StackOverflow: The Next LinkedIn?

My colleague Tien Anh Nguyen introduced me to a website today called StackOverflow.com, which, for the past year and a half, has been a place for software developers to help each other solve their most difficult programming problems. Now, StackOverflow is transforming their site into a sort of social recruiting community for its 6 million unique monthly visitors.

Users pose questions about programming issues they are facing, and other users in StackOverflow’s community are able to post their answers, which are then rated to give them “reputation points”. In addition to hosting job postings, developers can fill out a CV on the site that links to their answers, so they can demonstrate their programming prowess and market themselves to potential employers.

 

A screenshot from StackOverflow’s Questions’ page.

Some quick research into StackOverflow brought me to this blog post by Joel Spolsky, the co-founder of the site, in which he discusses the fact that they are currently looking for investors. It sounds as though StackOverflow wants to change itself from a site for software developers to ask and answer questions to a site where everyone can get their questions answered. A lofty goal, sure, but I’m more curious about whether their new plans will offer more recruiting support for its users. As StackOverflow looks for venture funding, I think that they can market themselves as not only a site for asking and answering questions, but as a social recruiting site that could rival LinkedIn.