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Is having a public GitHub presence really necessary? I've been a GitHub user for years, but I haven't made contributions to any public repositories...

pnathan 14y ago
When I review candidates, a github[1] profile boosts them to the top of the stack. I'll usually go look at it, too. It shows 3 things: - Knowledge of version control. Which is good to demonstrate. - Knowledge of the de facto standard SCM hosts. - Knowledge of current trends in tech; i.e., social awareness. So tie those 3 things together and that presents a better candidate than someone who only has a resume. To be precise, it would vault you over the bog-standard candidates without a doubt. This is even more true for new graduates. [1] Any sort of profile/portfolio site is a bonus for me. It doesn't have to be github. But I give bonuses for github or other SCM hosting sites. Note that I can go look at your interactions with other people there, which is a big deal.
- krapp 14y ago
  How much do you evaluate the code itself? In other words, if I were to interview and my Github profile was mostly personal projects of various levels of quality, would that necessarily work against me?
  - pnathan 14y ago
    Speaking for myself - and only myself - I would judge the code based on the project's apparent maturity. If it's something that's been obviously just stuffed up there because, hey, version control- yeah, I am not going to fine-tooth it. I've got stuff like that out there, so I can't bash others. :) But if its something that's been going for a while and seems to have some set of users, sure, I'm going to expect a certain level of professional attention to be given to the codebase. As a professional, I understand that lots of code is written to get the job done, and shouldn't be polished until it gleams, the ROI on that isn't really there. As much as I like seeing code that's been turned almost into a piece of engineering art, I don't think its worth it for most professional work and even for personal projects... those lovingly crafted comments go out of date, that tight & elegant functionality has to get chopped up for the new feature's logic flow. But I guarantee you that everyone is idiosyncratic about what they do for hiring. I think between the 3 guys who do most of the hiring on my team, we have between 3 and 6 opinions. :)

pnathan 14y ago

When I review candidates, a github[1] profile boosts them to the top of the stack. I'll usually go look at it, too. It shows 3 things: - Knowledge of version control. Which is good to demonstrate. - Knowledge of the de facto standard SCM hosts. - Knowledge of current trends in tech; i.e., social awareness. So tie those 3 things together and that presents a better candidate than someone who only has a resume. To be precise, it would vault you over the bog-standard candidates without a doubt. This is even more true for new graduates. [1] Any sort of profile/portfolio site is a bonus for me. It doesn't have to be github. But I give bonuses for github or other SCM hosting sites. Note that I can go look at your interactions with other people there, which is a big deal.

krapp 14y ago
How much do you evaluate the code itself? In other words, if I were to interview and my Github profile was mostly personal projects of various levels of quality, would that necessarily work against me?
- pnathan 14y ago
  Speaking for myself - and only myself - I would judge the code based on the project's apparent maturity. If it's something that's been obviously just stuffed up there because, hey, version control- yeah, I am not going to fine-tooth it. I've got stuff like that out there, so I can't bash others. :) But if its something that's been going for a while and seems to have some set of users, sure, I'm going to expect a certain level of professional attention to be given to the codebase. As a professional, I understand that lots of code is written to get the job done, and shouldn't be polished until it gleams, the ROI on that isn't really there. As much as I like seeing code that's been turned almost into a piece of engineering art, I don't think its worth it for most professional work and even for personal projects... those lovingly crafted comments go out of date, that tight & elegant functionality has to get chopped up for the new feature's logic flow. But I guarantee you that everyone is idiosyncratic about what they do for hiring. I think between the 3 guys who do most of the hiring on my team, we have between 3 and 6 opinions. :)