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LinkedIn — why, and what to actually do

One-hour session for first-year Computer Science students · 9 September 2026

You are three years early
Bookmark this page. Everything from the session is here, including the five prompts. Start with day one tonight. It takes twenty minutes.

Seven daysNothing here takes more than 30 minutes. Tap a circle when you have done it.

1Profile photo and headline. Photo: just you, head and shoulders, plain background, good light. Full rule below. Headline is not "Student at [college]".20 min
2About — four sentences. No About yet: Me → View Profile → Add profile section → Core → About. Already have one: it will not be in that menu — scroll your profile to the About block and click its pencil. Either way, not the "Edit intro" pencil. Only about the first 300 characters show on a laptop and 200 on a phone before "…see more", so the first two lines carry it.20 min
3One project, written up in three lines: what it does, what you used, what broke. A class practical counts.30 min
4Follow twenty people: five seniors, five alumni, five at companies you want, five building things in your city.20 min
5Three real comments. Not "great post". Add one thing or ask one thing.15 min
6Your first post — the thing that finally clicked.30 min
7Five connection requests, each with a two-line note.15 min
Then, every week: one post, three comments.

The promptsCard 1 first. Everything else uses it.

Tap what describes you

Put these 3 lines at the end of every prompt

  1. Do not invent any fact, number, name or date. If you are not sure, say "I am not sure".
  2. Before your final answer, ask me for any real data you need. Do not assume my numbers.
  3. Do not just agree with me. Tell me where my thinking is weak.
Every prompt below already ends with these. You do not have to type them.
1. Your Student BrainOnce. Today. Paste it at the top of every AI chat from now on, so you

Tap the box once to select the whole prompt, then copy.

You are interviewing me to build my STUDENT BRAIN - one short document I will paste
into every AI chat from now on, so I never have to explain myself again.

I am a first-year Computer Science student in India.

HOW TO ASK ME
Ask ONE question at a time. Wait for my answer. Then ask the next one.
Maximum 8 questions.
Keep every question under 20 words, in simple language.
I am answering on a phone. Never ask me for a long answer. If you need more detail,
ask one short follow-up instead.
If I answer in Hinglish, that is fine. Do not ask me to switch to English only.

WHAT THE 8 QUESTIONS MUST COVER
1. My name, my college, my branch, and which year I am in
2. What I am actually learning right now - the language, the subject, the course
3. Anything I have built or made, however small - a class assignment counts
4. What I do outside class - a club, an event, a sport, writing, design, nothing
5. What I want to be doing in two years - and it is fine if I do not know
6. The kind of company or work that interests me, if any
7. What I am stuck on or confused about right now
8. What I would like a senior or an alum to talk to me about

CHALLENGE ME. THIS PART IS NOT OPTIONAL.
If I say I have built nothing, ask me what I submitted for my last practical, and
count that.
If I say I am "interested in AI and web development and cyber security and app
development", tell me that is a list, not an interest, and ask me which one I have
actually spent a weekend on.
If I say I want a job at a big company, ask me what I would want to do there all day.

THEN
Show me a short summary. Ask me to confirm it or correct it.

FINALLY
When I confirm, give me my STUDENT BRAIN. Under 250 words. Plain text. No tables.
Use these exact headings:
WHO I AM
WHAT I AM LEARNING
WHAT I HAVE MADE
WHAT I DO OUTSIDE CLASS
WHERE I WANT TO GO
WHAT I AM STUCK ON

End with one line: "Paste this at the top of any AI chat before you ask for anything."

RULES:
1. Do not invent any fact, number, name or date. If you are not sure, say "I am not sure" and tell me exactly what I should check and where.
2. Before your final answer, ask me for any real data you need. Do not assume my numbers.
3. Do not just agree with me. Tell me where my thinking is weak and show me the other side.

Example — No projects yet

WHAT I AM LEARNING: C in class, and Python on my own from a YouTube course
WHAT I HAVE MADE: a calculator and a marksheet program, both class practicals
WHAT I DO OUTSIDE CLASS: nothing organised yet
WHAT I AM STUCK ON: I do not know whether to do DSA first or start building things

Example — I already code

WHAT I AM LEARNING: DSA in C++, and React from a course
WHAT I HAVE MADE: a to-do app, and a Python script that renames my lecture files
WHAT I DO OUTSIDE CLASS: coding club, and I solve problems most days
WHAT I AM STUCK ON: I have projects but nobody has ever seen them

Example — Better outside code

WHAT I AM LEARNING: Java in class. I am better at design than at code.
WHAT I HAVE MADE: the poster set and the registration form for our tech fest
WHAT I DO OUTSIDE CLASS: event coordinator for the CS association
WHAT I AM STUCK ON: everyone in CS talks about coding and I do not know where I fit
Tip. Answer question 3 even if you think the answer is nothing. A class practical you can explain in two lines is a project. Most first-years throw away the only evidence they have.

The restOpen these on the day the plan says.

2. Headline and AboutAfter you have your Student Brain. This writes the two lines that

Tap the box once to select the whole prompt, then copy.

Here is my STUDENT BRAIN:
[PASTE YOUR STUDENT BRAIN HERE]

Write my LinkedIn headline and my LinkedIn About section.

FOR THE HEADLINE
Give me 5 options. Each one under 200 characters.
Put the most specific thing in the FIRST 60 characters. That is roughly all that shows
in search results, in connection requests, and next to my comments.
Follow this shape: what I am, what I am learning or building right now, one specific
thing that is true only of me.
Never use these words: aspiring, passionate, enthusiast, seeking opportunities,
future, driven, motivated, ninja, rockstar.
Do not write "Student at [COLLEGE]" alone. Everyone in my class already has that.

FOR THE ABOUT SECTION
Write 4 sentences. No more.
The first two sentences must work on their own, because LinkedIn hides the rest until
someone taps "see more".
Sentence 1: who I am and where.
Sentence 2: what I am working on right now.
Sentence 3: one thing I have made.
Sentence 4: what I want people to talk to me about.
Write it the way I would say it out loud to a senior. Not like a resume. No buzzwords.
Do not claim any skill, tool or achievement that is not in my STUDENT BRAIN above.

THEN
Tell me which headline you would pick and why, in one sentence.
Then tell me the weakest thing in my About section and what real detail would fix it.

RULES:
1. Do not invent any fact, number, name or date. If you are not sure, say "I am not sure" and tell me exactly what I should check and where.
2. Before your final answer, ask me for any real data you need. Do not assume my numbers.
3. Do not just agree with me. Tell me where my thinking is weak and show me the other side.

Example — No projects yet

Paste the Student Brain that says: C and Python, two class practicals, no club yet.

Example — I already code

Paste the Student Brain that says: DSA in C++, React, a to-do app and a file-renaming script.

Example — Better outside code

Paste the Student Brain that says: Java in class, tech-fest posters and forms, event coordinator.
Tip. Read the winning headline out loud before you save it. If you would be embarrassed to say it to a senior in the corridor, it is the wrong headline.
3. Your first postDay 6 of the seven-day plan, and then once a week.

Tap the box once to select the whole prompt, then copy.

Here is my STUDENT BRAIN:
[PASTE YOUR STUDENT BRAIN HERE]

I want to write one LinkedIn post about this:
[WRITE 3 OR 4 LINES ABOUT WHAT YOU LEARNED, BUILT, ATTENDED OR ARE STUCK ON]

FIRST, ASK ME THREE QUESTIONS
Ask me one at a time, and wait for each answer.
Ask me what exactly confused me before I understood it.
Ask me what finally made it clear.
Ask me what I would tell someone who is one week behind me.
Do not write the post until I have answered all three.

THEN WRITE THE POST
Between 80 and 150 words.
Line 1 is a single short line that makes someone stop scrolling. Not a question.
Not "Excited to share".
Then 3 to 6 short lines, one idea each, with a blank line between them.
Then one line of what I would tell someone a week behind me.
Then one real question to the reader.
Maximum 3 hashtags.

HOW IT MUST SOUND
Write it the way a first-year actually talks. Short words. No corporate English.
Never use: excited, thrilled, humbled, honoured, delighted, journey, game-changer,
grateful to announce.
Do not make me sound like an expert. I am learning. That is the whole point of the post.
Do not add any fact, tool, number or result that I did not tell you.

FINALLY
Tell me the one line in your own draft that sounds most like AI wrote it, and tell me
how I should rewrite it in my own words.

RULES:
1. Do not invent any fact, number, name or date. If you are not sure, say "I am not sure" and tell me exactly what I should check and where.
2. Before your final answer, ask me for any real data you need. Do not assume my numbers.
3. Do not just agree with me. Tell me where my thinking is weak and show me the other side.

Example — No projects yet

WHAT I LEARNED: pointers in C. I could not see why an address was useful until I drew the boxes on paper.

Example — I already code

WHAT I BUILT: a script that renames 200 lecture files by date. It broke on files with dots in the name.

Example — Better outside code

WHAT I DID: ran registrations for the tech fest. 300 forms, two spreadsheets, one mistake I would not repeat.
Tip. Post it only after you have rewritten at least two lines yourself. The post that gets replies is the one with a detail an AI could not have known.
4. The message that gets a replyBefore you send a connection request or a first message to a senior,

Tap the box once to select the whole prompt, then copy.

Here is my STUDENT BRAIN:
[PASTE YOUR STUDENT BRAIN HERE]

I want to message this person on LinkedIn:
WHO THEY ARE: [THEIR ROLE, THEIR COMPANY OR THEIR COLLEGE YEAR]
HOW I FOUND THEM: [SAME COLLEGE / THEIR POST / THEY WORK AT A COMPANY I WANT]
THE REAL THING I WANT TO KNOW: [ONE SENTENCE, HONEST]

WRITE TWO THINGS

FIRST, the connection request note. Maximum 250 characters.
Two lines only: who I am, and why this person specifically.

SECOND, the first message, in exactly 4 short lines.
Line 1: who I am, and the honest reason I am writing to them.
Line 2: the specific thing they did that I am referring to.
Line 3: ONE question they can answer in under two minutes.
Line 4: a way out, so they do not feel rude if they ignore me.

WHAT THE MESSAGE MUST NEVER DO
Never ask a stranger for a referral.
Never ask "will you mentor me".
Never ask them to send resources or a roadmap.
Never ask for a call in the first message.
Never send more than one question.
No flattery. No "I am a huge fan of your work".

FINALLY
Tell me honestly whether my question in line 3 is answerable in two minutes.
If it is not, tell me so and give me a smaller question instead.
Then tell me the most likely reason this person would ignore my message.

RULES:
1. Do not invent any fact, number, name or date. If you are not sure, say "I am not sure" and tell me exactly what I should check and where.
2. Before your final answer, ask me for any real data you need. Do not assume my numbers.
3. Do not just agree with me. Tell me where my thinking is weak and show me the other side.

Example — No projects yet

WHO: third-year student from my own college who interned last summer
THE REAL THING I WANT TO KNOW: what he actually did in first year that got him that internship

Example — I already code

WHO: an alum, two years out, working as a backend developer
THE REAL THING I WANT TO KNOW: whether my to-do app is worth putting on my profile or whether it looks like a tutorial

Example — Better outside code

WHO: the person who organised a design meetup in my city
THE REAL THING I WANT TO KNOW: whether a CS student who designs is useful to that group or out of place
Tip. Send five of these a week, not fifty in one night. A personalised note to five people beats a hundred blank requests, and blank requests are the reason most students get ignored.
5. Roast my profileAfter day 3 of the plan, once there is something on the profile to

Tap the box once to select the whole prompt, then copy.

I am a first-year Computer Science student in India.
Here is everything currently on my LinkedIn profile:

HEADLINE: [PASTE]
ABOUT: [PASTE]
EDUCATION: [PASTE]
PROJECTS: [PASTE, OR WRITE "none"]
SKILLS I HAVE LISTED: [PASTE, OR WRITE "none"]
MY LAST 3 POSTS OR COMMENTS: [PASTE, OR WRITE "none"]

Review it as if you are a third-year student from my own college who is deciding
whether to reply to my message. Not as a recruiter. Recruiters are not looking at
first-years.

TELL ME, IN THIS ORDER
1. In seven seconds, what does my profile say I am? One sentence.
2. The 3 worst things on it, worst first, and what to write instead.
3. Anything I have written that sounds like every other student in my college.
4. Anything that is missing and would take me under 30 minutes to add.
5. Anything I have claimed that I probably cannot back up in a conversation.

Be blunt. Do not praise anything unless it is genuinely better than average for a
first-year. If the profile is empty, say it is empty and tell me the single first
thing to fix.

Finish with exactly one action for me to do today.

RULES:
1. Do not invent any fact, number, name or date. If you are not sure, say "I am not sure" and tell me exactly what I should check and where.
2. Before your final answer, ask me for any real data you need. Do not assume my numbers.
3. Do not just agree with me. Tell me where my thinking is weak and show me the other side.

Example — No projects yet

HEADLINE: Student at [COLLEGE]. ABOUT: empty. PROJECTS: none. POSTS: none.

Example — I already code

PROJECTS: to-do app, file renaming script. SKILLS: C++, Python, React, Java, HTML, CSS, SQL, Git, Linux, DSA, MongoDB, Node.

Example — Better outside code

ABOUT: three lines about being passionate about technology. PROJECTS: none listed, though the fest posters exist.
Tip. Run this again in six months without reading the old answer. What it says about you should have changed. If it has not, you did not do the weekly habit.

Keep this openRe-read these before you fix your profile, post, or send a message.

Your profile photo

  1. One person in the frame — you. Head and shoulders, face filling most of the circle.
  2. A plain background. A wall, a corridor, or outdoors with nothing busy behind you.
  3. Light on your face. Standing near a window in daylight is enough. A phone camera is enough.
  4. Look at the camera. Normal expression, or a small smile.
  5. Recent enough that you still look like it.

It does not have to be a studio portrait. A clear phone photo against a plain wall beats a stiff passport photo, and takes ten minutes.

Do not use: a group photo with everyone else cropped out · sunglasses or a cap pulled low · a photo in front of a car, a bike or a monument, where the background becomes the subject · a cartoon, an anime avatar or a logo · heavy filters or beauty mode.

Having no photo is the worst option. A profile with no face reads as abandoned, the same way an empty activity feed does.

Five things a first-year can write

  1. The thing that finally clicked. What confused you, what fixed it.
  2. A build log. "I made a thing that does X. Here is what broke."
  3. Notes from something you attended. Three takeaways, one disagreement.
  4. One resource that actually helped, and what it was good for.
  5. A question, asked properly. "I am choosing between X and Y because — what would you pick?"

Do not post: motivational reposts · "happy to share" a two-hour certificate · a streak screenshot with no thought attached · anything raw out of an AI.

Who to connect with, in order

  1. Your own batch, and seniors two and three years ahead. They get the internships you want next year, and they are the ones who will refer you.
  2. Alumni of your college. Filter by school, then by company. A shared college is a real reason to reply.
  3. People at five to ten companies you would want to intern at.
  4. People building things in your city.
  5. Faculty, club leads, event organisers.

Not recruiters, not in first year. You have nothing to ask them for yet, and you only get to be new once.

The message, four lines

  1. Who you are, and the honest reason you are writing — same college, or their post.
  2. The specific thing they did that you are referring to.
  3. One question they can answer in under two minutes.
  4. A way out: "no problem if you are busy."

Why messages get ignored: asking a stranger for a referral · "will you mentor me" · "please send resources" · three paragraphs with no question in them · asking for a call in the first message.

Five personalised requests a week. Not a hundred in one night.

Edit it, or do not post it.

Everyone reading this page got the same prompts on the same day. If none of you edit what comes out, you will publish posts that read identically, in the same week, to the same seniors. Use the prompt to get past the blank page. Then rewrite it in your own words — or do not post it.

Nothing you type here is stored, and the seven-day ticks stay in this browser only. Session by Ashish Agrawal. +919879608084.

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