Second chances

This is my second go at LinkedIn.

My first go ended with me swearing off the platform for nearly 15 years. I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole.

LinkedIn had done me dirty.

To understand the story, you have to understand what LinkedIn was like around 2006. It wasn't really a place where people posted ideas, built communities, or shared pictures of themselves standing next to inspirational quotes. LinkedIn was where you went when you were looking for a job.

And I was a brand-new analyst at an investment bank. Investment banks, especially back then, were not exactly casual workplaces. There was a strict hierarchy, and I was sitting firmly at the bottom of it.

You didn't casually email a managing director. You didn't speak up in a meeting unless you were asked a question. You checked every email two or three times because forgetting a comma could become a surprisingly significant event.

My job was to keep my head down, work on spreadsheets, and avoid giving anyone a reason to wonder what I was doing.

I joined LinkedIn. I wasn't looking for another job. I was just curious about this newish professional networking website.

The next day, I was sitting in my cubicle working on a spreadsheet when one of the senior analysts walked over.

"Looking for another job, K. Did?"

K. Did was their nickname for me. A reference to P. Diddy, naturally.

I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he told me they had received my LinkedIn invitation.

My heart dropped.

LinkedIn had apparently gone through my contacts and invited everyone. Not just friends from college. My senior analysts. My managing director. My senior managing director. The PRESIDENT of the bank!

As a new analyst, I was now imagining senior leadership discussing why this kid at the bottom of the organizational chart was spamming everyone from his company email while apparently searching for a new job.

I deleted my account and swore off LinkedIn. For the next 15 years, I was that unusual professional who simply did not have a LinkedIn profile.

Eventually, Microsoft acquired the company, and it seemed like LinkedIn had moved away from some of those darker growth practices. I reluctantly decided to give it a second chance.

I'm glad I did. It is a much better place now. I've met some incredibly smart and interesting people. I've made actual friends. I've discovered ideas that have influenced how I run Ambiki, and I've had conversations that never would have happened otherwise.

Including meeting cool people like Joe Daly, who gifted everyone in Darren's recent cohort this custom leather moleskin notebook. It even has my initials. How cool is that?