The bottom line is, each developer is responsible for showcasing their own skill. One of the best ways to do that is through sharing programs you've written on

The bottom line is, each developer is responsible for showcasing their own skill. One of the best ways to do that is through sharing programs you've written on GitHub. If you don't want to do that, you better find some other way to show off to an employer. If you are unwilling or don't have time to create a public code repo or your own blog/website, you should be willing to take a skill assessment test from the employer. If you aren't willing to do any of that, I don't know how you can expect an employer to gauge your skill. You can't just provide a reference and expect them to hire you just because someone vouches for you. You may think it's unfair that you have to go out of your way to make yourself look good to an employer but...that's the way the world works. I think the misconception is that people think 'having a side project' means writing a prolific open source project. You can spend 1 hour per week on coding small programs and have a great GitHub profile.