lunch @ linkedin

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, an 18 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

this publication is a place for me to reflect on productivity, health and tech, and drop unique opportunities in the space right to your inbox daily. if you’re new here, sign up to tune in! 💌 

btw, feel free to reply with topic ideas you want me to write about for future posts.

onto today’s topic: lunch @ linkedin 🥙 

today i had the super cool opportunity to have lunch at the linkedin hq in mountain view and speak to some of the business development execs about what i’m working on.

huge shoutout to michael for organizing and jay for showing us around as well as answering our questions so thoughtfully. it was also great speaking with alex and erin, and bouncing ideas back and forth.

first thing’s first: oh my god the food is amazing. and free. linkedin employees eat so good. scattered around the linkedin campus, there are bikes for use, free coffee stands and so much more. not to mention, there are trees and gardens everywhere. 🌳 it was a lot of fun exploring the space!

now into actual insights, LOL.

key takeaways:

1. linkedin is a lot more innovative and fast-adapting than i thought

   you might have noticed the recent implementation of “verification” on linkedin. this was primarily to combat the surge of bots and fake accounts with the ai boom from chatgpt. i was surprised that linkedin is already running experiments for ai-forward features and also implementing defense mechanisms to build trust. my perception of big tech is that they’re slow on the uptake, but this was debunked quickly. 🔧 

2. genuine interest builds for better discussion

   a huge reason why i enjoyed this lunch so much was because everyone was genuinely interested in what we all had to say. questions were being asked, jokes were being made and questions were being answered with enthusiasm. this made the discussion flow so much smoother and i was at ease.

3. there are lots of opportunities for intrapreneurship

   i found it really interesting that there is such a huge scope of projects and problems to work on. there are so many opportunities to pilot your own initiative at linkedin ranging from making the in-person to digital event connections to automating sourcing with ai. linkedin has no hard feelings when employees want to leave for other endeavors, they just want to talk about it and see if there’s opportunity to pursue that within the company too. i found that really cool! ⭐️ 

truly a vibe! i’m writing this post today while sipping on my free iced mocha, it’s bliss. i’m interested to see the features linkedin continues to roll out — particularly curious about how they will continue pushing for community and optimizing warm intros. :)

daily opportunity + resource drops 🔍️