3 ms·

Petty though it may be, if it's true, if it's sufficiently widespread, then it's a reality with which we must be able to deal.

rgoulter 7y ago
Judgements like "I'd expect dev to write it themselves" come across as arbitrary. I think there's no shared context wherein interviewers / job-applicants have the same set of assumptions. Especially since "I'd expect a dev to not rewrite everything themselves, and leverage what's already available" is just as reasonable. There's not exactly a specific "right answer" about whether you need a personal website, what it should look like, or how it should be written.
- abhinuvpitale 7y ago
  It's actually a better thing to have a template to start with and then customise it to reflect what you want it to show.
- xwdv 7y ago
  Expecting a dev to reuse code for a personal website is not reasonable. A personal website is not a software development project. It is not something to use to evaluate a developers technical skills. When you have a real project on the line, then you will see the real skills come out. For a personal website, I’d expect a developer to give a fuck enough to develop something on his own.
- Ragib_Zaman 7y ago
  > Judgements like "I'd expect dev to write it themselves" come across as arbitrary. I feel like this depends on the type of dev. If you write C code for microcontrollers then who cares, but if you do web dev then using a generic template not authored by you seems like a bad sign, no?
  - ChickeNES 7y ago
    Why would you expect a webdev to do a designer's job?
  - rgoulter 7y ago
    Part of my concern is: judging a resume is fine, since an applicant is explicitly submitting this. But rejecting based on things done for fun and publicly shown seems 'unfair'. (It's 'unfair' since I'll be judged right now for crap I haven't glanced at for 5 years or whatever, and haven't maintained to the best of my professional ability). But part of why I consider it arbitrary is it's easy to come up with contradictory criteria, each of which might make sense. (-1 for using latest technology on a personal website, since it shows they buy into hype/resume-driven-development. -1 for not using the latest technology, since it shows they don't know the tools of the trade). I think this bleeds from trying to judge someone's professional capabilities as part of a team, from something produced in their spare time.
    - rumanator 7y ago
      > But rejecting based on things done for fun and publicly shown seems 'unfair'. Portfolio sites are used to showcase the developer's work. If the developer's work sucks then it doesn't matter if it was done just for fun or as an extension of his CV.
  - davvolun 7y ago
    If it accomplishes the minimum functional requirements without additional time/money, isn't that the point?
- nextlevelwizard 7y ago
  Depends on the position. If a web dev is running standard out of the box WordPress Blog that should be some sort of a flag.
  - dgellow 7y ago
    Please, explain why then? That really doesn’t make sense to me. If someone setup their personal blog/website it’s something they do in their free time. Using the default template is a good way to spend their limited time on what matters, the actual content, instead of creating something that random people will find or not “personal looking enough to be worthy of the job position”. You get zero signal from the fact that someone decided to use a default template.
    - nextlevelwizard 7y ago
      If your profession is to create new, compelling, functional front ends and you opt for the easiest default you can imagine for your personal project, why wouldn't you opt for the most easiest thing on your work project? If I want just someone to write simple stuff I have whole of India to choose from and they are way cheaper than you. If I'm looking for a web dev from western market I'm looking for highly talented people and if you can not showcase that talent then what good are you for? From my experience thous who have no personal projects of passion that involve programming to any extend usually aren't that good at their job. That obviously doesn't mean that you can not or shouldn't have other hobbies that are not computer related, but again if it comes down to two candidates and one has proof of work in their github profile then the choice isn't that hard to make.
- vonseel 7y ago
  If anything, writing my own website sounds like a waste of time, especially when there are so many good tools out there like Hugo, Jekyll, etc. and templates to use as a basis for any personal blog or portfolio. Hell, I can’t even find time to pick a template and design the look and feel or choose what content to put on my own website.

rgoulter 7y ago

Judgements like "I'd expect dev to write it themselves" come across as arbitrary. I think there's no shared context wherein interviewers / job-applicants have the same set of assumptions. Especially since "I'd expect a dev to not rewrite everything themselves, and leverage what's already available" is just as reasonable. There's not exactly a specific "right answer" about whether you need a personal website, what it should look like, or how it should be written.

abhinuvpitale 7y ago
It's actually a better thing to have a template to start with and then customise it to reflect what you want it to show.
xwdv 7y ago
Expecting a dev to reuse code for a personal website is not reasonable. A personal website is not a software development project. It is not something to use to evaluate a developers technical skills. When you have a real project on the line, then you will see the real skills come out. For a personal website, I’d expect a developer to give a fuck enough to develop something on his own.
Ragib_Zaman 7y ago
> Judgements like "I'd expect dev to write it themselves" come across as arbitrary. I feel like this depends on the type of dev. If you write C code for microcontrollers then who cares, but if you do web dev then using a generic template not authored by you seems like a bad sign, no?
- ChickeNES 7y ago
  Why would you expect a webdev to do a designer's job?
- rgoulter 7y ago
  Part of my concern is: judging a resume is fine, since an applicant is explicitly submitting this. But rejecting based on things done for fun and publicly shown seems 'unfair'. (It's 'unfair' since I'll be judged right now for crap I haven't glanced at for 5 years or whatever, and haven't maintained to the best of my professional ability). But part of why I consider it arbitrary is it's easy to come up with contradictory criteria, each of which might make sense. (-1 for using latest technology on a personal website, since it shows they buy into hype/resume-driven-development. -1 for not using the latest technology, since it shows they don't know the tools of the trade). I think this bleeds from trying to judge someone's professional capabilities as part of a team, from something produced in their spare time.
  - rumanator 7y ago
    > But rejecting based on things done for fun and publicly shown seems 'unfair'. Portfolio sites are used to showcase the developer's work. If the developer's work sucks then it doesn't matter if it was done just for fun or as an extension of his CV.
- davvolun 7y ago
  If it accomplishes the minimum functional requirements without additional time/money, isn't that the point?
nextlevelwizard 7y ago
Depends on the position. If a web dev is running standard out of the box WordPress Blog that should be some sort of a flag.
- dgellow 7y ago
  Please, explain why then? That really doesn’t make sense to me. If someone setup their personal blog/website it’s something they do in their free time. Using the default template is a good way to spend their limited time on what matters, the actual content, instead of creating something that random people will find or not “personal looking enough to be worthy of the job position”. You get zero signal from the fact that someone decided to use a default template.
  - nextlevelwizard 7y ago
    If your profession is to create new, compelling, functional front ends and you opt for the easiest default you can imagine for your personal project, why wouldn't you opt for the most easiest thing on your work project? If I want just someone to write simple stuff I have whole of India to choose from and they are way cheaper than you. If I'm looking for a web dev from western market I'm looking for highly talented people and if you can not showcase that talent then what good are you for? From my experience thous who have no personal projects of passion that involve programming to any extend usually aren't that good at their job. That obviously doesn't mean that you can not or shouldn't have other hobbies that are not computer related, but again if it comes down to two candidates and one has proof of work in their github profile then the choice isn't that hard to make.
vonseel 7y ago
If anything, writing my own website sounds like a waste of time, especially when there are so many good tools out there like Hugo, Jekyll, etc. and templates to use as a basis for any personal blog or portfolio. Hell, I can’t even find time to pick a template and design the look and feel or choose what content to put on my own website.