4 ms·

> Rule #2: Take a long hard look at a candidate’s social profiles. > Rule #4: Google is your friend. That are one of the main reasons I don't post with my rea

by jeena 8y ago

> Rule #2: Take a long hard look at a candidate’s social profiles. > Rule #4: Google is your friend. That are one of the main reasons I don't post with my real name on the Internet, and I don't have an LinkedIn account. I don't want people to interpret what I put on the Internet in their own way when it comes to the decision if they should hire me or not.

jrs235 8y ago
Do you want to work for people that believe and actually review social profiles and google search you? So perhaps publicly posting that you disagree with such behaviors might actually be doing you a favor. No? I think I understand not desiring to post your name with any other opinions though.
- jeena 8y ago
  The problem is that they will need to get to page 47 on a google search to find this. The odds of this doing me a favor are just to astronomic in my opinion.
chatmasta 8y ago
I take the opposite approach. I accept that everything I post online is public, and a chance to control my own narrative. I would much rather fill the Internet with my own content about myself, than leave it empty for someone else to impersonate or disparage me. Additionally, I am proud of what I post publicly — otherwise I wouldn’t post it. Public personas are a professional necessity, especially in our industry. For example, what if you want to show your contributions to open source? Or your stackoverflow answers? If you do everything online under a separate identity, then all your positive contributions are unlinkable to yourself. Yes, you can hide any “bad things” you may post from your employers. But are you really posting anything bad? Is it worth sacrificing credit for your positive contributions? Granted there is always the “nothing to hide” counterargument. That is, it’s not up for me to decide what’s “bad.” A potential employer could misinterpret my words, or otherwise negatively judge me based on my online profiles. But in that case it’s probably better to avoid the relationship anyway.
- jkFeiwi 8y ago
  Not a developer, but laughing at this statement: > Public personas are a professional necessity, especially in our industry If I wasn't on hacker news, I would assume you were an actor or a radio talk show host. Maybe you're right, and developers need to have a public persona today. But why does it need to be that way? You aren't performers. You aren't politicians.
  - chatmasta 8y ago
    > You aren't performers. Aren’t we though? How is a developer on a software project different than an actor on a set? How is a product requirements doc different than a movie script? An actor can make or break a film just as a developer can make or break a software project. I actually think there are far more parallels than differences.
    - TheCoelacanth 8y ago
      Which performers are in a movie is a major factor in who chooses to view the movie. Which developers created the software is not a major factor in who uses the software for most software. The only exceptions I can think of are software that is used mainly by other software developers.
  - aje403 8y ago
    Personas and reputations are beneficial in any human pursuit. People who are respected and acknowledged more by others have an advantage. We now have the internet and social media and other ways to market one's self. With less networked electric metal things involved, it has been that way since groups of primates started gathering together, and probably well before that with other species. Welcome to being a living being on Earth.
- oldandtired 8y ago
  Then why use "chatmasta" as your handle instead of your real name, which you have provided in your profile? The problem with you view is that there are times when your message gets caught up with your identity. Especially, when your message may be against the consensus flow and stills needs to be made, without affecting you in any material way. Too often today, the messenger is "killed" because of the unpleasantness of the message being delivered. [Edit: to to too]
icebraining 8y ago
Not having a LI profile will also be interpreted in their own way when it comes to the decision if they should hire you or not.
- jeena 8y ago
  In my opinion the only way to not lose the game is not to play it. As soon as private data is collected somewhere it will be misused. And I guess I'm prvilledged enough to use this as a natural filter.
John_KZ 8y ago
Exactly, this person is clearly terrible at their job. Here's my own anecdote: There's a person living in my country that has exactly the same name and surname as me, and the same degree. I don't know how this happened, as my name/surname combo is fairly unusual. When further details are not present (ie family names, tax identification etc), which is the usual case for google, you can't tell if a document talks about me or him. I dread the day that something negative pops up about him in the first pages of Google. Then all the self-righteous and arrogant interviewers, distant family and potential friends or lovers, they'll all think that "they got me" by searching my name on Google. They all think they're right with little proof for it. And the worst part is, that just like the guy in the article, they won't tell you. They're silently wrong, thinking they're right. That kind of attitude really pisses me off.
jpindar 8y ago
Those are the main reasons I do post with my real name everywhere I can on the Internet.

by jeena 8y ago

jrs235 8y ago

Do you want to work for people that believe and actually review social profiles and google search you? So perhaps publicly posting that you disagree with such behaviors might actually be doing you a favor. No? I think I understand not desiring to post your name with any other opinions though.

jeena 8y ago
The problem is that they will need to get to page 47 on a google search to find this. The odds of this doing me a favor are just to astronomic in my opinion.

chatmasta 8y ago

I take the opposite approach. I accept that everything I post online is public, and a chance to control my own narrative. I would much rather fill the Internet with my own content about myself, than leave it empty for someone else to impersonate or disparage me. Additionally, I am proud of what I post publicly — otherwise I wouldn’t post it. Public personas are a professional necessity, especially in our industry. For example, what if you want to show your contributions to open source? Or your stackoverflow answers? If you do everything online under a separate identity, then all your positive contributions are unlinkable to yourself. Yes, you can hide any “bad things” you may post from your employers. But are you really posting anything bad? Is it worth sacrificing credit for your positive contributions? Granted there is always the “nothing to hide” counterargument. That is, it’s not up for me to decide what’s “bad.” A potential employer could misinterpret my words, or otherwise negatively judge me based on my online profiles. But in that case it’s probably better to avoid the relationship anyway.

jkFeiwi 8y ago
Not a developer, but laughing at this statement: > Public personas are a professional necessity, especially in our industry If I wasn't on hacker news, I would assume you were an actor or a radio talk show host. Maybe you're right, and developers need to have a public persona today. But why does it need to be that way? You aren't performers. You aren't politicians.
- chatmasta 8y ago
  > You aren't performers. Aren’t we though? How is a developer on a software project different than an actor on a set? How is a product requirements doc different than a movie script? An actor can make or break a film just as a developer can make or break a software project. I actually think there are far more parallels than differences.
  - TheCoelacanth 8y ago
    Which performers are in a movie is a major factor in who chooses to view the movie. Which developers created the software is not a major factor in who uses the software for most software. The only exceptions I can think of are software that is used mainly by other software developers.
- aje403 8y ago
  Personas and reputations are beneficial in any human pursuit. People who are respected and acknowledged more by others have an advantage. We now have the internet and social media and other ways to market one's self. With less networked electric metal things involved, it has been that way since groups of primates started gathering together, and probably well before that with other species. Welcome to being a living being on Earth.
oldandtired 8y ago
Then why use "chatmasta" as your handle instead of your real name, which you have provided in your profile? The problem with you view is that there are times when your message gets caught up with your identity. Especially, when your message may be against the consensus flow and stills needs to be made, without affecting you in any material way. Too often today, the messenger is "killed" because of the unpleasantness of the message being delivered. [Edit: to to too]

icebraining 8y ago

Not having a LI profile will also be interpreted in their own way when it comes to the decision if they should hire you or not.

jeena 8y ago
In my opinion the only way to not lose the game is not to play it. As soon as private data is collected somewhere it will be misused. And I guess I'm prvilledged enough to use this as a natural filter.

John_KZ 8y ago

Exactly, this person is clearly terrible at their job. Here's my own anecdote: There's a person living in my country that has exactly the same name and surname as me, and the same degree. I don't know how this happened, as my name/surname combo is fairly unusual. When further details are not present (ie family names, tax identification etc), which is the usual case for google, you can't tell if a document talks about me or him. I dread the day that something negative pops up about him in the first pages of Google. Then all the self-righteous and arrogant interviewers, distant family and potential friends or lovers, they'll all think that "they got me" by searching my name on Google. They all think they're right with little proof for it. And the worst part is, that just like the guy in the article, they won't tell you. They're silently wrong, thinking they're right. That kind of attitude really pisses me off.

jpindar 8y ago

Those are the main reasons I do post with my real name everywhere I can on the Internet.