I've been using LinkedIn for 2 plus years now to keep track of colleagues, and to find help with technical jobs when I need it.  In the Web 2.0 world, LinkedIn is a fairly ubiquitous tool, but like most social network (in this case would it be professional network?) tools, it sure feels like playing with a toy.

Not that the technology isn't good, I do not mean to imply that, but using it makes me feel like I'm in high school.  If I want to contact someone, I have to pass a note to someone I know who knows them, then wait for the paper-trail like reply.  I have to ask people to be in my network, sort of like a playground request to "be my friend."  I have to caress my profile and primp my image all in a digital popularity contest.  A sort of virtual posturing without the real world help of music or good hair.  All in all, a very juvenile experience, but one that is absolutely invaluable.  Sort of a MySpace for grown-ups-with-day-jobs.

As a grown-up-with-day-job, I have come to rely almost exclusively on LinkedIn to find help on any number of projects.  As a worker, LinkedIn is pitched to me as a great tool to find work, but just the opposite is happening.  I use my job hunting skills (lame as they are) to find workers to help me with contract work.  I just have to act like a 12 year old to do it.  Not a bad trade off if I say so myself!