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You will make more money if you have an active github account. For most people this means side projects/work. You will be a better developer if you code more.

You will make more money if you have an active github account. For most people this means side projects/work. You will be a better developer if you code more. You will be exposed to more languages, tools, people, and ideas. If you don't code in your spare time, but you are happy where you are, don't feel like you are a bad developer, you just will not be as good at development as you could be. It is your life, why does it matter if you prefer to paint paintings at night instead of code? If you don't need to maximize your future revenue, don't feel bad. If you want to be a better developer more than anything, then you should code. If something is stopping you from doing that, remove the blocker. Personally, I don't hire anyone if I can't see code samples. 95% of the people I hire have their code samples on Github (not in a .zip file). So make sure you have some code samples available, but it doesn't have to be a side project or open source work.

CmonDev 13y ago
"but it doesn't have to be ... open source work" Would you be comfortable with the candidate that would put a brief description on CV and bring a laptop to the interview to show it?
speeder 13y ago
That reads to me very wrong. "remove the blocker" That mean to me either dropping the SO or not doing my house chores. EDIT: fixed typo
7Figures2Commas 13y ago
> If you don't code in your spare time, but you are happy where you are, don't feel like you are a bad developer, you just will not be as good at development as you could be. This is simply not true. Some developers will improve the more they code under the right circumstances. Others are sort of like the person at the gym who has bad form that, for one reason or another, is never corrected. For this person, more exercise is actually detrimental.
jt2190 13y ago
> You will make more money if you have an active github > account. I highly doubt this, but I'd love to be proven wrong. There's also a downside with sharing too much information about yourself without being present to answer questions or provide more context: It lets an employer discount you as a potential candidate simply because of their misunderstanding of your work. As evidence, refer to the "n projects on github have SQL injection security flaws" articles that show up here occasionally. But we all know that when you're just hacking around on something for fun, you might write code like this. The point of your project might have been to quickly demonstrate something cool, yet it can be used to demonstrate that you lack security awareness (even if that's not actually true.)
- 3pt14159 13y ago
  If you doubt this then you are probably in a completely different industry than I am. I cannot prove it to you except by my own experiences with managers and salary recommendations.
  - jstelly 13y ago
    This seems highly dependent on which kinds of software companies you are talking about. I hire lots of developers and I have never looked at anyone's github profile. Also, I don't recall any candidate asking me to look at their profile. I have seen a few resumes that have included one, but not very many - and I look at a lot of resumes. I'm not making any judgement about the value of the profile, but in my corner of the world it doesn't seem very important or even common.
zecho 13y ago
I hear this quite often about Github and it's a bit disturbing to me. If I heard an editor judge an author's work based on what that author posts to twitter, I'd be horrified. I can't be the only person on Github that uses it primarily as a junk drawer full of bad implementations and abandoned "projects" that were more quick and dirty personal itches. Sometimes I'll contribute to random OSS, but the vast majority of GH for me is just a place to store random ideas, many of which were just toying around with some new tool or whatever and would never see the light of day in production without given much more thought. Honestly, if you want to see code samples, you're probably better off watching the person work through a problem. Give prospective hires a project. Whether its as simple as fizzbuzz or as difficult as a trial week is up to you, I suppose.
- bdcravens 13y ago
  I don't think you're necessarily judged by the quality of your Github code as much as the fact that you have Github code. Especially if it's a bit out of your normal box.
- nukerhazz 13y ago
  This is why I use Bitbucket, with its unlimited private repos, for that junk drawer. I can keep my throwaways and false starts private.
  - hardwaresofton 13y ago
    Very true - I use Assembla!
- jared314 13y ago
  > If I heard an editor judge an author's work based on what that author posts to twitter, I'd be horrified. And yet, many potential hires are judged by their facebook posts[1,2], tweets, blog entries, and anything that can be found in a google search. All of this amounts to methods of elimination. You can treat it like a portfolio, but an active github account is just a cheap way to filter out possible negatives. It is also good to mention that, unlike writers, a lot of programmers cannot show their previous work, because it is the private property of their current/previous employer. [1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/03/05/facebook-can-tell-you-if-a-person-is-worth-hiring/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/03/05/facebook-... [2] http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/password-protected-states/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/password-protected-...
applecore 13y ago
> You will make more money if you have an active github account. For most people this means side projects/work. This can't be true if you count all the programmers working in the financial industry.
kasey_junk 13y ago
How does your no hiring without code samples work when it comes to IP encumbered industries? I for one haven't worked without a NDA that includes my code for over 10 years, and neither have any of the people on my current team. Further, contributing to open source projects (outside of what I do for my employer) is also problematic, because nearly all the things I'm interested in/expert in are very related to what I do for my employer. Figuring out what is and is not work product and what I can and cannot release is a hassle I just don't want. Seems like your rule and your reliance on GitHub is a very narrow filter and you are likely getting a very narrow subset of potential applicants.
- lmartel 13y ago
  Keep in mind that the OP is probably in a very different industry than you are; if you have enough expertise that your interests are things you can't work on independently (like quant or security?), you will likely be applying to a nonoverlapping set of jobs as the OP, which (I'd guess) are much more interested in experience than a github profile. On the other hand, if you're a startup CRUD hacker, your potential employers are much more likely to expect some personal CRUD projects in your github, since 1) that's easier to do than personal quant/sec/whatever work and 2) there are likely a lot more applicants for such jobs, so they can afford to filter for "hustlers"
  - alok-g 13y ago
    With reference to my comment here [1], here are the two weak points I see in what you wrote: A. From a legal standpoint, AFAIK (IANAL), things that fall under the same trademark code are considered to be one industry. I have said this before in various discussions forums and while I am open to hear that I am wrong, no one so far as told me so. This means that "Computers, software, electronic instruments" are considered to be one industry [2] from a legal standpoint. B. Even if the OP or you feel that you are in a very different industry, you/OP need to check your contracts for such IP issues before concluding that you do not have the same issues. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6245738 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6245738 [2] http://www.tmweb.com/trademark_classes.asp http://www.tmweb.com/trademark_classes.asp
edw519 13y ago
You will make more money if you have an active github account. For most people this means side projects/work. More than what? The highest earning programmers I know have never heard of github and would never consider using it. You will be a better developer if you code more. You will be exposed to more languages, tools, people, and ideas. You will be a better developer if you deliver more. "More languages, tools, people, and ideas" can just as easily dilute your focus as improve your skill. To get better, you must focus on results, not activity. If you don't code in your spare time, but you are happy where you are, Why do you assume these 2 are mutually exclusive? I know lots of excellent programmers who deliver more before noon than most deliver all week. Nothing wrong with being excellent during working hours and doing something else in your spare time, like perhaps, enjoying your spare time. If you want to be a better developer more than anything, then you should code. If something is stopping you from doing that, remove the blocker. If you want to be a better developer more than anything, then you should deliver production quality software. Sometimes the "blocker" is a distraction. Distractions can be other things that masquerade as "side work". Personally, I don't hire anyone if I can't see code samples. 95% of the people I hire have their code samples on Github (not in a .zip file). So make sure you have some code samples available, but it doesn't have to be a side project or open source work. Personally, I never show code samples. I'll gladly go through the right company's process, including coding for them. But they don't get to see anything I've ever done before out of context and without proper permissions. And personally, I will never work for anyone with hard and fast rules about hiring. 3pt14159 is choosing to not consider many of the best programmers who refuse to show their underwear. His loss.
- erichmond 13y ago
  Hopefully this attitude becomes more prevalent in the industry, the pendulum has swung too far to the other side.
- brianpgordon 13y ago
  > Personally, I never show code samples. I'll gladly go through the right company's process, including coding for them. But they don't get to see anything I've ever done before out of context and without proper permissions. And personally, I will never work for anyone with hard and fast rules about hiring. 3pt14159 is choosing to not consider many of the best programmers who refuse to show their underwear. His loss. This is a pretty bizarre position. Don't you have any code that's carefully prepared and that you think represents your ability to at least write clean code? And wouldn't you rather show a potential employer that carefully prepared code than trying to whip something up on the spot? Also, a lot of things like showing off your chops at configuring complicated builds with, say, maven or ant can hardly be demonstrated in an interview or an overnight coding assignment. You need to have a nontrivial project prepared to show that you can write a nontrivial project.
yalogin 13y ago
This is quite bad. Why don't where I work and what I do get any credit? If you see my github account will you hire me without an interview and without asking me any of those "programming puzzles" popularized by google? You could learn about the drive of a person by his github account but cannot get anything else from it. Of course that does not mean a person without a github account is without motivation.
alok-g 13y ago
I am quite positive many of these are more myths like many that Google busted. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130620142512-35894743-on-gpas-and-brain-teasers-new-insights-from-google-on-recruiting-and-hiring https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130620142512-3...

CmonDev 13y ago

"but it doesn't have to be ... open source work" Would you be comfortable with the candidate that would put a brief description on CV and bring a laptop to the interview to show it?

speeder 13y ago

That reads to me very wrong. "remove the blocker" That mean to me either dropping the SO or not doing my house chores. EDIT: fixed typo

7Figures2Commas 13y ago

> If you don't code in your spare time, but you are happy where you are, don't feel like you are a bad developer, you just will not be as good at development as you could be. This is simply not true. Some developers will improve the more they code under the right circumstances. Others are sort of like the person at the gym who has bad form that, for one reason or another, is never corrected. For this person, more exercise is actually detrimental.

jt2190 13y ago

> You will make more money if you have an active github > account. I highly doubt this, but I'd love to be proven wrong. There's also a downside with sharing too much information about yourself without being present to answer questions or provide more context: It lets an employer discount you as a potential candidate simply because of their misunderstanding of your work. As evidence, refer to the "n projects on github have SQL injection security flaws" articles that show up here occasionally. But we all know that when you're just hacking around on something for fun, you might write code like this. The point of your project might have been to quickly demonstrate something cool, yet it can be used to demonstrate that you lack security awareness (even if that's not actually true.)

3pt14159 13y ago
If you doubt this then you are probably in a completely different industry than I am. I cannot prove it to you except by my own experiences with managers and salary recommendations.
- jstelly 13y ago
  This seems highly dependent on which kinds of software companies you are talking about. I hire lots of developers and I have never looked at anyone's github profile. Also, I don't recall any candidate asking me to look at their profile. I have seen a few resumes that have included one, but not very many - and I look at a lot of resumes. I'm not making any judgement about the value of the profile, but in my corner of the world it doesn't seem very important or even common.

zecho 13y ago

I hear this quite often about Github and it's a bit disturbing to me. If I heard an editor judge an author's work based on what that author posts to twitter, I'd be horrified. I can't be the only person on Github that uses it primarily as a junk drawer full of bad implementations and abandoned "projects" that were more quick and dirty personal itches. Sometimes I'll contribute to random OSS, but the vast majority of GH for me is just a place to store random ideas, many of which were just toying around with some new tool or whatever and would never see the light of day in production without given much more thought. Honestly, if you want to see code samples, you're probably better off watching the person work through a problem. Give prospective hires a project. Whether its as simple as fizzbuzz or as difficult as a trial week is up to you, I suppose.

bdcravens 13y ago
I don't think you're necessarily judged by the quality of your Github code as much as the fact that you have Github code. Especially if it's a bit out of your normal box.
nukerhazz 13y ago
This is why I use Bitbucket, with its unlimited private repos, for that junk drawer. I can keep my throwaways and false starts private.
- hardwaresofton 13y ago
  Very true - I use Assembla!
jared314 13y ago
> If I heard an editor judge an author's work based on what that author posts to twitter, I'd be horrified. And yet, many potential hires are judged by their facebook posts[1,2], tweets, blog entries, and anything that can be found in a google search. All of this amounts to methods of elimination. You can treat it like a portfolio, but an active github account is just a cheap way to filter out possible negatives. It is also good to mention that, unlike writers, a lot of programmers cannot show their previous work, because it is the private property of their current/previous employer. [1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/03/05/facebook-can-tell-you-if-a-person-is-worth-hiring/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/03/05/facebook-... [2] http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/password-protected-states/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/password-protected-...

applecore 13y ago

> You will make more money if you have an active github account. For most people this means side projects/work. This can't be true if you count all the programmers working in the financial industry.

kasey_junk 13y ago

How does your no hiring without code samples work when it comes to IP encumbered industries? I for one haven't worked without a NDA that includes my code for over 10 years, and neither have any of the people on my current team. Further, contributing to open source projects (outside of what I do for my employer) is also problematic, because nearly all the things I'm interested in/expert in are very related to what I do for my employer. Figuring out what is and is not work product and what I can and cannot release is a hassle I just don't want. Seems like your rule and your reliance on GitHub is a very narrow filter and you are likely getting a very narrow subset of potential applicants.

lmartel 13y ago
Keep in mind that the OP is probably in a very different industry than you are; if you have enough expertise that your interests are things you can't work on independently (like quant or security?), you will likely be applying to a nonoverlapping set of jobs as the OP, which (I'd guess) are much more interested in experience than a github profile. On the other hand, if you're a startup CRUD hacker, your potential employers are much more likely to expect some personal CRUD projects in your github, since 1) that's easier to do than personal quant/sec/whatever work and 2) there are likely a lot more applicants for such jobs, so they can afford to filter for "hustlers"
- alok-g 13y ago
  With reference to my comment here [1], here are the two weak points I see in what you wrote: A. From a legal standpoint, AFAIK (IANAL), things that fall under the same trademark code are considered to be one industry. I have said this before in various discussions forums and while I am open to hear that I am wrong, no one so far as told me so. This means that "Computers, software, electronic instruments" are considered to be one industry [2] from a legal standpoint. B. Even if the OP or you feel that you are in a very different industry, you/OP need to check your contracts for such IP issues before concluding that you do not have the same issues. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6245738 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6245738 [2] http://www.tmweb.com/trademark_classes.asp http://www.tmweb.com/trademark_classes.asp

edw519 13y ago

You will make more money if you have an active github account. For most people this means side projects/work. More than what? The highest earning programmers I know have never heard of github and would never consider using it. You will be a better developer if you code more. You will be exposed to more languages, tools, people, and ideas. You will be a better developer if you deliver more. "More languages, tools, people, and ideas" can just as easily dilute your focus as improve your skill. To get better, you must focus on results, not activity. If you don't code in your spare time, but you are happy where you are, Why do you assume these 2 are mutually exclusive? I know lots of excellent programmers who deliver more before noon than most deliver all week. Nothing wrong with being excellent during working hours and doing something else in your spare time, like perhaps, enjoying your spare time. If you want to be a better developer more than anything, then you should code. If something is stopping you from doing that, remove the blocker. If you want to be a better developer more than anything, then you should deliver production quality software. Sometimes the "blocker" is a distraction. Distractions can be other things that masquerade as "side work". Personally, I don't hire anyone if I can't see code samples. 95% of the people I hire have their code samples on Github (not in a .zip file). So make sure you have some code samples available, but it doesn't have to be a side project or open source work. Personally, I never show code samples. I'll gladly go through the right company's process, including coding for them. But they don't get to see anything I've ever done before out of context and without proper permissions. And personally, I will never work for anyone with hard and fast rules about hiring. 3pt14159 is choosing to not consider many of the best programmers who refuse to show their underwear. His loss.

erichmond 13y ago
Hopefully this attitude becomes more prevalent in the industry, the pendulum has swung too far to the other side.
brianpgordon 13y ago
> Personally, I never show code samples. I'll gladly go through the right company's process, including coding for them. But they don't get to see anything I've ever done before out of context and without proper permissions. And personally, I will never work for anyone with hard and fast rules about hiring. 3pt14159 is choosing to not consider many of the best programmers who refuse to show their underwear. His loss. This is a pretty bizarre position. Don't you have any code that's carefully prepared and that you think represents your ability to at least write clean code? And wouldn't you rather show a potential employer that carefully prepared code than trying to whip something up on the spot? Also, a lot of things like showing off your chops at configuring complicated builds with, say, maven or ant can hardly be demonstrated in an interview or an overnight coding assignment. You need to have a nontrivial project prepared to show that you can write a nontrivial project.

yalogin 13y ago

This is quite bad. Why don't where I work and what I do get any credit? If you see my github account will you hire me without an interview and without asking me any of those "programming puzzles" popularized by google? You could learn about the drive of a person by his github account but cannot get anything else from it. Of course that does not mean a person without a github account is without motivation.

alok-g 13y ago

I am quite positive many of these are more myths like many that Google busted. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130620142512-35894743-on-gpas-and-brain-teasers-new-insights-from-google-on-recruiting-and-hiring https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130620142512-3...