Hot Take: Connecting with someone on Linkedin who you don't know dilutes your connections
An exception is if you talk to them such as asking a question. Sometimes I get a connection request from someone with no message that can lead into a conversation.
What is the value in connecting with someone I will never talk to?
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Discussion
(6 comments)- 73 months agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
ooh interesting hot take. I disagree -- connecting with someone on LinkedIn is pure upside. There's no cost, and it can lead to career-changing results.
Benefits of connecting with someone:
- You can message them, either offering to help, or ask a question. Even if you don't have a 'need' for them right now, people change rapidly in tech. What if they get a hot new job, or start a billion-dollor company??
- The vanity metric of followers, which you'll gain by connecting with someone, will go up. Even if it's vain, there is a benefit to a larger # of followers. If nothing else, it increases your perceived credibility.
Drawbacks of connecting with someone:
- It does dilute connections. People will ask if I know so and so from LinkedIn, and usually the answer is no 😅 But IMO there's very little actual value from this.
- There's a limit of 30,000 connections on LinkedIn. I hit this limit, so I must prune people to accept new connection requests.
Here's an example of how to make a genuine connection from LinkedIn: How to make use of LinkedIn Connections for Job I applied to
- 6
3 months agoEngineer @ RobinhoodOn average, connections on LinkedIn are about as useful as Theranos's blood testing machines. Just connect with them for an extra connection and move on.
- 4
3 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroThere's actually a very tactical benefit with having a large LinkedIn network when it comes to interviewing: If a hiring manager is vetting you as a potential candidate, they will look at how many mutual connections you two have. If it's large, there's a higher chance they will assume that you must be someone legit as a good amount of the talented people in their network know who you are.
There's also the "related people" side widget when you view someone's profile. If a hiring manager finds a candidate they like on LinkedIn, they will likely go through the other candidates who are related to the initial one from this widget. Again, if you have a big LinkedIn network, you have a higher chance of being featured in this related section.
Granted, this is all less likely to happen if you connect with a bunch of low-quality people, but as Rahul mentioned, connecting with folks doesn't really have a downside, especially if it's inbound. I would only ignore connection requests if they're from obvious spam accounts.
I'm almost at the 30,000 connection limit now so I don't really accept/send connection requests anymore (I'm saving the last slots for Taro Premium members), but when I was just starting my LinkedIn journey, I connected with as many other top engineers in the Bay Area as possible.
Lastly, every connection becomes a follower, so if you ever end up wanting to post to LinkedIn and cultivate influence, that's a nice asset. For folks interested in that, check this out: [Case Study] How I Get 500,000+ LinkedIn Post Views Per Week
- 3
3 months agoMentor Coach for SWEs | Former Staff Software engineerGreat answers already!
I do have a question though: what do you hope/want to do with a "concentrated" connection list that you won't be able to be do if it's "diluted"?
- 0
3 months agoEntry-Level Software Engineer [OP]UnemployedWhenever I look through my connection list, I only see people who I've talked to before. If I reach out to them, they will remember me and reply. Every connection is meaningful.
- 33 months agoMentor Coach for SWEs | Former Staff Software engineer
Okay, I see. Well, I hate to break it to you that not everyone will reply just because you've talked to them in the past. :) I have coworkers in my list that I worked with for a long time, and they don't always reply.
Whether someone replies or not has a lot to do with their timing. If they're in a job they don't like or don't think highly of, they might be hesitant to reconnect with you, esp. if you appear to be more successful than them. They might have other things going on in their life, depending on the timing of your message. The 'no response' situation is rarely personal to you.
I have written to both kinds of connections—deeper and as well as casual acquaintances. In some ways, casual acquaintances think twice before not replying because that might be their only chance to make a good first impression and start forming a relationship!
You do have a valid point in that as you scroll through your connection list, you can't quickly differentiate between the two types of connections. But I'd say that that's a missing feature in LinkedIn! I haven't used Facebook in years, but back when I used to, it let us organize friends in different lists. LinkedIn doesn't have such a feature.
I would like to have this feature in LinkedIn. But, personally, it doesn't deter me from connecting with folks I haven't spoken to. To me, the benefits have far outweighed the downsides.
