As a UX guy I have noticed so many dumb quirks, tiny inconsistencies and flat-out design errors like:
- URLs not being clickable or selectable in many contexts for no good reason
- icon positions/sizes being off by a pixel between different pages
- if you're typing a message in their mobile app, and the text input field loses focus for whatever reason, everything you typed in so far is erased (this was true a few years ago and I essentially "rage-quit" the LinkedIn app after that)
... that I am absolutely convinced that their technology stack is a Frankenstein's monster of different chunks of code and logic, with a similar-enough skin on the outside for all of the parts to fool the managers (both inside and outside LinkedIn) into believing the website works.
(I know, I know: in a way all software projects relying on other libraries are Frankensteins, but you know what I'm talking about here: the parts don't even fit together properly)
These kinds of "ignores its own rules" bits fits perfectly with that.
I really wonder what the internal culture of that company is. I bet there's a lot of turnover, leading to this mess.
Another UX guy here. Right after they did their redesign, I had an initial phone screen where the interviewer asked if I had a portfolio. I told them that it was on my Linkedin profile, and the interviewer said that he had looked there first, but couldn't find it. I knew that I had put it on there, so I went to LinkedIn to see if the recruiter had made a mistake..
About 2 minutes later, I figured out what had happened. The redesign had moved the Contact & Personal Info section to the side of the screen, and by default it was collapsed. Originally it was right under your profile picture & job title, but for some reason they decided to move & hide it. Very strange.
This was actually my first time seeing and using the new UI. I (wrongly) assumed that this person was using the old UI where the links were more prominent.
- URLs not being clickable or selectable in many contexts for no good reason
- icon positions/sizes being off by a pixel between different pages
- if you're typing a message in their mobile app, and the text input field loses focus for whatever reason, everything you typed in so far is erased (this was true a few years ago and I essentially "rage-quit" the LinkedIn app after that)
... that I am absolutely convinced that their technology stack is a Frankenstein's monster of different chunks of code and logic, with a similar-enough skin on the outside for all of the parts to fool the managers (both inside and outside LinkedIn) into believing the website works.
(I know, I know: in a way all software projects relying on other libraries are Frankensteins, but you know what I'm talking about here: the parts don't even fit together properly)
These kinds of "ignores its own rules" bits fits perfectly with that.
I really wonder what the internal culture of that company is. I bet there's a lot of turnover, leading to this mess.