www.jeffadams.co.uk Jeff Adams

    I have only just filled out my profile properly (feel free to add me – Jeff Adams) but what I’m finding already is that it’s matching my skills to jobs much better than I can do with any job sites.

    I really hope I can leverage some of my contacts and ex-work colleagues because some are in quite big organizations!

  • http://www.pdvictor.com Peter Drinnan

    If you consider yourself to be a professional business minded person who understands the importance of networking, LinkedIn is a no brainer and a must have. If you are just a clock puncher, then yeah, who cares about it.

    LinkedIn is an easy way for potential clients or employers to check out who you roll with. Facebook shows what types of people you hang out with in your personal life. LinkedIn shows who you associate with in your personal life and is a solid representation of your professionalism. That is why I often think of LinkedIn as Facebook for grownups.

    With LinkedIn it is easy to find mutual relationships with people you would not have otherwise been able to identify. It is a lot easier to approach someone who shares a mutual associate than someone who does not. This is what makes it so powerful as a networking tool.

  • http://alvinmilton.com AGDM

    Thanks for sharing. You guys are the best.