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Ask HN: What do recruiters look for in a GitHub profile?

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Re: Ask HN: What do recruiters look for in a GitHub profile?

#201

Post by ModernMech »

zrobotics wrote: post #194
ModernMech wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Until very recently, you couldn’t do that and keep your code private on github without paying. Ok, but now you can. > people dump stuff there for reasons other than explicitly wanting to share it with the world or show it off. Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact you are sharing it with the world and you are showing it off, and if you put a bunch of sloppy inscrutable code on your GitHub, people are going to ass…

>>a bunch of sloppy inscrutable code on your GitHub, people are going to assume you tend to write sloppy inscrutable code Im sorry, but wouldn't most developers have a large amount of code that fits this description? I likely have several mB of hacked python and bash scripts that were only intended to run once. But, I kept them in a repo because I occasionally would refer to an old script. But expecting a readme is a…

This kind of proves the point -- that if a recruiter is looking for a developer who values documentation, the state of documentation on a developer's GitHub is informative.

Personally one thing I've learned over the years is when it comes to referring to old code, having spent a few minutes writing out a description on how to run and configure it is a net time saver in the long run.

Re: Ask HN: What do recruiters look for in a GitHub profile?

#202

Post by wildpeaks »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #45
Edd314159 wrote: post #10

As a hiring manager, I glance at it and take a brief look at anything interesting. It’s good for talking points at the interview, perhaps to ask the candidate to expand upon and explain the work. If the profile is empty, I close the tab and find something else to talk about. I will never, ever penalise a candidate for an empty GitHub profile. So many people just do not have time for open source and that’s totally fin…

+1 for this. I used to be a recruiter, and knew hiring managers looked at GitHub profiles. When I started, I used to to stress out over pushing crappy code to my GitHub account. At some point I realized that anyone judging me for stuff I put into GitHub was simply not someone I would ever want to please. My GitHub is mostly a graveyard for experiments, learning, and goofing off, and that is exactly what I want it to…

You could keep experiments in private repos if you worry about showing crappy code.

Re: Ask HN: What do recruiters look for in a GitHub profile?

#203

Post by jordache »

gargarplex wrote: post #2

As a recruiter I can answer this! I do not speak for all recruiters. As a recruiter who is also a programmer, my approach may be nonstandard. * I want to see thoughtful README files. If the README is whatever was generated default by the framework and not edited at all, that's a huge groan and turn off and you lose tons of strength (credibility) as a candidate. * I want to see your code looking pretty. Consistent ind…

Haha dude expects personal projects to go through a linter... You code?

Re: Ask HN: What do recruiters look for in a GitHub profile?

#204

Post by wolco »

ModernMech wrote: post #97
uiri wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been programming for years and I've had a GitHub account for about as long. Almost every piece of code I've ever written that wasn't for an employer or a school assignment has gone into a public GitHub repository. It goes online because that's what I do. It's the easiest way for me to share code with friends and others, to manage it across multiple machines, etc. There's no reason to put it in a private reposito…

That's well and good, but the thing people seem to keep missing is that git != github. Github is first and foremost a social network . You may keep your personal projects there, but they are still public and on a social network, and that means anyone who reads them will judge them. The question before us is, how do recruiters judge them?, and the answer one has given is he or she looks at style and clarity in code. O…

Looks like someone spends a lot of time on his github profile. Has that made a difference in your job search?

Re: Ask HN: What do recruiters look for in a GitHub profile?

#205

Post by wolco »

chimen wrote: post #199
jki275 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve never written a SO post, and barely have a github profile. I’ve been coding since the 80s. Some people don’t live on social networking - and that is, after all, exactly what those sites are.

I'm always writing there as it's the only platform where you have 80-90% chances of getting a reply within minutes. Docker, Kubernetes, Go, Elixir etc. were not here in the 80s. You cannot learn new things without asking questions.

Dig into the source code / play around. Spend all of your time asking questions you will never learn anything or do anything.

Re: Ask HN: What do recruiters look for in a GitHub profile?

#207

Post by plibither8 »

raviolo wrote: post #46

I’ve been writing code for over 20 years yet I don’t have anything that I can share in a public repo. My employer would sue me immediately. I don’t imagine I will be looking for a job via the “normal process” with recruiters and all, but if I did, would I need to put out stuff to github? Would I need to spend 6 months just writing random but nice-looking code so I’m not rejected due to not having github profile? I th…

> My employer would sue me immediately.

This is the first time I'm hearing about something like this. Why would your employer sue you?

Re: Ask HN: What do recruiters look for in a GitHub profile?

#208

Post by hacym »

Aeolun wrote: post #4
gargarplex wrote: post #2

As a recruiter I can answer this! I do not speak for all recruiters. As a recruiter who is also a programmer, my approach may be nonstandard. * I want to see thoughtful README files. If the README is whatever was generated default by the framework and not edited at all, that's a huge groan and turn off and you lose tons of strength (credibility) as a candidate. * I want to see your code looking pretty. Consistent ind…

I really don’t see why these things are relevant at all. It’s a personal Github profile. Why would anyone add thoughtful readme’s or a clean coding style if they’re the only contributor? I mean, those things are great of course, but not sure if I’d expect it on Github.

You're right -- if they don't feel like they need to have clean, maintainable code on their own personal work, why would they feel like they need to do it at work? That's a red flag.

Re: Ask HN: What do recruiters look for in a GitHub profile?

#209

Post by hhs »

scarface74 wrote: post #159
sl1ck731 wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If recruiting software didn't penalize for keywords I think it would be less of an issue. Its a struggle trying to figure out what to put in the "list of technologies" type section. I have to put them somewhere to get past crappy HR screening software since explaining every tech in a job description would create paragraphs but just listing it doesn't represent the level of aptitude. For example, I might use Chef dail…

The secret is don’t base your job search on blindly submitting resumes to applicant tracking systems. When I am looking for a job, I send my resume to my curated list of local recruiters followed up by a phone call. We talk about what they have available and what I am looking for. I have enough of a history with them that they make sure that my resume shows up on top of the hiring managers stack. My success rate from…

This is interesting. How did you build your list of local recruiters - through trial and error? And did you use services other than LinkedIn?

Re: Ask HN: What do recruiters look for in a GitHub profile?

#210

Post by WorldMaker »

detaro wrote: post #187
philihp wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GitHub doesn’t do a good job with this. IMO they’re sometimes just a fork with the intention of a PR. Gotta see what they committed on top of it. When it’s nothing, I’d love to see them hidden or downplayed on the default view.

Some people seem to make an organization (e.g.forks-by-$username) and put their "unimportant" forks in there as a workaround.

Also, though limited and sometimes not great, "Pinned Repositories" is an easy tool to manage (easier than bouncing things between orgs and pseudo-orgs like `$username-forks`) and typically a strong signal for "I contribute to this".
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