A few months ago, while searching for possible criminal records of bullies who tormented me when I was a kid, I came across a website called LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is a networking website that gets people of the same industry together. It lets you search by job, school or area of residence. What one does is request to be put into people’s inner circle or as a “connection.” I’ve connected with 6-10 people, either at my request or theirs. Old friends that I lost touch with over the last 16 years.
It was a bit disappointing in how serious this thing is. I didn’t find one humorous sentence on the entire website. Everyone was on it to network and move up and get ahead, etc. Except, of course, me. I may get kicked out.
I found a lot of people from the college I graduated, a small liberal arts school in West Virginia mostly attended by the underachieving children of rich Northeastern parents. I didn’t fit in. (exceptions 2 and 3) But, I had a good time clicking on the profiles to see where everyone had landed when the trust fund money ran dry.
One guy, who spent much of his free time out of class pretending (or maybe he wasn't pretending) to be a Werewolf is working in Washington, D.C. in the area of Space and Defense. Oh, good.
Another one summarized his career, starting with this statement: Interdisciplinary generalist in both academic and Internet arenas. I am particularly interested in UX design, arising out of my experience as IA, Content Strategist, and UI designer on integrated teams designing and implementing online applications and interfaces.
I have no idea what any of that means. I hope he’s making more money than I am.
