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I'm not a fan of the trend I've seen where GitHub is treated as a portfolio- I once had a hiring manager I worked with tell me I should delete a few of my GitHu

I'm not a fan of the trend I've seen where GitHub is treated as a portfolio- I once had a hiring manager I worked with tell me I should delete a few of my GitHub projects, as they made me appear "amateurish." I WAS an amateur! And I don't want to feel like I need to to hide random things I've tinkered with just to impress others. As a result, I know those who have multiple GitHub accts, one for fun personal stuff and one for showing off to potential employers.

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
Or, you could do every bit of work as if it were for a vital infrastructure project. That’s what I do. Even my “farting around” projects have a lot of polish. I write everything I do as if it will ship. I find it establishes great work habits and personal integrity, and my GH ids (I have a personal one, and a couple of org ones) make outstanding portfolios[0]. Not to worry, though. My experience, is that potential employers never look at at GH portfolios. Instead, they rely on leetcode tests to evaluate applicants. [0] https://github.com/ChrisMarshallNY https://github.com/ChrisMarshallNY
- jefftk 5y ago
  It really depends what your goals are. I often have a problem I want to solve in my personal life, and not very much time. (Ex: code that makes the figures for a blog post.) So I write quickly, doing the minimum to get it done. I would never do that in a work context, because the environment there is so different, but it's often the right trade-off for things I'm doing for fun. (And I still make all the code open source because, well, it might be useful to someone even in the state it's in)
  - ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
    Absolutely. I don't make any value judgements at all. I am quite aware that my own workflow is not for everyone, and is not inherently "better," in any way. I do a lot of self-discipline "tricks," in order to enforce a certain habitual workflow, and this is one of them. Many folks get far more done than I do, using very different techniques. I just enjoy the process and the Craft, as much as I do the end result. One significant advantage, for me, is that I never have to worry about cleaning the house before the boss comes over for tea.
- sdiupIGPWEfh 5y ago
  If that's what you want to do and what you have the personal time for, that's fantastic. For others, being obligated to reach that level of polish means a ton of code will simply never happen. I'd liken it to an artist's sketchbook. If every piece is required to have the appearance of a master work, lest you be judged by it, then the sketches must remain private or else be destroyed (which they often were). But the masterpieces don't jump to the canvas without sketches. Forgo one, forgo the other. And an artist's sketches often have an elegance that's lost in the translation to a finished piece. I see similar parallels in the rough line art for animation, and certainly in an architect's studies. Not all of it is destined to be finished, either, but such work is often prized regardless. So why (aside from fearing for our careers) should we be afraid to share? Some code is inherently low-stakes. Some code will only ever be useful, even to the public, for a few months. Sometimes I just want to express an idea, where the proof of concept matters far more than making something shippable, which might imply strapping it down to a particular platform or ecosystem where no one outside those walls is likely to see it. Even on the job, there's a time and place for the quick & dirty script, where anything more would be an over-engineered waste of time. Back to the artist analogy, the best advice for maintaining a good portfolio is edit, edit, edit. Constantly be looking to remove work, leaving only your best, as you'll be judged by the worst. Does that model really work for GitHub? If everyone started withdrawing work they were no longer satisfied with, we'd all be worse off, if not actively harmed. So that's where I believe my artist analogy ought to end.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
    As an artist (by training. I don't really do that much, these days), I can relate. I used to have a big Strathmore sketchbook, that I took with me, everywhere, and, whenever I had the time, I would practice in it. I have old photos of me, with it. I was fairly scruffy-looking [still are -Ed.], and the sketchbook was sort of my "brand." My classmates used to call me "Puff," because I liked drawing dragons. It got to the point, where even my rough sketches would be as good as finished works. The same goes with my code. For example, when I start writing code, I habitually add a headerdoc comment, almost immediately. I write about that here: https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/leaving-a-legacy/ https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/leaving-a-legacy/ I work surprisingly quickly. I can generally spin up a full-fat native swift app, App Store-ready, in a couple of days. I do that frequently for my test harnesses (but I prefer taking more time, for the apps I actually plan to release). I never really warmed to Boris Valleho's work (he used to hang in a gallery that I had work in, and I met him), but I have to admit, that guy can draw. Look up his sketches. He used to make a lot of money, selling them, so there's a lot of them out there. The gallery that I mentioned, had a big rack of his castoffs, selling for hundreds of dollars. They sold like hotcakes. He was that gallery's star (I, on the other hand, was chopped liver). Here's a few of his marketed drawings, but his sketches are almost as good: https://www.borisjulie.com/product-category/prints/boris-prints/drawings-boris-prints/ https://www.borisjulie.com/product-category/prints/boris-pri...

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago

Or, you could do every bit of work as if it were for a vital infrastructure project. That’s what I do. Even my “farting around” projects have a lot of polish. I write everything I do as if it will ship. I find it establishes great work habits and personal integrity, and my GH ids (I have a personal one, and a couple of org ones) make outstanding portfolios[0]. Not to worry, though. My experience, is that potential employers never look at at GH portfolios. Instead, they rely on leetcode tests to evaluate applicants. [0] https://github.com/ChrisMarshallNY https://github.com/ChrisMarshallNY

jefftk 5y ago
It really depends what your goals are. I often have a problem I want to solve in my personal life, and not very much time. (Ex: code that makes the figures for a blog post.) So I write quickly, doing the minimum to get it done. I would never do that in a work context, because the environment there is so different, but it's often the right trade-off for things I'm doing for fun. (And I still make all the code open source because, well, it might be useful to someone even in the state it's in)
- ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
  Absolutely. I don't make any value judgements at all. I am quite aware that my own workflow is not for everyone, and is not inherently "better," in any way. I do a lot of self-discipline "tricks," in order to enforce a certain habitual workflow, and this is one of them. Many folks get far more done than I do, using very different techniques. I just enjoy the process and the Craft, as much as I do the end result. One significant advantage, for me, is that I never have to worry about cleaning the house before the boss comes over for tea.
sdiupIGPWEfh 5y ago
If that's what you want to do and what you have the personal time for, that's fantastic. For others, being obligated to reach that level of polish means a ton of code will simply never happen. I'd liken it to an artist's sketchbook. If every piece is required to have the appearance of a master work, lest you be judged by it, then the sketches must remain private or else be destroyed (which they often were). But the masterpieces don't jump to the canvas without sketches. Forgo one, forgo the other. And an artist's sketches often have an elegance that's lost in the translation to a finished piece. I see similar parallels in the rough line art for animation, and certainly in an architect's studies. Not all of it is destined to be finished, either, but such work is often prized regardless. So why (aside from fearing for our careers) should we be afraid to share? Some code is inherently low-stakes. Some code will only ever be useful, even to the public, for a few months. Sometimes I just want to express an idea, where the proof of concept matters far more than making something shippable, which might imply strapping it down to a particular platform or ecosystem where no one outside those walls is likely to see it. Even on the job, there's a time and place for the quick & dirty script, where anything more would be an over-engineered waste of time. Back to the artist analogy, the best advice for maintaining a good portfolio is edit, edit, edit. Constantly be looking to remove work, leaving only your best, as you'll be judged by the worst. Does that model really work for GitHub? If everyone started withdrawing work they were no longer satisfied with, we'd all be worse off, if not actively harmed. So that's where I believe my artist analogy ought to end.
- ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
  As an artist (by training. I don't really do that much, these days), I can relate. I used to have a big Strathmore sketchbook, that I took with me, everywhere, and, whenever I had the time, I would practice in it. I have old photos of me, with it. I was fairly scruffy-looking [still are -Ed.], and the sketchbook was sort of my "brand." My classmates used to call me "Puff," because I liked drawing dragons. It got to the point, where even my rough sketches would be as good as finished works. The same goes with my code. For example, when I start writing code, I habitually add a headerdoc comment, almost immediately. I write about that here: https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/leaving-a-legacy/ https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/leaving-a-legacy/ I work surprisingly quickly. I can generally spin up a full-fat native swift app, App Store-ready, in a couple of days. I do that frequently for my test harnesses (but I prefer taking more time, for the apps I actually plan to release). I never really warmed to Boris Valleho's work (he used to hang in a gallery that I had work in, and I met him), but I have to admit, that guy can draw. Look up his sketches. He used to make a lot of money, selling them, so there's a lot of them out there. The gallery that I mentioned, had a big rack of his castoffs, selling for hundreds of dollars. They sold like hotcakes. He was that gallery's star (I, on the other hand, was chopped liver). Here's a few of his marketed drawings, but his sketches are almost as good: https://www.borisjulie.com/product-category/prints/boris-prints/drawings-boris-prints/ https://www.borisjulie.com/product-category/prints/boris-pri...