5 ms·

"From what I could gather this was almost entirely due to a github page with lots of code and a portfolio of interesting projects." I've been a hiring programm

by jshen 16y ago

"From what I could gather this was almost entirely due to a github page with lots of code and a portfolio of interesting projects." I've been a hiring programmers for almost 10 years. It's so rare to get a resume with something like a link to a github page. You're pretty much guaranteed a phone screen with me if I see this. I know it's hard for people just starting out to understand this, but demand far exceeds the talent pool. You will always run into the managers that want to see "oracle blah blah blah" experience. When you get rejected by them because you couldn't answer how to solve some oracle specific problem in an interview you just ignore it, and keep applying.

HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
It's so rare to get a resume with something like a link to a github page. You're pretty much guaranteed a phone screen with me if I see this Yes, yes, a billion times yes!!!!! Even if it's some tiny little project that went nowhere, the fact that you actually have some code that is yours and that you can discuss intelligently puts you well ahead of 99% of the people I see.
- mattdeboard 16y ago
  Really? Damn. Maybe I need to rethink my position.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- nigelsampson 16y ago
  I started to include links to my website on my resume as it contained a lot more interesting work and code than my day job. It didn't seem to be helping, however it turned out that most recruiters were scrubbing it from the version they passed on to prospective clients.
  - jshen 16y ago
    apply to companies that don't use recruiters :)
    - kgo 16y ago
      I'm at a start-up now, but before that I got sick of developing professionally and took a break. Probably because I was one of those people who didn't look good enough on paper, and only got through the resume pile at corporate jobs or body shops, and got fed up with the bs you see there. So after my break, I honestly listed that as 'funemployment' on the resume, with a brief human understandable explanation. (I actually was working on some of my own non-programming related projects, and explained as much.) In the email cover letter, I basically said "Here's my resume, but I think my website does a better job of explaining my real strengths as a developer." An interesting thing happened. Without exception, any company with an HR department totally blew me off. And without exception, any company where the owner screened the resumes, I got a phone screen and a real interview. I also think that's something where having a custom domain for your email really helps. If any tech-savvy person gets a resume from blah@not-gmail-or-yahoo.com, they're pretty much going to instantly open up a browser and type http://not-gmail-or-yahoo.com http://not-gmail-or-yahoo.com.
    - nigelsampson 16y ago
      Haha that was certainly the lesson I took from that, however the market I'm in (Auckland, New Zealand) they're a necessary evil sometimes.
- kgo 16y ago
  you actually have some code that is yours That's the important thing. Sometimes the initial excitement of seeing that github account wanes when you realize 8 projects are forks of existing projects with one change, and the other two are a stock rails project with only three or four minor commits on top of that.
  - dublinclontarf 16y ago
    What about an application server that was abandoned after padrino became available. I built it on top of sinatra, it was to include authentication and authorisation as well as a few handlers. I'd generalised it from another webapp I was buildingfor someone else (that didn't pay) summer last year. https://github.com/dublinclontarf/SchoolOut https://github.com/dublinclontarf/SchoolOut This is pretty much some of the only code I've made available in public. Should I put up the entire webapp that I built during the summer? It's not doing anything.
- robeastham 16y ago
  My new résumé app/service aimed at hackers has integration with github, hacker news and stackoverflow. You can see at a glance what people have been up to on these sites by looking in the sidebar of any Mighty CV powered résumé. Though integration with these sites must have been switched on by the owner of the résumé for this to work. I'm hoping to finally launch the private beta this weekend, there are still some invites left. You can sign up for one if you like at: http://www.mightycv.com/ http://www.mightycv.com/ It has some other cool stuff like auto PDF generation and private cover letters/videos.
- bmelton 16y ago
  Agreed. My resume was recently shopped, and I got hits from everywhere, just for having had my github repo in my 'contact' information. That it's populated with tiny little projects that only work exactly for what they were intended, didn't seem to be much of a deterrent to anybody.
- dekz 16y ago
  I have github and bitbucket on my resume. It was only noticed and mentioned by a smaller "startup". So if you're applying for a job at a much larger company with your "average" (the ones who toot about this new CVS technology) manager, they might not even know what github is. YMMV
- joeyespo 16y ago
  I've been doing this recently: gathering up my recent and old code and putting it on GitHub. I'm employed currently but this is still something I've been pushing off for a while. One of the things that held me back though was that I wanted the projects to be "ready." To get them to a point where I can show them off instead of having several abandoned and "poorly written" projects. (Quoted because you really are your own worst critic.) I now think it's much better to show you can ship on your ideas. To build, publish, and move on to your next idea. It's a much stronger indication of your passion for programming than words alone. Saying "I like to hack in my spare time" without further evidence just doesn't have much impact. Does anybody disagree? Are there cases where publishing imperfect code and abandoned projects alongside your best was a disadvantage to you?
Stwerner 16y ago
Definitely what I've seen from the applicant's side as well with regards to the Github link. I was told that I got the phone screen for my current job because of it. Before adding it to my resume I hardly had interviews for an entire year. I'm surprised more people don't have it on there.

by jshen 16y ago

HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago

It's so rare to get a resume with something like a link to a github page. You're pretty much guaranteed a phone screen with me if I see this Yes, yes, a billion times yes!!!!! Even if it's some tiny little project that went nowhere, the fact that you actually have some code that is yours and that you can discuss intelligently puts you well ahead of 99% of the people I see.

mattdeboard 16y ago
Really? Damn. Maybe I need to rethink my position.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
nigelsampson 16y ago
I started to include links to my website on my resume as it contained a lot more interesting work and code than my day job. It didn't seem to be helping, however it turned out that most recruiters were scrubbing it from the version they passed on to prospective clients.
- jshen 16y ago
  apply to companies that don't use recruiters :)
  - kgo 16y ago
    I'm at a start-up now, but before that I got sick of developing professionally and took a break. Probably because I was one of those people who didn't look good enough on paper, and only got through the resume pile at corporate jobs or body shops, and got fed up with the bs you see there. So after my break, I honestly listed that as 'funemployment' on the resume, with a brief human understandable explanation. (I actually was working on some of my own non-programming related projects, and explained as much.) In the email cover letter, I basically said "Here's my resume, but I think my website does a better job of explaining my real strengths as a developer." An interesting thing happened. Without exception, any company with an HR department totally blew me off. And without exception, any company where the owner screened the resumes, I got a phone screen and a real interview. I also think that's something where having a custom domain for your email really helps. If any tech-savvy person gets a resume from blah@not-gmail-or-yahoo.com, they're pretty much going to instantly open up a browser and type http://not-gmail-or-yahoo.com http://not-gmail-or-yahoo.com.
  - nigelsampson 16y ago
    Haha that was certainly the lesson I took from that, however the market I'm in (Auckland, New Zealand) they're a necessary evil sometimes.
kgo 16y ago
you actually have some code that is yours That's the important thing. Sometimes the initial excitement of seeing that github account wanes when you realize 8 projects are forks of existing projects with one change, and the other two are a stock rails project with only three or four minor commits on top of that.
- dublinclontarf 16y ago
  What about an application server that was abandoned after padrino became available. I built it on top of sinatra, it was to include authentication and authorisation as well as a few handlers. I'd generalised it from another webapp I was buildingfor someone else (that didn't pay) summer last year. https://github.com/dublinclontarf/SchoolOut https://github.com/dublinclontarf/SchoolOut This is pretty much some of the only code I've made available in public. Should I put up the entire webapp that I built during the summer? It's not doing anything.
robeastham 16y ago
My new résumé app/service aimed at hackers has integration with github, hacker news and stackoverflow. You can see at a glance what people have been up to on these sites by looking in the sidebar of any Mighty CV powered résumé. Though integration with these sites must have been switched on by the owner of the résumé for this to work. I'm hoping to finally launch the private beta this weekend, there are still some invites left. You can sign up for one if you like at: http://www.mightycv.com/ http://www.mightycv.com/ It has some other cool stuff like auto PDF generation and private cover letters/videos.
bmelton 16y ago
Agreed. My resume was recently shopped, and I got hits from everywhere, just for having had my github repo in my 'contact' information. That it's populated with tiny little projects that only work exactly for what they were intended, didn't seem to be much of a deterrent to anybody.
dekz 16y ago
I have github and bitbucket on my resume. It was only noticed and mentioned by a smaller "startup". So if you're applying for a job at a much larger company with your "average" (the ones who toot about this new CVS technology) manager, they might not even know what github is. YMMV
joeyespo 16y ago
I've been doing this recently: gathering up my recent and old code and putting it on GitHub. I'm employed currently but this is still something I've been pushing off for a while. One of the things that held me back though was that I wanted the projects to be "ready." To get them to a point where I can show them off instead of having several abandoned and "poorly written" projects. (Quoted because you really are your own worst critic.) I now think it's much better to show you can ship on your ideas. To build, publish, and move on to your next idea. It's a much stronger indication of your passion for programming than words alone. Saying "I like to hack in my spare time" without further evidence just doesn't have much impact. Does anybody disagree? Are there cases where publishing imperfect code and abandoned projects alongside your best was a disadvantage to you?

Stwerner 16y ago

Definitely what I've seen from the applicant's side as well with regards to the Github link. I was told that I got the phone screen for my current job because of it. Before adding it to my resume I hardly had interviews for an entire year. I'm surprised more people don't have it on there.