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LinkedIn

Professional Social Networking / Career Technology
4.0
9,018 reviews

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking platform with over 1 billion members across 200+ countries and territories. Founded as a professional social network, LinkedIn has evolved into a comprehensive career and business platform offering networking, job search, recruiting, learning, content publishing, and business intelligence services. The company operates as a subsidiary of Microsoft and serves both individual professionals and enterprise clients globally.

Founded 2003
19,000+ employees
Sunnyvale, California, USA — located in the heart of Silicon Valley
Professional Social Networking / Career Technology
Acquired by Microsoft for $26.2 billion in 2016

Executive Summary

LinkedIn is the undisputed leader in professional networking and career technology, serving over 1 billion members globally as a subsidiary of Microsoft. Unlike typical social media platforms, LinkedIn has built a comprehensive ecosystem around professional development, job search, recruiting, learning, and business intelligence. The company operates at massive scale with 19,000+ employees across 30+ offices on 5 continents, maintaining a unique position as both a consumer platform for professionals and an enterprise technology provider.

The company is currently undergoing significant technological transformation, including a complete migration to Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure and aggressive adoption of generative AI across all products. This creates substantial opportunities for engineers, particularly those with Python and AI/ML experience, as LinkedIn builds new GenAI application infrastructure and scales its data processing capabilities. The company maintains a strong engineering culture with a history of open-source contributions (Apache Kafka, Rest.li) and proprietary systems development at unprecedented scale.

For job seekers, LinkedIn values candidates who demonstrate alignment with their mission to 'create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.' The company culture emphasizes collaboration ('in it together'), ownership mentality, and doing good while doing well. Successful candidates should highlight experience with large-scale systems, AI/ML applications, or enterprise software, while demonstrating passion for professional development and helping others succeed. LinkedIn particularly values diverse perspectives and inclusion, making it attractive for candidates who can contribute to their global, mission-driven culture while tackling complex technical challenges at massive scale.

Core Services

What they offer

  • Professional networking platform
  • Job search and recruitment technology
  • LinkedIn Learning - professional development courses

Own Products & Brands

Products they've built

  • LinkedIn Economic Graph
    Workforce data analytics platform providing insights into hiring trends, skills gaps, and economic indicators
  • LinkedIn Learning
    Professional development platform with thousands of courses in business, technology, and creative skills
  • Sales Navigator
    Advanced B2B sales intelligence and prospecting tool for sales professionals

Strategic Insights

Company Priorities

What they're focused on right now

  • Massive Azure cloud migration
  • GenAI integration across all products
  • Python infrastructure development for AI/ML

Hiring Signals

What their hiring patterns reveal

  • Expanding across 5 continents with 30+ offices
  • Strong focus on AI and machine learning roles
  • Python engineering infrastructure roles growing

Interview Preparation

What to expect in the interview process

  • Straightforward process with phone screen and final round
  • Technical assessments for engineering roles
  • Case studies and presentations for business roles
  • Culture fit emphasis

Technology Stack

Backend

Java (primary backend language)Python (growing adoption for AI/ML)Swift/Kotlin (mobile development)Rest.li (transitioning to gRPC)GraphQL (API layer)

Frontend

React/Ember.js (frontend)

Data

Apache Kafka (real-time streaming)Hadoop ecosystem

DevOps

Microsoft Azure (cloud migration in progress)Kubernetes logoKubernetes

Other

Apache Samza (stream processing)Espresso (distributed database)HDFS (distributed storage)Apache Pinot (real-time analytics)

Technical Highlights

  • Massive scale serving 1B+ members
  • Open-source contributors (Kafka, Rest.li, etc.)
  • Transitioning entire infrastructure to Microsoft Azure
  • Leading GenAI application development
  • Advanced real-time data processing capabilities
  • Proprietary distributed systems (Espresso database)
  • Strong focus on Python adoption for AI/ML workloads

Company Culture

Mission-driven organization
Remote-first with 30+ global offices
Strong engineering culture
Data-driven decision making
Emphasis on diversity and inclusion
Professional development focused
Collaborative 'in it together' mentality
Innovation and AI-forward thinking

Company Values

  • Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce
  • Diversity, inclusion and belonging
  • Act like owners
  • Do good along with doing well
  • Trust, care, inclusion, and fun
  • In it together - collaboration and collective success

Employee Reviews

(9,018)
View on Glassdoor

What employees like

  • Incredible culture and healthy work environment
  • Strong work-life balance (3.9/5)
  • Mission-driven organization

Things to consider

  • Career advancement opportunities (3.4/5)
  • Large company bureaucracy
  • Competitive internal environment

Company Overview

Market Position

Dominant market leader in professional networking and B2B social media, with no significant direct competitors at scale

Office Locations

Sunnyvale, California, USA — located in the heart of Silicon Valley

Exact coordinates not available

Investors

Microsoft Corporation (parent company since 2016)
Original investors included Greylock Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Goldman Sachs

Competitors

Facebook (Meta)
Twitter/X
Indeed
Glassdoor
AngelList
GitHub (professional developer networking)
Salesforce (CRM/sales intelligence)
Zoom (professional video)
Slack (workplace collaboration)

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