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> I've had multiple people telling me that "we saw people with fewer and less polished projects get jobs". I have a few projects on github. NO... ONE... EVER..

> I've had multiple people telling me that "we saw people with fewer and less polished projects get jobs". I have a few projects on github. NO... ONE... EVER... LOOKS. Maybe they will do a cursory glance, but I've never had anyone actually look through them in any detail. Sure, if you created a library with some decent traction and have a good amount of stars, it might help. But for your average developer with personal projects, no one has the time to look at your code. Even for someone with a hit project, they are still probably just looking at your stars as a proxy for your ability to write production code and not your actual code. There is so much HN advice focusing on having projects to show people and I think it's mostly bad advice. Here's my two cents: 1) Pay someone professional to look over your resume. If you aren't getting interviews this might be a factor. It'll cost you a few hundred dollars and may potentially earn back many many times that amount. Bonus: Have them look over your linkedin profile as well. 2) Find companies on linkedin that you'd potentially want to interview with. Send messages to developers there. This might required a paid linkedin account for a few months, but again, think of it as an investment. Have your resume on dropbox or similar and then include a URL with a link to your resume in there, since I don't think linkedin allows attachments. 3) Interview, interview, interview. The interview process is very imperfect and it sucks. But every time you fail, go back and see where you went wrong. Eventually you will see that a lot of companies ask the same questions with small twists, so practice makes perfect here. 4) Don't sweat it when you get rejected. Remember it's a numbers game. More interviews == more chances to get an offer. You only need one job at a time.

throwaway675309 5y ago
Small counterpoint but I've definitely interviewed at companies where they asked me for my github and then we even walked over some of the code and talked about design patterns, implementation details, etc.
alexpetralia 5y ago
Print out your projects. On paper. I did this - it has always worked and routinely impressed the interviews with the (printed!) appearance of it. Then discuss it in the interview.
miloignis 5y ago
Just as a bit of small opposing anacdata - I always look at applicants GitHub/etc projects and skim through the code to get an idea of their skill/style/interests etc, and then always have them discuss those projects in the interview itself. I've only worked at a few places, but one of the coolest interview things that happened to me was when I applied for an internship at Mozilla, and one of my interviewers ended up contributing some tests to a project I had on GitHub after we discussed that project in the interview.
sibeliuss 5y ago
It's unfortunate about people not looking at Github more. Personally, I look in depth, but i'm not responsible for hiring. If I were, I most definitely would not have hired many of the people that we have hired where I work. There IS a flipside to this however: many of the best devs I've worked with have very little on Github, so its imperative to find a way to judge technical merit some other way.
sokoloff 5y ago
I look at the GitHub profile of anyone who puts it on their resume before I talk to them. (I might eliminate someone before looking at their GitHub, but I don’t think I’ve ever talked to someone with a profile on their resume without looking first.) Not having one isn’t a negative (too many devs have none or almost none to use it as a signal), but having a good one can be a positive.
- emerged 5y ago
  Yea and many of us also keep the majority of our projects private. Either because they are work for another company or because we don’t as a rule give away everything for free. It would be a red flag for a company to punish you for not producing a bunch of open source code. Unless of course they are an open source company and that matters for your job. It would be bizarre if when hiring a plumber you ask for a history of free plumbing they’ve provided for people.
ajkjk 5y ago
Disagree; I've had people bring up projects from my Github in interviews, and I didn't even have anything impressive up there. Even when they don't it gives you something to talk about yourself. I implemented a horribly basic version of chess and one interviewer had played it and found a bug, which was kind of embarrassing. * qualification: only a small companies; at big tech shops this never happens.
the_only_law 5y ago
I’ve straight up brought up my projects in an interview, only to be rid “we don’t care, we want to hear about your professional experience” (though not in those words) It’s sucks because my professional experience is a bunch of droll bullshit. My projects tend to at least be interesting bullshit. Note that the last time I heard this was in the context of a “tell me about a time” context regarding technical challenges. This wasn’t a case where they wanted to hear about my professional work because of non technical ability (think ability to ship under ever changing requirements, etc.) because they were equally unimpressed with that.

throwaway675309 5y ago

Small counterpoint but I've definitely interviewed at companies where they asked me for my github and then we even walked over some of the code and talked about design patterns, implementation details, etc.

alexpetralia 5y ago

Print out your projects. On paper. I did this - it has always worked and routinely impressed the interviews with the (printed!) appearance of it. Then discuss it in the interview.

miloignis 5y ago

Just as a bit of small opposing anacdata - I always look at applicants GitHub/etc projects and skim through the code to get an idea of their skill/style/interests etc, and then always have them discuss those projects in the interview itself. I've only worked at a few places, but one of the coolest interview things that happened to me was when I applied for an internship at Mozilla, and one of my interviewers ended up contributing some tests to a project I had on GitHub after we discussed that project in the interview.

sibeliuss 5y ago

It's unfortunate about people not looking at Github more. Personally, I look in depth, but i'm not responsible for hiring. If I were, I most definitely would not have hired many of the people that we have hired where I work. There IS a flipside to this however: many of the best devs I've worked with have very little on Github, so its imperative to find a way to judge technical merit some other way.

sokoloff 5y ago

I look at the GitHub profile of anyone who puts it on their resume before I talk to them. (I might eliminate someone before looking at their GitHub, but I don’t think I’ve ever talked to someone with a profile on their resume without looking first.) Not having one isn’t a negative (too many devs have none or almost none to use it as a signal), but having a good one can be a positive.

emerged 5y ago
Yea and many of us also keep the majority of our projects private. Either because they are work for another company or because we don’t as a rule give away everything for free. It would be a red flag for a company to punish you for not producing a bunch of open source code. Unless of course they are an open source company and that matters for your job. It would be bizarre if when hiring a plumber you ask for a history of free plumbing they’ve provided for people.

ajkjk 5y ago

Disagree; I've had people bring up projects from my Github in interviews, and I didn't even have anything impressive up there. Even when they don't it gives you something to talk about yourself. I implemented a horribly basic version of chess and one interviewer had played it and found a bug, which was kind of embarrassing. * qualification: only a small companies; at big tech shops this never happens.

the_only_law 5y ago

I’ve straight up brought up my projects in an interview, only to be rid “we don’t care, we want to hear about your professional experience” (though not in those words) It’s sucks because my professional experience is a bunch of droll bullshit. My projects tend to at least be interesting bullshit. Note that the last time I heard this was in the context of a “tell me about a time” context regarding technical challenges. This wasn’t a case where they wanted to hear about my professional work because of non technical ability (think ability to ship under ever changing requirements, etc.) because they were equally unimpressed with that.