I've created a Linked In group for T.C. Maker.

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Twin-Cities-Maker-4136940

Before the groans start of yet-another-area-to-watch the point of this is to create a presence in the professional space for folks to chat about thing things that help us pay the membership dues. Its also just good presence for the cause.

Membership is by approval currently, but once you are in you can invite other folks. This is a spam thing (which if you spend time in other groups on Linked In you've seen) I don't think this is strictly a 'T.C. Maker Members Only' thing, but there should be some loose tie to the physical group. Be sure to get any soft technical skills into your profile so you are searchable.

Ideally, this would be the place to list any opportunities you stumble on (please list in the Jobs section) Posts should be maker themed.

There are a lot of folks at the space that are either loosely employed, self employed, or unemployed. Let's make more effective use of our connections to help make the group as a whole, stronger.

Actually this is one of the better options to get a group into IMO. Many of us look for work, or look for people with skills that are ideal for this site.

While I do not think it is something to send out HF type messages, major projects, technical classes, etc would fit right in there.

I should probably qualify what LinkedIn is and is not for the folks that have not used it. First, LinkedIn is *not* another FaceBook. LinkedIn allows you to put all your professional experience online. People you 'link' to online should be people you know and have worked with. Basically what you get is a trust network. But, by linking to folks (if you choose to expose them to others you are linked to) you allow for greasing the wheels to networking. i.e. If I need to talk to someone in a given role at a company, I may not know them, but I may know someone that does. Or I may know someone that knows someone that does. I can fire a message to them, through that trusted chain, and they are much more likely to read it.

The other side of this is jobs. When folks search for people for jobs, it prioritizes to your network. So you are not only getting people with skills listed for what you need, but you have a trusted chain to them and in many cases, possibly recommendations from folks that they are all that. (In fact, many folks only search on people with at least x recommendations.

In the end, its just good for getting jobs and finding people. I get pings constantly through LinkedIn for jobs, and from what I've seen all the major names in business (at least in tech) use LinkedIn to locate their talent. If you are looking for work, or tend to do mostly contract work, I highly recommend it.