Employment history doesn't define your value.

I first saw Dave tweet about this article:

I noticed a shift some years ago at meetups where the question shifted from "what do you do?" to "where have you worked?" and Twitter bios became micro-résumés.

I remember feeling a bit deflated by it. Not just because I work for a small 3 person company and not a megazord FAANG company, but because it made every introduction feel like a transaction to assess someone's value. Like I could feel people mentally drawing dollar signs on me.

And the article is a good ‘un.

I’m noticing that more and more people on LinkedIn and Twitter are replacing their profile synopsis with a simple list of previous companies where they have worked…Instead of a thoughtful introduction, profiles now sport a list of previous employers, like a race car driver’s uniform covered in logos.

The problem with this seemingly clever use of limited character counts is that it reduces the value of people against the brands of the companies where they worked.

Am I supposed to be swept away in your brilliance because you collected a paycheck at these places?