My understanding is this is actually what’s exacerbating the “two-class” system at big tech cos like Google where something like half of all workers are contractors. Like it was bad before, but from what I hear it’s even worse now because companies want to make you look as little like an FTE as possible.
It leaves a bad taste in my mouth that Reid Hoffman, Jeff Weiner, DJ Patil et al get to live their day to day without the reputation hit or scrutiny of FB because LinkedIn is not as “sexy” a media target despite being notorious for using the shadiest dark patterns in the industry and almost certainly historically more cavalier with user data than either FB or Goog with the lawsuits to back it up.
Edit: I added DJ Patil because he’s built a post-LinkedIn image as a champion of data for good but as the chief data person at LinkedIn almost certainly was the mastermind behind all the shady things LinkedIn ever did with user data.
The shadiest thing LinkedIn has ever done with user data is buttress their recommendation algorithms. I used to work there and trust me the data we have on customers is neither nefarious nor used for shady things other than growth. The dark patterns deserve their criticism but we have a very minimal picture of someone’s life other than a resume and business connections.
LinkedIn once asked if I wanted to see what contacts I knew in the network. I clicked ok to connect to my email, and it immediately sent an email to everyone in my email history. It pretended to be written by me, saying I wanted to reconnect. It sent it to everyone - every old landlord, ever ex, every business contact, everyone. It was literally identity theft. That's a dark pattern.
The effects of Facebook on our society have been extreme, often negative, and for the most part unforeseen until more recently. People consider it to have precipitated a crisis.
Is there any plausible argument that LinkedIn has contributed to the decline of society? Because it’s at least arguable that Facebook has.
Just because your impact on the world is not as huge or consequential as Facebook doesn’t give you free range to exploit user data as you please and protect you from legitimate criticism for doing so. That is classic “whataboutism”
You made the claim, so you should back it up. I can google lots of things related to LinkedIn, but whatever I may find may not be exactly what you are referencing.
Looking up LinkedIn dark patterns will show you tons of stuff. Just alone on HN you’ll find tons of stuff. It Is common enough on HN itself so I don’t think the OP needs to back it up.
I’m a fan of the Chinese-style captchas where you just move a puzzle piece with a slider. I have no idea how defeatable it is vs reCaptcha but it’s far far less painful.
We were getting a lot of automated requests, and right when we put the waterwall on our page, it did a good job of picking out those users and not impacting others.
After a few days though, those users were able to start getting through again, but based on the timing between requests, it looks like they might have had to start operating the page manually.
I can imagine at the frontend you have some JavaScript, where an input field gets filled in or something. There has to be some server side checking as well, otherwise a simple HTTP POST would submit fine.
I do like the idea, but if you need JavaScript anyway, why not have some invisible inputs. They work for now.
A picture with a missing piece as a hole is presented to the user. The missing piece is floating in front of the picture that can be dragged with the mouse (or via touch). A slider let the missing piece to be dragged left or right, to make it easier than 2D free movement. The user has to drag the missing piece on top of the hole on the picture to prove he's a human. The location of the missing piece is randomized for each interaction.
Interesting. I’ve gotten two offers from two European tech cos, one in London and one in Amsterdam though did not end up accepting either. In both situations I felt they were pretty eager/open to hiring.
The biggest hurdle they face in hiring non-Europeans is that I believe they must somehow prove that you possess skills that are uncommon in the local talent pool in order to get you a work visa. I think SWE, other technical skill set, or having an advanced degree all would help there...
Increasingly very common? Without religion and people going unmarried/without kids, your career has become the thing that you pay more attention to.
I don’t agree with it at all, mostly because too often a job looks like a toxic relationship more than anything else, meaning you as an employee are expected to be fully emotionally invested in your work, while at the same time your company can fire you in the blink of an eye and not think twice about it.
I don't identify with my job, but absolutely with my profession. I'm a developer. Given the extreme level of specialization one needs to reach any heights in a profession, you kind of need to commit and go.
> Without religion and people going unmarried/without kids, your career has become the thing that you pay more attention to.
Anecdotally, the young people I know treat employment as a transaction and recognize the lip-service to all the talk about how the company is like a family for what it is: lip-service. I associate this kind of emotional investment in employment with older workers, especially ones in union jobs where employment forms one's social and political community.
I've recently read somewhere that market penetration of food delivery in the US is c. 3%, compared to c. 4% in UK (due to takeaway culture?) and c. 11% in China.
Trying to find actual source, but this was from a recent analyst report...
That seems to suggest people in China are receiving deliveries from restaurants within walking distance. Quality of food gets worse the longer it sits in a portable container. Chinese food especially. Deliveries are unlikely to travel much distance, given the traffic condition of Chinese cities.
I mean food delivery is becoming massively more popular each year w DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub, Postmates, etc. collectively worth tens of billions. The trend is up and to the right. I believe in terms of annual deliveries the US is probably smaller but not that much smaller.
You ever notice how most Chinese restaurants in the US (especially in larger cities) have always delivered anyway, even before services like Seamless? The same is true of almost every small restaurant in China; the apps really only expand the delivery area and make it more convenient.
Is it? It is more popular then before, but not like China. From my time living in China, I can personally attest to the ubiquity of food delivery services at an easily affordable price. In contrast, it just doesn’t seem to be worth it back in the states, the service isn’t as good and it is way more expensive than in China, it is easier to just go out.
"Easier" is a weird word choice here. It's absolutely easier to not move from the couch, naked in your robe, and have restaurant-quality food arrive at your door than it is to sit down at a restaurant and fake some temporary civility across town. No contest if you have young kids.
It's not even much more expensive since the sit-down tip is replaced with a delivery premium. And I only tip the driver some bucks.
