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Good points all around. To respond to your main points: "When looking for a job, any job..." Ideally we should find the job that we are most motivated to do ou
by apsurd 15y ago
Good points all around. To respond to your main points:
"When looking for a job, any job..."
Ideally we should find the job that we are most motivated to do our best work at. It's a win for both parties. So I would try to avoid "finding any job" if it all possible. Granted it's easier said than done but that's the whole point. You want a place that you can grow at and that you don't dread going to work everyday. I think that's super important for a healthy life. So we should definitely aspire to be picky where we do our work. Also specifically to the current tech industry ; we can be picky. There is a ton of money in a ton of different kinds of companies in tech right now. Take advantage of it.
Secondly, regarding the concept of having a GitHub profile.
I agree, the simple fact of a GitHub profile existing is pretty meaningless. I do agree that most profiles have bash profiles, incomplete projects, and a ton of forks. Yup that is meaningless. I should state that when we talk about "having a GitHub profile" I necessarily mean having completed projects that you've created, from start to finish, and that actually run in the wild. A GitHub profile is simply the most relevant way to show of these kinds of projects. Sure you can link to the website your code runs on but I'd argue it's still better that you also Open Source the code so everyone can see your design decisions. You're right in that people aren't going to take the time to dig through your code, but what if the readme listed major stack components, and majore design decisions? Isn't that better than linking to a consumer-facing splashpage?
The key here as with anything, is that you market it correctly. A GitHub profile can be used to more effectively market skills and knowledge that a tech employer would be interested in.
I still contend that its actually better to not use a resume to get a job. This forces you to find some other way to make an impression with the company you are interested in. Granted you need to zone in on companies you are interested in and you can't apply the "shotgun" approach like you can with a resume ....
but isn't that the point!?