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Folk post this on every thread as if denying the effect somehow makes it go away. As both a candidate and hiring manager, the effect is very real and it is foll

Folk post this on every thread as if denying the effect somehow makes it go away. As both a candidate and hiring manager, the effect is very real and it is folly to ignore it. As a candidate, I landed a FANG job early in my career almost exclusively on the basis of my (poor quality) tech blog attracting the attention of a recruiter. As a hiring manager, I've dumped all resumes for a position and practically begged an extremely young (barely legal) candidate to interview and work for me on any terms just based on the strength of the passion found in their resume and web site. Simon's article is expressly about how little work is required to exploit this effect. You can still have a life outside of work while presenting the appearance of being passionate about what you do during work, it's really not hard.

sdevonoes 5y ago
> while presenting the appearance of being passionate about what you do during work Why would anyone want this? It's fake. Let's try to keep the IT world free of as much BS as we can please. Don't follow this nonsense trends.
- obedm 5y ago
  Why? You don't need to be passionate about your work to be a great employee. Many days I don't feel like working and I'm not motivated. But I still do (I think) a great job and try my best. Passion is bullshit. Passion is useful in some cases, but it's not requirement to do a great job.
  - xenocratus 5y ago
    I think the parent comment was more about the "fake" than about the "passion" - as in, don't fake something for the sake of getting a job, whatever that something is.
  - ramesh31 5y ago
    >Passion is bullshit. Passion is useful in some cases, but it's not requirement to do a great job. I strongly disagree. Maybe for other professions, sure. But to write great software requires passion. Showing up and doing the bare minimum leads to the garbage software that proliferates the world today. Not that that really matters to the individual; if you're doing what's asked of you and nothing more, then more power to you for finding a good work life balance. But you simply cannot produce top quality software without being passionate about it.
    - obedm 5y ago
      Sucking at what you do != not being passionate. Passionate people can also suck at their jobs. I did some terrible things when I was inexperienced. There's nothing special about software. It's like asking the builder of your house how passionate they are about building houses. What I care about is how professional and experienced they are, not their passion.
- puppet-master 5y ago
  What's fake about showing initiative? I was under no illusion the young lad would be an ideal hire, but I'd have been even more impressed to discover post-hire that he'd hoodwinked me. You can't advertise for or buy that kind of intelligence
watwut 5y ago
> Folk post this on every thread as if denying the effect somehow makes it go away. As both a candidate and hiring manager, the effect is very real and it is folly to ignore it. Overwhelming majority of employed developers has literally no public presence.
- TheRealPomax 5y ago
  Then you'll have a leg up on the overwhelming majority of employed developers. Just because lots of people don't have public presence, doesn't mean that you having public presence doesn't make you stand out. Quite literally the opposite: it will make you stand out.
  - simonw 5y ago
    Thanks - that's exactly the point I was trying to make in the article.
hnuser847 5y ago
> As a candidate, I landed a FANG job early in my career almost exclusively on the basis of my (poor quality) tech blog attracting the attention of a recruiter. I would be careful attributing this to your blog or thinking that wouldn't have contacted you if you hadn't had a blog. I've never had a blog, live in the midwest, haven't contributed to my Github repos in years, and I don't even work as an engineer anymore (I've switched into product management), and yet I still get the occasional recruiter email from Amazon, Facebook, and even Google. Recruiters cast a VERY wide net because most people don't respond to their emails. I'm not saying I would necessary be qualified for any of these jobs, but merely haven't a recruiter reach out to you doesn't mean much.

sdevonoes 5y ago

> while presenting the appearance of being passionate about what you do during work Why would anyone want this? It's fake. Let's try to keep the IT world free of as much BS as we can please. Don't follow this nonsense trends.

obedm 5y ago
Why? You don't need to be passionate about your work to be a great employee. Many days I don't feel like working and I'm not motivated. But I still do (I think) a great job and try my best. Passion is bullshit. Passion is useful in some cases, but it's not requirement to do a great job.
- xenocratus 5y ago
  I think the parent comment was more about the "fake" than about the "passion" - as in, don't fake something for the sake of getting a job, whatever that something is.
- ramesh31 5y ago
  >Passion is bullshit. Passion is useful in some cases, but it's not requirement to do a great job. I strongly disagree. Maybe for other professions, sure. But to write great software requires passion. Showing up and doing the bare minimum leads to the garbage software that proliferates the world today. Not that that really matters to the individual; if you're doing what's asked of you and nothing more, then more power to you for finding a good work life balance. But you simply cannot produce top quality software without being passionate about it.
  - obedm 5y ago
    Sucking at what you do != not being passionate. Passionate people can also suck at their jobs. I did some terrible things when I was inexperienced. There's nothing special about software. It's like asking the builder of your house how passionate they are about building houses. What I care about is how professional and experienced they are, not their passion.
puppet-master 5y ago
What's fake about showing initiative? I was under no illusion the young lad would be an ideal hire, but I'd have been even more impressed to discover post-hire that he'd hoodwinked me. You can't advertise for or buy that kind of intelligence

watwut 5y ago

> Folk post this on every thread as if denying the effect somehow makes it go away. As both a candidate and hiring manager, the effect is very real and it is folly to ignore it. Overwhelming majority of employed developers has literally no public presence.

TheRealPomax 5y ago
Then you'll have a leg up on the overwhelming majority of employed developers. Just because lots of people don't have public presence, doesn't mean that you having public presence doesn't make you stand out. Quite literally the opposite: it will make you stand out.
- simonw 5y ago
  Thanks - that's exactly the point I was trying to make in the article.

hnuser847 5y ago

> As a candidate, I landed a FANG job early in my career almost exclusively on the basis of my (poor quality) tech blog attracting the attention of a recruiter. I would be careful attributing this to your blog or thinking that wouldn't have contacted you if you hadn't had a blog. I've never had a blog, live in the midwest, haven't contributed to my Github repos in years, and I don't even work as an engineer anymore (I've switched into product management), and yet I still get the occasional recruiter email from Amazon, Facebook, and even Google. Recruiters cast a VERY wide net because most people don't respond to their emails. I'm not saying I would necessary be qualified for any of these jobs, but merely haven't a recruiter reach out to you doesn't mean much.