Where I Work
January 30, 2013 5:30 AM   Subscribe

Where I work: LinkedIn recently asked their Influencers to write blog posts showing where they work, and explaining how they work. More than fifty responded - from Craig Newmark to Arianna Huffington to David Cameron. The workspaces range from staid offices to open bullpens, airplanes and hotel rooms, 10 Downing Street, university lecture rooms, a place for emergency naps, and everything in between. At least one of them includes a reminder to floss daily. Take a look: John C. Abell, Lou Adler, Rafat Ali, Steve Anders, Dan Ariely, Richard Branson, Tim Brown, Oliver Bussmann, David Cameron, Anand Chandrasekaran, Emily Chang, Andrew Chen, Deepak Chopra, Kevin Chou, James Citrin, Linda Coles, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Heather Elias, Michael Fertik, Inge Geerdens, Herb Greenberg, Peter Guber, Eric Hippeau, Arianna Huffington, Aaron Hurst, Jeff Jordan, J.T. O'Donnell, Bruce Kasanoff, Tom Keene, Steve Knight, Jordy Leiser, Betty Liu, Michael Moritz, Craig Newmark, Deep Nishar, T. Boone Pickens, Ilya Pozin, Daniel Rosensweig, Naomi Simson, Trish Regan, Steve Rubel, Dharmesh Shah, Colin Shaw, David H. Stevens, Gijs van Wulfen, Martin Varsavsky, Andreas von der Heydt, Jeff Weiner, Geni Whitehouse,
posted by NotMyselfRightNow (60 comments total) 26 users marked this as a favorite
 
Richard Branson's picture is hilarious on the face of it, but I wonder how hilarious his "coworkers" who probably have to wear swimsuits 24x7 and be constantly sipping cocktails think it is.
posted by DU at 5:37 AM on January 30, 2013


Is this supposed to inspire us or just make us feel worse while sitting in our fabric-covered boxes?
posted by tommasz at 5:41 AM on January 30, 2013 [11 favorites]


LinkedIn is probably the only web site I'd love to see nuked from the earth. I constantly get emails from them from people in my "circle" who have added me to their network! No matter how many times I try and stop these emails from coming, they keep fucking coming. As someone who's run multiple email lists there are thousands of people who have my email address who are, for all intents and purposes, strangers to me. Yet every time one of them joins LinkedIn, the thing's gotta email me to tell me about it.

Mind boggling how this company hasn't been fined up the wazoo as the spammers that they are.
posted by dobbs at 5:45 AM on January 30, 2013 [5 favorites]


Cameron phoning it in as usual...
posted by runincircles at 5:50 AM on January 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


LinkedIn is probably the only web site I'd love to see nuked from the earth.

I'd be happy if they'd just get rid of the "influencers". It seems as if they had deliberately set out to make a list of the most annoying, unselfconscious people on Earth. I mean, which other list manages to contain the globular egos of David Cameron, Deepak Chopra, Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington and Martin Varsavsky, a.o.?
posted by Skeptic at 5:55 AM on January 30, 2013 [4 favorites]


Maybe we should do a "where I do Metafilter" thread. Everyone can post pictures. How many bathrooms do y'all think we'll get?
posted by jquinby at 5:56 AM on January 30, 2013 [7 favorites]


dobbs: That's entirely different from any experience I've ever had with LinkedIn. I don't think LI uses "Circles" as a term, and every email they send is configurable (as in, you can opt out entirely). It's also fairly hard to just add someone you don't know via LI -- as a long-time user, my 1st degree connections are sub-300 in number, and I'm in a sales role and use the site heavily.
posted by ellF at 6:09 AM on January 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


...every email they send is configurable (as in, you can opt out entirely).

Maybe if you are a member you can. Non-members experience the site as a source of "networking" spam from people they dimly remember going to school with or seeing in a meeting once.
posted by DU at 6:10 AM on January 30, 2013 [2 favorites]


I second ellF's observation.
posted by infini at 6:11 AM on January 30, 2013


Forward a copy of one of these "spam" emails to abuse@linkedin.com and ask to be added to their DO NOT CONTACT list. They're very good about responding and respecting the request.
posted by ellF at 6:12 AM on January 30, 2013 [4 favorites]


stupidsexyFlanders endorsed you for 3 skills: Napping, Self-Promotion, Jamming Your Awesome Job In My Face
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:13 AM on January 30, 2013 [12 favorites]


I hope Facebook graph search kills LinkedIn. And then I hope something kills Facebook. But that would be too good to be true.

Oh yes, I work in IT.
posted by FJT at 6:14 AM on January 30, 2013 [3 favorites]


FJT: Never going to happen. LinkedIn is a useful tool for networking; I've found my last 3 jobs in sharp, interesting start-ups via my network on LI. Facebook is for games and awkward rants.
posted by ellF at 6:16 AM on January 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


LinkedIn is a great way to show your references and see how social networks interconnect, most useful if you're establishing yourself as a wandering traveler.

People who use LinkedIn to spam with emails can be sternly reprimanded with no guilt.
posted by infini at 6:20 AM on January 30, 2013


Facebook is for games and awkward rants.

And here I thought work was for that.
posted by FJT at 6:22 AM on January 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


Didn't know there was so much LinkedIn hate. Also didn't know that people haven't learned to use email folder and filters for spammy websites yet.
posted by octothorpe at 6:23 AM on January 30, 2013 [2 favorites]


LinkedIn is a useful tool for networking; I've found my last 3 jobs in sharp, interesting start-ups via my network on LI.

This is exactly the kind of icky (in a blazers-over-the-tshirt, strip mall kind of way) spam I get from LinkedIn pretty regularly. Reeks of Holiday Inn "entrepreneurship".

Also didn't know that people haven't learned to use email folder and filters for spammy websites yet.

I don't think anyone is complaining that their email is overwhelmed. Just incredulity that human beings use the site, based on the junk they see emitted by it.
posted by DU at 6:31 AM on January 30, 2013 [2 favorites]


Yes, exactly! LinkedIn "power users" are preying on the desperation of the spammees the same way certain Nigerian "banks" do.
posted by DU at 6:44 AM on January 30, 2013


I don't think anyone is complaining that their email is overwhelmed. Just incredulity that human beings use the site, based on the junk they see emitted by it.

This. If someone is actually finding jobs in that morass of self-promotion and spam, good for them. But its usefulness for most of us is marginal. At least on FB I will get the occasional amusing post. Or cat video.
posted by Ber at 6:44 AM on January 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


Just because I need a job doesn't mean I need to like the way LinkedIn talks about them.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 6:45 AM on January 30, 2013 [2 favorites]


Forward a copy of one of these "spam" emails to abuse@linkedin.com and ask to be added to their DO NOT CONTACT list.

Thank you for this, I appreciate it greatly.

I think one reason so many of us feel hostile towards LinkedIn is that it sort of feels like you shouldn't have to take action to stop an apparently reputable social network marketing itself via constant spamming. Of course, spamming by less reputable sources is endemic and fairly easy to deal with, and there's no reason not to do the same with LinkedIn really. It's just a question of expecting better, I suppose.
posted by oliverburkeman at 6:56 AM on January 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'll jump in briefly in defense of LI.

In a relatively small city, and especially in a field where Everyone Knows Everyone, keeping an active up-to-date profile can be pretty important for networking. Maybe this is specific to the field, though.

And it's important not just for future job prospects, but also as a way of staying in touch with customers, potential customers and colleagues who have moved on to other jobs. I disconnected from FB some time ago, so LI is pretty much it for me, outside of public profiles on sites like this one, an occasional blog post, flickr, and so on. The only mail rush I've gotten is from the various groups I've joined, and I've opted out of most of that. The balance of my inbox is from recruiters and customers. I don't get spam, or at least not any more than the usual level.

Anyway, YMMV. I like it well enough. Not enough to upgrade to whatever the Pro level gets you, though.
posted by jquinby at 6:57 AM on January 30, 2013 [2 favorites]


or just make us feel worse while sitting in our fabric-covered boxes?

You get a box? That sounds nice. I'm in an open floorplan-style office, so everyone can see just how much of the day I piss away here on the Blue.

HI, COWORKER FRIENDS! I SEEEEE YOU!
posted by phunniemee at 6:57 AM on January 30, 2013 [2 favorites]


Is it in a trendy brick loftspace at least?
posted by Think_Long at 7:08 AM on January 30, 2013


With marketing posters on the wall. Ooh, and a basketball hoop!
posted by Think_Long at 7:08 AM on January 30, 2013


Linked in used to be pretty valuable as a source of contact info when I need to get the coordinates of someone I knew through someone. This is common for my line of work, and I sure many others. The rolodex in the sky function was/is great.

It's also pretty good as a job search tool. I know a bunch of people who found their leads to new jobs/contracts on linked in.

I'm far less enthused about the "social" functions. Their attempts at newsgroups/fora are haunted by the self-serving. Rather than functioning as a free-floating tradeshow, the groups are filled with cranks and idle shouters. Because among those who could contribute substantively, who has time to do another social media platform? Not me, that's for sure. It's low-value anyway, so why bother.

Their latest redesign has further taken away a lot of the value I used to find in the site: the profile pages and their connections. Instead it's focused on "activity"---Facebook for work. I think it's their shark jump, personally.
posted by bonehead at 7:18 AM on January 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


"More than fifty responded.". Which probably means more than fifty got someone in Media Relations or PR to respond.
posted by Ideefixe at 7:18 AM on January 30, 2013


With marketing posters on the wall. Ooh, and a basketball hoop!

We have ping pong and bubble hockey. We're going to be moving offices soon, and the only thing that's remained constant throughout the various space layouts we've toyed with is that the boss wants a golf sim.
posted by phunniemee at 7:23 AM on January 30, 2013


bonehead: "The rolodex in the sky function was/is great."

Absolutely. The business card exchange for me is just a prelude to finding someone on LI and connecting with them that way. Also - and maybe this is a key factor for making LI useful - I'm a field employee. HQ is on the west coast, and even though I thoroughly enjoy working from home, it's easy to feel completely disconnected from what's going on in the mothership.
posted by jquinby at 7:25 AM on January 30, 2013


At one job, I can only assume our group was being punished as we were steadily moved deeper into the bowels of the building we worked in, until we were finally held in a small, windowless mini-cube farm in the basement next to a leaking bathroom and an emergency exit. Technically, I assume, we were no longer in the bowels at that point... (the jokes, they practically write themselves! *shudder*). Now I have an office with a window, so if that's my closest brush with a 'Dirty Jobs'-style scenario, I can't be too upset about it. Apart from the sewage. I'm still upset about that.

re:LinkedIn - I've found it moderately useful to find potential jobs. The more social aspects of it (outside of connections to current and former co-workers and colleagues) are obnoxious. It has got to be maddening to get spam email when you're not a member- I've heard the abuse email address is generally unresponsive, although your mileage may vary.
posted by combinatorial explosion at 7:28 AM on January 30, 2013


So many of these are so proud of their open-space arrangements.
posted by oddman at 7:38 AM on January 30, 2013


Yes, exactly! LinkedIn "power users" are preying on the desperation of the spammees the same way certain Nigerian "banks" do.

Sorry to hear it. I have no idea what a power user of LinkedIn is. LI has no real advertisements, and aside from a few pieces of promoted "influencer" content of late, none of the social media nonsense of Facebook. It's basically just an online resume repository.

YMMV, sure. But I'm just a guy in his 30s who does start-up work, and lives in Boston. My LI profile shows where I've worked, what my roles have been, and what I do. I typically add colleagues and business contacts to my network, not friends. I don't post "social" updates, because LI is barely a social network. It's value comes when changing jobs; I tend to drop the contacts I trust and like a note and say, "Hey, I'm on the job market." Likewise, when I'm hiring, I tend to look for candidates on LinkedIn, either via my network or via job posting. Shared connections are a plus for a candidate, because I can ask those people for references and information on the guy or woman applying for the job.

It's such a low-key, low-noise experience that I'm really surprised by the vitriol. Maybe it feels different if you aren't working in the technology industry, or in an area/position/career path where your LinkedIn network is basically the collection of professional contacts that you know and marginally trust?
posted by ellF at 7:41 AM on January 30, 2013 [3 favorites]


Or if you're... not a member.
posted by koeselitz at 7:55 AM on January 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm fine with LinkedIn, but I'm not working in the industry I expected to be working in, so I haven't gotten much use out of it.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 7:59 AM on January 30, 2013


LinkedIn is pretty tedious. Before I filtered it all to junk, at least 1/3 of my work email's inbox was either invites to be someone's internets friend on a site I am not interested in joining, or endless reminders that I've been invited to be someone's internets friend on a site I am not interested in joining.
posted by elizardbits at 8:06 AM on January 30, 2013 [2 favorites]


ellF: “It's such a low-key, low-noise experience that I'm really surprised by the vitriol. Maybe it feels different if you aren't working in the technology industry, or in an area/position/career path where your LinkedIn network is basically the collection of professional contacts that you know and marginally trust?”

I'm in the tech industry. I'm a database programmer. If I wanted to talk to a "collection of professional contacts that I know and marginally trust," I'd use email. And I don't. (Much.) Why? Because I don't like being social about work. I guess I'm a weird, an old-fashioned jerk who hates networking and schmoozing and chatting about "synergy" or whatever it is I'm supposed to do when I "network" with other people in my field. To be honest, I guess the most I'll ever talk with non-coworkers about worky stuff is when I geek out on Hacker News; but that's pointedly not in the context of seeking employment.

I guess LinkedIn isn't unlike any number of other social networks in that it wants to act aggressively to draw people into it. That's why it sends constant spam to non-members which appears engineered to get around spam filters. I have a feeling one of the reasons people dislike it so much, though, is because of the basic concept: a social network based around your employment. I think most people hear "social network, but for work!" and grimace and want to puke. I may just be an antisocial programmer dude; but most of the antisocial programmer dudes I know feel the same thing. The only tech people I know who are totally into LinkedIn are salespeople. My experience with LinkIn is pretty limited, though.
posted by koeselitz at 8:14 AM on January 30, 2013 [2 favorites]


My biggest gripe about linked in is there change so that 3rd degree contacts can't view your profile without paying. I built my LI profile out to generate interest, and in return LI made it so potential employers have to pay to see me. I know that seems to be the modern business model; get people to sign up for free, then when you're big enough, force people into a pay model. I don't know what the answer is, but this model of selling data after they receive it freely needs to stop. Or I need a share I'm the dividends.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 8:22 AM on January 30, 2013


I guess I'm a weird, an old-fashioned jerk who hates networking and schmoozing and chatting about "synergy"

I may come across glib, but you don't really have to do this at work?
posted by FJT at 8:27 AM on January 30, 2013


> Or if you're... not a member.

You know, if you upgrade to Premium Membership, you get one of those jackets with the strap on the collar, and little loopy epaulets as well as the ability to spam everyone you know.
posted by wenestvedt at 8:27 AM on January 30, 2013


LinkedIn is for when I want to look for work (twice in the last several years). I update my profile, clean things up a little, and turn on the settings that lead to me being able to see who's finding my profile, and why. That's a really useful way to test keywords and make sure I'm being found for what I want to be found for. Once hired or otherwise sorted, I turn all that stuff off and go back to pretending it doesn't exist. There's always a brief period of "no, don't mail me that" email link-clicking, but then it's over.

LinkedIn has been helpful for my last two jobs: Once by showing a social connection I never would have guessed existed, once by connecting me to a recruiter who happened to find me for one thing but ended up passing me along for another.

The people in my network who post regularly on LinkedIn mostly seem to be looking for work and using LinkedIn to adopt that whole weird thought leader affect — the one where you make stentorian pronouncements about how spot-on some bullshit blog post about social marketing is or whatever to DEMONSTRATE ENGAGEMENT — or they're freelancers. Most of the people I know on LinkedIn work in online media, so it's also a handy dumping ground for whatever they've recently published on their sites, because old new media people infest every new social network with their automated link dumping like rats in a bamboo forest.

Having worked on a site that was trying to do a niche LinkedIn thing in a particular vertical, I admired their rollout of the endorsement system. It can be tough to prime the pump on a new feature, and they handled it pretty well. At first it seemed completely irrational: Why the hell is that guy endorsing me for this thing I tossed in to attract a recruiter but that he never, ever saw me doing or working on? Over time, it has become more selective and I'm seeing more considered endorsements now that it doesn't seem to be asking for mass endorsements of four people at a time.
posted by mph at 8:34 AM on January 30, 2013


Eh, whathefuckever dude. Your communication style needs some work also.

Pot to kettle.
posted by adamdschneider at 8:37 AM on January 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


Well, I have to say that Craig Newmark's workspace is predictably awesome.
posted by koeselitz at 8:38 AM on January 30, 2013


(And reading this one made me inexplicably angry.)
posted by koeselitz at 8:41 AM on January 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


I don't think it's that inexplicable. He sounds like the kind of guy who just can't understand why you don't absolutely love being at work!
posted by adamdschneider at 8:54 AM on January 30, 2013


I use LinkedIn quite a bit, and recognize its value as a tool, but the unchallenging, inoffensive generic business-speak corporate pap from "influencers" the website peddles is about as interesting as clothes choices on Casual Friday.

Sometimes I wonder if anyone in a managerial role in a contemporary technocratic business even has an inner life.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:07 AM on January 30, 2013


LinkedIn makes me vaguely anxious. Whenever I get endorsed for any non-cool technology, like XML or .NET I always feel like someone is offering up some sort of backhanded compliment. "Yeah, that guy is awesome at XML, lol"
posted by Ad hominem at 9:38 AM on January 30, 2013


This is kind of awesome; I've seen standing desks, but I'd never thought of a walking desk. I wonder if I'd be able to be productive? I feel like I'd like to try that.

And, while it's sort of humble, I like this desk in DC.

(Whereas, uh, sorry, but this one is kind of sad, really.)

Anyway, these were kind of fun to look through.
posted by koeselitz at 9:39 AM on January 30, 2013


(And apparently treadmill desks are totally a thing. I had no idea. Apparently I'm more out of the loop than I realized.)
posted by koeselitz at 9:43 AM on January 30, 2013


I wish the LinkedIn derail hadn't sucked up this post - I wanted to hear "where everyone worked"!

I work for what used to be a regional bank that was acquired by a top-10 bank - I do product and project management focusing on the Small Business market, usually digital projects. Instead of having an hour-plus commute to our headquarters, I have an office in one of our branches about 10 minutes from home. It's _hilarious_. I have a proper office with a glass door I can close, curtains on the window, and big, ponderous mahogany banker furniture. At our headquarters, even Senior Directors sit in the "open environment, collaborative work spaces".
posted by ersatzkat at 9:46 AM on January 30, 2013


Thanks for the list of people to avoid at all costs, poster!
posted by Our Ship Of The Imagination! at 10:18 AM on January 30, 2013


I wanted to hear "where everyone worked"!

I'm really not sure how people sit all day at work.
I'm really not sure how people stand all day at work.

I sit about 50% of the day and stand about 50% of the day, often switching between the two several times over the course of a day. It's been a huge windfall for my general body health. I use an Ergotron Workfit-S (with tall person attachment), which is brilliant not only because it gives me the ability to convert a dual monitor desktop machine from sit to stand in about 10 seconds, it's also very cost effective at about $400 (table or desk you attach it to not included, obviously).

I also work for a company that allows me an office, doing a job (software) that is typically relegated to cubeland. Having an office with a door is a really nice, old school, professional thing to have. Between office and open collaborative work space I'd take office every time. I'm happy to collaborate with co-workers. C'mon in!
posted by mcstayinskool at 10:19 AM on January 30, 2013


> I don't think it's that inexplicable. He sounds like the kind of guy who just can't understand why you don't absolutely love being at work!
posted by adamdschneider

I'm one of those people to a lesser degree, and that post made me angry too.

My job is about 2/3 at a boring cubicle desk, and 1/3 walking around a factory floor. I love it. When I need to fill in for our buyer and end up at my desk all day, I end up super crabby by the time I get home. I started doing the standing workstation with a janky assembly of furniture we had around, and it's actually quite nice.
posted by Fig at 10:49 AM on January 30, 2013


I would rather have seen where 50 random linkedin users work. Real-world workspaces used by the cogs that implement what the "influencers" envision. This is just self-promotion & linkbait.
posted by headnsouth at 11:09 AM on January 30, 2013


This wasn't the Lou Adler I was looking for. I would love to see what that Lou Adler's office looks like.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:22 AM on January 30, 2013


1) Some of you really need to figure out how to setup your email filters.

2) I agree linkedin seems like spammy crap. The site seems saturated in desperation. Desperation of their users to get jobs and/or recruit people. Desperation on the part of LinkedIn to upsell. And now desperate SEO spam-bait. The constant, desperate sales pitch makes the whole thing seem vaguely dubious, even if it's not.

3) I've always thought a treadmill desk would be pretty awesome.

Oh and how weird is it to call people "influencers"? I mean, we have a perfectly good term: "notable people". On the one hand it's just more vapid biz-speak, like using "utilize" and "leverage" when you mean "use" and "use" respectively. But it's almost like, you're labeling them not based on what they are but how your relationship with them they benefits you. Not even how they benefit you but just how your relationship with them and their relationship with other people benefits you - it's like comodification of human relationships as marketing tools summed up in one word.
posted by delmoi at 11:33 AM on January 30, 2013


Linkedin, the premier site for staying in touch with ex-colleagues you didn't like enough to add on facebook.
posted by Damienmce at 11:46 AM on January 30, 2013 [6 favorites]


> With marketing posters on the wall. Ooh, and a basketball hoop!

> We have ping pong and bubble hockey.


...I'm in an open floor plan office too, and I've just now been prompted to look around and note - there is no artwork of any kind in this office. And no desks - only long tables where we all line up four in a row on each side. Occasionally someone will attempt to ornament their work space by erecting a small flag on top of their monitor.

get me out of here
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:00 PM on January 30, 2013 [3 favorites]


I work for a technology firm and the unwritten rule is Do Not Live In the Past.
if a coworker waddles over to my cube and starts blabbing about what happened yestrrday, even work related I feel like blowing a whistle or putting on headphones.
Whatever it is that is driving us along this macadam of data hates perspective and hates reflection.
I'm telling you its getting worse. (Or better if you like it). I have examples but im tired from ignoring apostrophes all day and rushing forward. This all used to be cool, computers for a living but I see now its a race without a finish line. Like the other day...
im technically an engineer but what I do is bail water on a big old half drowned barge leased out by cable companies to transport their slaves. Not literally.
The.cable company wants an upgrade. So we all huddle together in a conference room and discuss options. I see there is no option the upgrade will happen even though it will break everything and gash a hole in this boat it doesnt need as it is already sinking. I.have something to say. We rolled this feature three years earlier and it generated something like 800 calls to the call center within the first hour. But that was then this is now. its more important to make THIS mistake NOW then to revisit, to review, to go BACK! The fucking douchebag oligopolistic cable company may or may not fire us for what WILL be a failure. I get it. But if we call this off and try to explain what happened YEARS ago (2) to save them money and truck rolls... well thats not wisdom thats something WORSE. Cant put my finger on it.
Wait what were we talking about?
posted by Colonel Panic at 6:27 PM on January 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm lying in bed, with coffee on the side table, preparing to start a new work day. There's a conference call in 90 mins and while I do like sitting at the dining table when writing emails and feeling all "workish", I do some of my best thinking lying down flat on my back. This is a decision and a tradeoff I will never regret.
posted by infini at 12:24 AM on January 31, 2013


Colonel_Panic, I do not know how you ignore apostrophes all day, but if you could teach me how to ignore the lack of them, that would be awesome. Ditto on the lack of appropriate capitalization.

I start twitching when I'm becomes Im or im.
posted by misha at 10:57 AM on January 31, 2013


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