LinkedIn Connections

@Rick_Davidson
Should we be connecting with people outside the industry? People we know, or don’t know? Does that harm our algorithm in any way?

anyone know the answer to this?

I have no idea about LinkedIn algorithms, but if you are trying to either get a job in the industry or trying to form a team or whatever, what I really suggest is go to developer events and game jams, that way is a lot easier to meet people, also, be active in communities and social media, on Facebook I once received a Friend Request from a CEO of one of the most succesful independant studios here in my country (México), that was thanks to the fact that I was pretty active, giving feedback and opinions and I engaged in more than one conversation with him in some of those discussions.

I know my answer has nothing to do with what you asked, but what I’m trying to say here is, don’t get too fixiated on the details, what matters is that you start connecting with people, that alone raises a lot of oportunities.

This is what some call the 20/80% rule, where 20% of what you do will have 80% of the impact, having the right approach to LinkedIn might increase your chances of whatever you are trying to achieve, but it’s probably not worth to invest your time in those details since the increase is not significant enough, meanwhile, just talking and meeting people will increasing your chances dramatically. I’ve got two freelance jobs by just assisting to game jams and do pretty much nothing, just by talking and being annoying.

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I can’t think of which algorithms it might harm… I’m sure the algorithms are based upon your profile, keywords, skills, etc rather than network. But these things are a block box, so your guess is as good as mine!

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From what I know about LinkedIn, when people do searches it looks through “connections” and “connections of connections”. Having more people in your network (and high-value people with LOTS of industry relevant connections) can have a huge positive impact.

As far as I know, there’s no negatives associated with making a connection.

As far as I can tell, LinkedIn is a crapshot at getting an actual job, but there’s a non-zero chance it’ll work out and it doesn’t take much effort.

There are two schools of thought but I subscribe to the one that says to connect with as many people as you can.

Having more LinkedIn connections opens you up to more possible connections in the future. You never know where people will end up in their careers or what doors those connections will open.

As an example, I’ve worked with people in the past who have gone on to work in the games industry. I’ve also known people who ended up being friends/relatives/partners of those who work in the games industry.
If I didn’t make those early (seemingly random) connections then I wouldn’t have some of the contacts that I have now.

So this goes for real life as well as LinkedIn. Make as many connections as you can and if you’re personable and professional then you’ll be surprised at how many doors open up for you.

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