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The prevalence of these tests and the emphasis employers place on them should really put to rest that nonsense about "your Github profile is your CV" once and f

The prevalence of these tests and the emphasis employers place on them should really put to rest that nonsense about "your Github profile is your CV" once and for all. Recruiters are generally non-technical and unable to judge the quality of your open source work, and employers generally don't give it more than a cursory glance. And while Github profiles are needlessly abstruse, I doubt even a portfolio specially curated for their viewing would fare much better. Employers just don't care; they know that it's a buyer's market for talent and that there are more than enough applicants willing to subject themselves to their interview process, however abusive or insulting it may be. Since almost no one ever gets a job because of their open source work, why do employers still make such a big deal out of it, with some even going so far as to state that they won't look at a candidate without a Github profile? Because it shows "passion," and a "passionate" developer is one they think they can more easily take advantage of. That's it.

lgieron 11y ago
I think that, all other things being equal, you're likely to get a better offer with a solid github profile though.
- mseebach 11y ago
  But only if all other things indeed are equal. It most likely can't hurt, but if you start leaning on it in anyway, assuming that it can replace making an effort on your actual CV, or developing even the faintest teint of entitlement around what's expected of you in a recruitment process, it can very quickly become a liability. If you're so obviously awesome that you can expect to special-case the recruitment process (because of your GitHub profile or celebrity status or something else), you'll generally know it. If you're uncertain, you probably can't. I've seen a good number of GitHub profiles in a recruitment capacity in my time. Most of them are fairly trivial -- a personal blog engine, small tools, bit and pieces, vim/emacs config files, forks of popular repos with small edits, more often than not cosmetic. Sometimes small fixes PR'd back. Inevitably, presented with little-to-no context. Rarely are the repos 'live', so I can discover how the owner grows a project over time, they are often single (or few) commit code dumps. Only extremely rarely have I seen a project of any complexity (written by the applicant) that could serve a the basis for deeper discussion. At least once has the applicant apologised for not being able to discuss it very deeply, because it was a few years ago.
sokoloff 11y ago
It's interesting that engineers (sellers of talent) and employers (buyers of talent) both seem to think that the other side has it easier. I don't know if there's ever been a better time to be top talent in software.
- seniordev63 11y ago
  If that were true, the wages for software engineers would be going up. They aren't. http://www.epi.org/publication/pm195-stem-labor-shortages-microsoft-report-distorts/ http://www.epi.org/publication/pm195-stem-labor-shortages-mi...
  - sokoloff 11y ago
    Top talent doesn't drive average wage growth very much. My comment was specific to top talent.
  - lotsofcows 11y ago
    Depends where you are, obviously. Good javascript devs were on £30k a few years ago. Now it's £50k. We've had javascript dev positions open for over a month now, £25k to £55k. ...if any javascript devs are after a job in Brighton, UK, shout.

lgieron 11y ago

I think that, all other things being equal, you're likely to get a better offer with a solid github profile though.

mseebach 11y ago
But only if all other things indeed are equal. It most likely can't hurt, but if you start leaning on it in anyway, assuming that it can replace making an effort on your actual CV, or developing even the faintest teint of entitlement around what's expected of you in a recruitment process, it can very quickly become a liability. If you're so obviously awesome that you can expect to special-case the recruitment process (because of your GitHub profile or celebrity status or something else), you'll generally know it. If you're uncertain, you probably can't. I've seen a good number of GitHub profiles in a recruitment capacity in my time. Most of them are fairly trivial -- a personal blog engine, small tools, bit and pieces, vim/emacs config files, forks of popular repos with small edits, more often than not cosmetic. Sometimes small fixes PR'd back. Inevitably, presented with little-to-no context. Rarely are the repos 'live', so I can discover how the owner grows a project over time, they are often single (or few) commit code dumps. Only extremely rarely have I seen a project of any complexity (written by the applicant) that could serve a the basis for deeper discussion. At least once has the applicant apologised for not being able to discuss it very deeply, because it was a few years ago.

sokoloff 11y ago

It's interesting that engineers (sellers of talent) and employers (buyers of talent) both seem to think that the other side has it easier. I don't know if there's ever been a better time to be top talent in software.

seniordev63 11y ago
If that were true, the wages for software engineers would be going up. They aren't. http://www.epi.org/publication/pm195-stem-labor-shortages-microsoft-report-distorts/ http://www.epi.org/publication/pm195-stem-labor-shortages-mi...
- sokoloff 11y ago
  Top talent doesn't drive average wage growth very much. My comment was specific to top talent.
- lotsofcows 11y ago
  Depends where you are, obviously. Good javascript devs were on £30k a few years ago. Now it's £50k. We've had javascript dev positions open for over a month now, £25k to £55k. ...if any javascript devs are after a job in Brighton, UK, shout.