The Problem with LinkedIn's Skills Endorsement

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:59:40 -0400

A while ago LinkedIn introduced what looked like a really cool feature, an easy way to “endorse” skills of your contacts. It’s really easy to go in and click “Endorse” on a bunch of skills. However, one thing that kept surprising me was who endorsed what skills. For example, just today I had a ex-coworker from over 4 years ago endorse me for Hibernate. Which by itself is a nice gesture, only thing is, he’s an art director. I don’t want to be pretentious, but I would believe that he knows as much about Hibernate as I know about Photoshop filters or fine arts. As a matter of fact, I usually get yelled at for my choices of colour. If he would have endorsed me for “Teamwork” or “Attention to Detail” or something like that, I would agree that it is an accurate representation of my skills. But getting endorsed for my Java ORM skills by a designer doesn’t constitute valuable feedback.

LinkedIn on ilikeorangutans

The Problem with LinkedIn's Skills Endorsement