Honest take so don't judge.
My First Day on LinkedIn
Creating my LinkedIn account felt like walking into a corporate office
as a kindergarten student.
Everyone around me had 10 years of experience, published papers, CEO titles, and profiles that made me feel like I had absolutely nothing to offer.
I added my photo. Added my basic details. And just stared at the feed
having no idea what was going on.
That was my LinkedIn journey day one.
The "Open to Work" Mistake
LinkedIn kept pushing me to turn on the Open to Work green banner.
So I did.
My brother saw it immediately. He told me to take it down.
His reasoning hit different
"It tells people you have nothing going on. No work. No learning. No projects. Just waiting for someone to pick you. Companies don't want someone who's just waiting. They want someone who's already moving."
I took it down the same day.
The lesson act like a busy student even when you don't feel like one.
Connect. Post. Learn. Show up.
Let your activity speak louder than a banner that says you're available.
The Connection Strategy That Actually Worked
I started sending 10 to 15 connection requests every day.
Not random people. People working at companies I respected. Developers. Recruiters. Tech leads.
I never messaged them. Never asked for referrals. Never asked for advice.
Just connected.
Slowly my network grew. And with it my feed became the most useful thing on the internet.
Real industry news. Real career advice. Real people sharing what was actually happening in the companies I wanted to work at.
Your network shapes your feed. Your feed shapes what you know. What you know shapes how you grow.
The Certification Phase
Then I got my first certification.
IBM. AWS. HackerRank.
And LinkedIn became my showoff platform.
Every certificate — posted. Every course completed — posted. Every badge earned — posted.
It felt good for a while.
Then it felt boring. And very normal.
Because here's what I realized
India has a massive population. And a massive number of students
with the exact same IBM certificate, the exact same AWS badge, the exact same HackerRank score.
Certificates alone don't make you different. They just confirm you're not behind.
So I stopped posting every certificate. Started quietly adding them to the Certifications section instead.
Let the profile speak. Not the feed.
The Internship I Didn't Announce
I did a one month internship at a company.
I added it to my Experience section quietly. No post. No announcement. No celebration.
Because who am I with one month of experience announcing myself in front of people with 3 to 15 years in the industry?
That felt wrong. So I just added it and moved on.
Looking back I should have posted about it. Not to brag. But to document the journey.
That's what LinkedIn rewards people who share their story honestly while it's still unfolding.
Not just at the destination. But every step of the way.
What I Actually Do Now
I like posts intentionally.
Not mindlessly scrolling and double tapping. But genuinely engaging with content that reflects my interests cloud computing, Java, career growth, student life.
Because every like places your interest in front of the world. LinkedIn shows your activity to your connections. Your engagement tells people what you care about.
That's a quiet but real signal.
The Projects I Didn't Post
Here's my biggest LinkedIn regret.
I never posted my projects.
LifeFlow. E-Medical. Weather App. Built them. Proud of them. Never showed them.
Because I looked at other people's projects enterprise level systems,
production deployments, open source contributions with thousands of stars
And thought what's my basic project in front of all of this?
That thinking was wrong.
Recruiters are not comparing your project to a senior developer's project. They're comparing it to other freshers' projects.
And most freshers have nothing to show.
Your project however basic it feels is already ahead of silence.
The Honest Truth About LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a showoff platform. Let's not pretend otherwise.
But the people who win on LinkedIn are not the ones who have the most to show.
They're the ones who show what they have with the most confidence and consistency.
Learn one small thing present it like a five star hotel chef.
That's not fake. That's just knowing your audience.
What Actually Works — My Honest Summary
Remove Open to Work — act busy even when you're not
Connect intentionally — 10 to 15 people daily in your target industry
Never just collect connections — let your feed become your learning source
Post projects — even basic ones, especially basic ones
Engage genuinely — likes and comments that reflect real interest
Add certifications quietly — let the profile speak, not every post
Document the journey — not just the destination
Why I Shifted to DEV.to
LinkedIn started feeling like standing in a huge crowd and shouting
"see what I did! see what I did!"
And everyone around you is doing the same thing.
It's not wrong. It's just not me.
I'm an introvert. And LinkedIn doesn't give introverts room to breathe.
DEV.to does.
Writing here feels like wearing a comfortable mask showing my work, my ideas, my thinking without the pressure of performing for an audience.
Who wants to find it will find it someday. Who doesn't won't even stumble across it.
And that feels right to me.
I'm not consistent here because someone told me to be. I'm consistent because I'm genuinely eager - eager to write about something I was just thinking about, eager to see if someone else thinks the same way, eager to feel that quiet moment when a comment appears and someone says I felt this too.
That reaction. That one comment from one stranger who thought the same thing I did
Gives me more peace than a hundred LinkedIn likes ever did.
LinkedIn or DEV.to which platform feels more like you?
Drop it below 👇
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