I had a LinkedIn account ages ago but found it useless and chock full of recruiter spam. It was the first of all my social networks to go.<p>I am always astonished when I hear phrases like &quot;it&#x27;s required&quot;. Really? By whom? I&#x27;m glad to hear there are other people out there who don&#x27;t have it, because all I hear about is the other side: People bemoaning LinkedIn&#x27;s existence but parroting this idea that their professional career would be all but ruined without it. I just cannot understand this, but I always feel like I must be naive or living in a tech bubble, or just outside the mainstream.<p>Do people <i>really</i> hurt their job prospects without LinkedIn?  (Or did they when this was written in 2013?)