Donan Engineering API
The CISS Inventory Pro / Deltek Vision Integration project involved building a bridge to stream data between two different systems.
Featured team member
Jason Still
Jason is a graduate of the University of Louisville Business School’s Computer Information Systems program. He began his career in software development in 2003, but his fascination with computers and programming began much earlier. Jason wrote his first code in the early 90’s on an Apple II, copying BASIC programs out of the back of his elementary school math book and then making changes to try to understand how it all worked.
Full bio →Services we offer include…
- Custom software development
- Web applications
- Desktop applications
- Mobile applications
- Database applications
- Data warehouses
Top 5 Reasons You Should Build Your LinkedIn Profile While You Are In College
Today LinkedIn IPO’d and I felt the need to educate people on why building your LinkedIn profile at a young age is so important.
Yes, you will still have to email a paper resume around to prospective companies, but we will soon see a day when you are asked to provide a link to your LinkedIn profile instead of sending your resume. Why? Because companies are starting to realize that there is so much more information that can be learned about a person by visiting their LinkedIn page than they can from a 1 page resume. The fact is companies are Googling you already; why not have them see your LinkedIn profile before they find those keg stand pics you have up on Facebook.
It Makes You Focus on Your Acheivements Early in Life
As a college student or early professional, you might not have that much practical experience, but creating and maintaing your LinkedIn profile forces you to think about and hopefully build on your acheivements. Even though your parents had to pay $100k to put you through school, the reality (with a few exceptions) is that no one really cares what classes you took in college, what matters is what you actually accomplish. What you DO or have done is much more important to me as an employeer than what your major was in school. The biggest advice I give college kids is start to build things on your own, outside of class; it’s what will make you stand out above the rest. Everything you accomplish, list it in a “Section” on your LinkedIn profile.
LinkedIn is the Facebook for Business
Like it or not social networks and the Internet aren’t going anywhere and the sooner you learn that LinkedIn is THE social network for business and professional connections, the better off you will be. Embrace LinkedIn like you have Facebook (minus the drunken pics), connect with your friends, professors, acquaintences, groups, etc and build your network. Use it to look up companies you are interested in, learn who works there, try to connect with them and find out what kind of place it’s like to work at. Gaining knowledge about a company from current company employees is the best thing you can do to educate yourself on whether it’s somewhere you would like to spend 50 hours a week for the next few years. LinkedIn gives you the potential to gain that knowledge.
It Distinguishes You From the Crowd
If you don’t have a personal website or blog, having a LinkedIn profile is the next best thing when you are looking for a career. Having some type of online presence that highlights your early accomplishments in life is the #1 thing that a company will dive into and it’s what will put you way ahead of the other 50 people that are also wanting to work for that company. We all want to be #1 and you should use every resource you have to reach it.
You Will Be Stalked and Judged
As a company who frequently uses LinkedIn to recruit new employees as well as search for new clients, I can tell you that you will be Googled. The fact that people who are looking to hire you or partner with you in business are searching for your name on Google is a huge opportunity to win them over. You have the ability to start controlling what I see when I Google your name and that should be a huge motivator for you. If I have a list of 5 candidates that I’ve narrowed down and only 2 of them have LinkedIn profiles then guess what, I’m naturally going to spend more time researching those 2 because I can explore their work, accomplishments, their connections, our shared connections, what they’re reading, etc, etc. It allows me get closer to knowing who they are and what they’ve done. They immediately have a leg up on the candidates without LinkedIn profiles just because I was able to engage with them online.
I’ll summarize with 5 tips to get started with Linkedin:
1 – Include your public LinkedIn profile in the header of your offline resume.
2 – Create something on your own that falls inline with your personal interests and create a Section for it in LinkedIn. If you are in software, build an app that solves a personal problem. Regardless of your college major (or interests) there is something that you can do to add value to your personal brand.
3 – LinkedIn is the Facebook for business. Believe it. Engage heavily in what interests you once you have built your profile.
4 – If you don’t have a personal website or blog, a public LinkedIn profile is the next best way to build your professional brand.
5 – LinkedIn profiles rank really well in name + demographic searches. Go right now and Google your name followed by the city that you live in (example: joe wheeler louisville). If you have a LinkedIn profile that’s public you should see it in the first few search results returned. If you don’t find anything related to you then you have some work to do.
Now…go build your LinkedIn profile so that other chump doesn’t get my attention over you.