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Advice: Please remove "Enforce Github authentication" functionality. Don't help popularizing "Github is your CV" bullshit. Also, since you're just starting, lim

by zerr 12y ago

Advice: Please remove "Enforce Github authentication" functionality. Don't help popularizing "Github is your CV" bullshit. Also, since you're just starting, limiting your userbase is the last thing you want to achieve...

alexchamberlain 12y ago
Why do you think it's bullshit?
- ownagefool 12y ago
  It's not that it's bullshit, it's just that it doesn't encompass everyone which was the parents point. People who a) work on open source, or b) have enough free time that they're able to publish in their free time are the only people you want to hire? Great, have at it. But you'll quickly be wiping out a lot of people with experience behind them because they have a family. Some of them would have been the type to actually write code in their spare time when they were younger, you know, before github was around and before they had kids, they're probably still smart, but github isn't their CV and may never be. That said, code examples are a very nice thing to have, so it goes both ways.
- wastedhours 12y ago
  Lots of developers do really great work in their day jobs committing code to closed source projects, or have private projects in a different VCS/Git location (such as a personal GitLab install). Whilst worthy, a developer's contributions to OSS or public code commits aren't the only determining factor of their quality/hireability.
  - Touche 12y ago
    It's not the only determining factor, but seeing someone's code is the best way to know that they are good at it. And GitHub is the best place to publish code for this purpose. From a purely practical perspective, being a developer who exclusively works on closed-source code in 2014 is a bad career decision.
    - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
      Pretty broad conclusion. I get jobs by reference, have for 20 years. No open-source code. Not ever been an issue.
      - Touche 12y ago
        Then you're not applying to job boards and are not applicable to this conversation.
        JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        I work remotely for many jobs; have for years. So yes I could be interested in this job board. But its built to suit others I guess - targeted at a subset of opportunities. That's all.
    - Iftheshoefits 12y ago
      > seeing someone's code is the best way to know they are good at it < Depends on the context. I have lots of pure crap in my bitbucket and github accounts, because I tinker and explore outside of my day job. I even have one project that is almost complete (that is, it functions without bugs and doesn't make me want to scratch my eyes out when I look at the UI), but because I work on it for an hour here, an hour there, in the capacity of said exploration, the quality of the code is...less than stellar. Yet somehow I manage to be employed without a single gap in my resume. That I don't have a high-code-quality complete project in these locations says one thing and one thing only about me, with respect to being a signal to employers: I'm not willing to devote myself 100%, heart-and-soul, to programming at my peak for 10+ hours a day. You're deluding yourself if you think your comment about being a bad career decision applies outside of a small sphere (usually web-dev or mobile-dev for startups seeking a very particular kind of employee (young, naive, willing to work long and hard for relatively lesser pay). I have yet to see a job I'd be otherwise qualified for or interested in list "have a github profile with projects for us to look at" as a requirement, or even a nice-to-have. Certainly that won't necessarily last forever, but right now it's not a bad career decision for a great many (vast majority) to eschew public display of their personal code projects. Frankly, I view the insistence on public display of personal code in the same category as I view trivia-quiz-interviewing: they're both bandwagon nonsense things that people convince themselves are highly effective ways to measure people.
- maccard 12y ago
  As someone who has interests outside code, and works on propietary software, I don't have code that I have open sourced. Does that make me a bad developer? (In fact, looking at my toolchain and libraries, I don't think anything I'm working with is Open Source at all... yay games)
  - sergiotapia 12y ago
    It puts you at a significant disadvantage. Right or wrong, that's the way it is.
hiddentao 12y ago
I added that in for 2 reasons: 1) I usually get client work based on my github profile, i.e. they like what they see there, and 2) nowadays almost every job ad I see looking for remote web developer asks for a github id. I appreciate that not everyone has or even cares about Github which is why it's an optional item when posting an ad. However, one of the differentiating factors of RemoteCoder is that it provides for tight Github integration in case an employer is interested in your github work. But perhaps this feature should be off by default? (at the moment it's on by default).
- zerr 12y ago
  OK, but why only this particular service? If you insist on having some "show me your code" requirement, why not support: bitbucket, sf.net, etc... ? and also just providing tarball of sources.
  - hiddentao 12y ago
    Very true. I was limited by time and also didn't want to add in more integrations until I obtained some feedback. At the moment RemoteCoder is a small experiment - now that I'm getting feedback I can take it in a more fruitful direction than I would have been able to otherwise.
    - zerr 12y ago
      As for the experiment, it would be much more interesting having a price $30-50 per posting instead of 0 for initial period ;)
- jafaku 12y ago
  You should rebrand it into GithubCoder then, because that's what it is. I for one only use Bitbucket.
gregjor 12y ago
Seconded. I have worked remotely for years, I don't have anything on GitHub. My work is all for smaller companies that have proprietary systems, or boring web sites that pay the bills but don't generate any code I want to show off. No one ever asks for my GitHub profile when I am hired for a job -- the people doing the hiring are focused on whether I can solve their problem or not. There's nothing wrong with having the GitHub account available for companies that want that, but using that as the only authentication and perpetuating the "GitHub is your CV" thing limits the site to that slice of companies and potential employees who know and care about GitHub -- mainly the startups you read about on HN. The other 95% of IT/tech jobs don't work like that.

by zerr 12y ago

alexchamberlain 12y ago

Why do you think it's bullshit?

ownagefool 12y ago
It's not that it's bullshit, it's just that it doesn't encompass everyone which was the parents point. People who a) work on open source, or b) have enough free time that they're able to publish in their free time are the only people you want to hire? Great, have at it. But you'll quickly be wiping out a lot of people with experience behind them because they have a family. Some of them would have been the type to actually write code in their spare time when they were younger, you know, before github was around and before they had kids, they're probably still smart, but github isn't their CV and may never be. That said, code examples are a very nice thing to have, so it goes both ways.
wastedhours 12y ago
Lots of developers do really great work in their day jobs committing code to closed source projects, or have private projects in a different VCS/Git location (such as a personal GitLab install). Whilst worthy, a developer's contributions to OSS or public code commits aren't the only determining factor of their quality/hireability.
- Touche 12y ago
  It's not the only determining factor, but seeing someone's code is the best way to know that they are good at it. And GitHub is the best place to publish code for this purpose. From a purely practical perspective, being a developer who exclusively works on closed-source code in 2014 is a bad career decision.
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    Pretty broad conclusion. I get jobs by reference, have for 20 years. No open-source code. Not ever been an issue.
    - Touche 12y ago
      Then you're not applying to job boards and are not applicable to this conversation.
      - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        I work remotely for many jobs; have for years. So yes I could be interested in this job board. But its built to suit others I guess - targeted at a subset of opportunities. That's all.
  - Iftheshoefits 12y ago
    > seeing someone's code is the best way to know they are good at it < Depends on the context. I have lots of pure crap in my bitbucket and github accounts, because I tinker and explore outside of my day job. I even have one project that is almost complete (that is, it functions without bugs and doesn't make me want to scratch my eyes out when I look at the UI), but because I work on it for an hour here, an hour there, in the capacity of said exploration, the quality of the code is...less than stellar. Yet somehow I manage to be employed without a single gap in my resume. That I don't have a high-code-quality complete project in these locations says one thing and one thing only about me, with respect to being a signal to employers: I'm not willing to devote myself 100%, heart-and-soul, to programming at my peak for 10+ hours a day. You're deluding yourself if you think your comment about being a bad career decision applies outside of a small sphere (usually web-dev or mobile-dev for startups seeking a very particular kind of employee (young, naive, willing to work long and hard for relatively lesser pay). I have yet to see a job I'd be otherwise qualified for or interested in list "have a github profile with projects for us to look at" as a requirement, or even a nice-to-have. Certainly that won't necessarily last forever, but right now it's not a bad career decision for a great many (vast majority) to eschew public display of their personal code projects. Frankly, I view the insistence on public display of personal code in the same category as I view trivia-quiz-interviewing: they're both bandwagon nonsense things that people convince themselves are highly effective ways to measure people.
maccard 12y ago
As someone who has interests outside code, and works on propietary software, I don't have code that I have open sourced. Does that make me a bad developer? (In fact, looking at my toolchain and libraries, I don't think anything I'm working with is Open Source at all... yay games)
- sergiotapia 12y ago
  It puts you at a significant disadvantage. Right or wrong, that's the way it is.

hiddentao 12y ago

I added that in for 2 reasons: 1) I usually get client work based on my github profile, i.e. they like what they see there, and 2) nowadays almost every job ad I see looking for remote web developer asks for a github id. I appreciate that not everyone has or even cares about Github which is why it's an optional item when posting an ad. However, one of the differentiating factors of RemoteCoder is that it provides for tight Github integration in case an employer is interested in your github work. But perhaps this feature should be off by default? (at the moment it's on by default).

zerr 12y ago
OK, but why only this particular service? If you insist on having some "show me your code" requirement, why not support: bitbucket, sf.net, etc... ? and also just providing tarball of sources.
- hiddentao 12y ago
  Very true. I was limited by time and also didn't want to add in more integrations until I obtained some feedback. At the moment RemoteCoder is a small experiment - now that I'm getting feedback I can take it in a more fruitful direction than I would have been able to otherwise.
  - zerr 12y ago
    As for the experiment, it would be much more interesting having a price $30-50 per posting instead of 0 for initial period ;)
jafaku 12y ago
You should rebrand it into GithubCoder then, because that's what it is. I for one only use Bitbucket.

gregjor 12y ago

Seconded. I have worked remotely for years, I don't have anything on GitHub. My work is all for smaller companies that have proprietary systems, or boring web sites that pay the bills but don't generate any code I want to show off. No one ever asks for my GitHub profile when I am hired for a job -- the people doing the hiring are focused on whether I can solve their problem or not. There's nothing wrong with having the GitHub account available for companies that want that, but using that as the only authentication and perpetuating the "GitHub is your CV" thing limits the site to that slice of companies and potential employees who know and care about GitHub -- mainly the startups you read about on HN. The other 95% of IT/tech jobs don't work like that.