4 ms·

Or perhaps it's because not everyone wants to be a web dev. Perhaps all of their code at previous gigs has been proprietary and they don't relish the prospect

by ionised 10y ago

Or perhaps it's because not everyone wants to be a web dev. Perhaps all of their code at previous gigs has been proprietary and they don't relish the prospect of doing a full days work and then coming home to spend their evenings maintaining a GitHub profile in case a future employer has it as an unspoken requirement for the position.

mbrock 10y ago
That's one of the problems with proprietary software: it forces coders into keeping their work secret.
- ionised 10y ago
  This I agree with.
pjc50 10y ago
Indeed. We can't have portfolios of our actual work, because it's proprietary. So we end up with a pseudo-requirement for sample projects to be done on our own time. Which have to be kept (reasonably) continuously updated. Fortunately this has only cost me one interview so far and not made it genuinely hard to find a job while having a job. I suppose I could try citing my 22k karma on electronics.stackexchange, but I'm not sure that has the same level of name recognition.
- brogrammernot 10y ago
  I would mention it. If anything it at least shows a sense of community and as an interviewer I would make the assumption that you enjoy answering questions so would likely make a helpful, pleasant teammate. I'd even ask a few questions around your approach to answering questions etc.
  - vonmoltke 10y ago
    How do you mention it to your interviewer if you get rejected pre-interview for not having a portfolio?
    - Jtsummers 10y ago
      You can include your membership in various technical communities in your CV/resume. People list ACM/IEEE memberships, participation in mentorship programs, etc. No reason not to include online communities (short a desire for privacy, once you give out your handle it's one google search away to everything else you have online).
brogrammernot 10y ago
Sorry, should've specified. These were explicitly for front end developers, not full stack or back-end. I hardly would expect a back end developer to have a decent website, as that's not their forte. However, it's great if you can pass a front end coding interview but if you don't have any personal projects you can speak about, even something as small as a simple jQuery tic tac toe game or anything of the matter it's harder to know if you just studied the questions or actually understand the design patterns. Granted I'm not going to fail someone on an interview who appears competent, can explain Frontend technologies well and answers questions correctly. It's just more comforting to have both. As we all know, theory doesn't equal real life in many situations.
heywire 10y ago
I've also encountered employers that prohibit employees from contributing to outside projects, partly due to the possibility that you might re-use some code between work and personal projects (even if unintentionally).
- ryandrake 10y ago
  Yes, for this reason and many others, filtering on "has a Github" is potentially problematic. I know tons of great developers who don't use Github, let alone have a carefully crafted "profile".

by ionised 10y ago

mbrock 10y ago

That's one of the problems with proprietary software: it forces coders into keeping their work secret.

ionised 10y ago
This I agree with.

pjc50 10y ago

Indeed. We can't have portfolios of our actual work, because it's proprietary. So we end up with a pseudo-requirement for sample projects to be done on our own time. Which have to be kept (reasonably) continuously updated. Fortunately this has only cost me one interview so far and not made it genuinely hard to find a job while having a job. I suppose I could try citing my 22k karma on electronics.stackexchange, but I'm not sure that has the same level of name recognition.

brogrammernot 10y ago
I would mention it. If anything it at least shows a sense of community and as an interviewer I would make the assumption that you enjoy answering questions so would likely make a helpful, pleasant teammate. I'd even ask a few questions around your approach to answering questions etc.
- vonmoltke 10y ago
  How do you mention it to your interviewer if you get rejected pre-interview for not having a portfolio?
  - Jtsummers 10y ago
    You can include your membership in various technical communities in your CV/resume. People list ACM/IEEE memberships, participation in mentorship programs, etc. No reason not to include online communities (short a desire for privacy, once you give out your handle it's one google search away to everything else you have online).

brogrammernot 10y ago

Sorry, should've specified. These were explicitly for front end developers, not full stack or back-end. I hardly would expect a back end developer to have a decent website, as that's not their forte. However, it's great if you can pass a front end coding interview but if you don't have any personal projects you can speak about, even something as small as a simple jQuery tic tac toe game or anything of the matter it's harder to know if you just studied the questions or actually understand the design patterns. Granted I'm not going to fail someone on an interview who appears competent, can explain Frontend technologies well and answers questions correctly. It's just more comforting to have both. As we all know, theory doesn't equal real life in many situations.

heywire 10y ago

I've also encountered employers that prohibit employees from contributing to outside projects, partly due to the possibility that you might re-use some code between work and personal projects (even if unintentionally).

ryandrake 10y ago
Yes, for this reason and many others, filtering on "has a Github" is potentially problematic. I know tons of great developers who don't use Github, let alone have a carefully crafted "profile".