A LinkedIn loather on anecdotes and architect bashing

Whenever I post on LinkedIn, a piece of my soul is expunged. That's what it feels like. It's lost forever, eaten up by the darkness of the LI universe.

It's not for me. I've tried, but I can't do it. It comes off as inauthentic. 'You've got to work with the algorithm,' someone tells me. I'm sorry, but I'd rather pluck out my eyeballs and feed them to the parakeets screaming outside my window. Seriously, link me out.

Part of it has to do with the way my brain works, but another part has to do with the anecdotes. LinkedIn has turned into a place where people share anecdotes bluntly beaten into the shape of some tedious thought leadership spiel.

'Watching The Bear, I realised how destructive a fast-paced growth mindset is when you are foundationally unprepared. Read my top tips on utilising your debilitating perfectionism to dominate the catering world…'

'I took my kid to school this morning, and while choking on the dregs of my coffee, I realised that business is, in fact, a lot like school. Let me tell you why...'

'The squirrels in my local park have started attacking each other. Watching them rip each other apart, I realised that toxicity is the cornerstone of building an effective team. Here are my top five takeaways...'

And when did people start uploading wedding photos and baby pictures to LinkedIn? I'm sorry, but WTF. That's the equivalent of whipping out your phone to show your newborn covered in vernix to some random at a networking event you don't want to be at. All while banging on about work-life balance. It's bananas.

Then there's the LinkedIn 'experts' shitting on architects. The poor architects. Assaulted constantly by a stream of marketers and copywriters telling them how shit they are. 'You can't write!' 'You might be a great architect, but you're so bad at marketing.' 'You're a worthless piece of shit. Pay me to make you better!' Click-bait-y, zero nuance, shout-it-until-people-believe-you type stuff. I hate it. That’s not to say there aren’t great people operating on LinkedIn. There are. But I want more empathy. More joy!

So, this is all to say, if you want to work with someone who probably already thinks you're pretty great and wants to help you be even greater, I'm here. I promise I won't tell you you're shit. And if you see me popping up on LinkedIn saying I'm 'thrilled' about something, don't judge me too harshly.