Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I have no side code projects to show you

codementor.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–370 of 545 posts

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#361

Post by ycombinete »

Joe-Z wrote: post #142
jasonswett wrote: post #21

It's a very well-known fact that interviewers will often want to see some code. Because of this, I at one point spent maybe about 15 hours putting together a small project specifically to use as a code sample. This code sample, which again took maybe about 15 hours to put together, served its purpose for years. To avoid this tiny amount of easy work that has such a high potential upside is, to be frank, just dumb and…

I'm planning to look for a new position in about 6 months and that's what I was thinking to do also. Build a sample application, maybe something useful I wish I had anyway (a very simplistic budgeting app with no external data access/storage was what I was planning on). Maybe even ask my employer if I could take some code of my last projects and re-work it into a semi-independet component. I think this is a good piec…

Sheesh, I'd love this. I wanted to use Quicken, but it seems that it requires some sort of "external data access/storage".

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#362

Post by maxhallinan »

shortsightedsid wrote: post #25

It's funny that the tech industry is so insistent on side projects. I mean - would you hire a marketing person based on their 'side projects' or a corporate lawyer purely based on their pro-bono work? Likewise, who on earth asks a building contractor if they have any side projects? You would ask for references or find a contractor via someone you know. What about recruiters themselves? How does one judge if a person…

This is like a doctor saying "It's funny the medical industry is so insistent on medical licenses. I mean - would you hire a software engineer based on their 'license'...".

Different things are different.

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#363

Post by aaronbrethorst » 

    And when I said I have no side projects
    to show, what they heard - what
    interviewers hear - is: I am not the
    best. I am not a passionate developer.
    I don't spend the necessary time to
    keep on top of my education and skills.
    That development is "just a job."
This isn't how I interpret it at all. Gauging how you write code, structure commits, and talk about your work cannot be done solely through face to face interviews. When I talk with someone who cannot show me any code, I feel like I'm lacking a signal for determining how well they'll be able to produce. It's not a deal-breaker by any means, just a complication.

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#364

Post by aaronbrethorst »

eropple wrote: post #42
warcher wrote: post #31

I’m not mad at you, but as the dude on the other side of the desk, I have to decide whether you can cut it and I’m fine saying no. I could make you do some whiteboard problems, but I think whiteboard problems are pretty far removed from your day to day development and I am uncomfortable relying on them as a proxy for your ability to ship code. I don’t really disagree with your philosophy of working while you’re worki…

On the flip side? As somebody who has plenty of open source projects--the set of employers who actually looks at them is within epsilon of zero. I have not once, not once gotten a meaningful question from anything I have posted on Github in any interview or client meeting even after suggesting up-front that it's worth taking a look. And I used to interview on a monthly basis just to keep in practice! No--instead you…

That's too bad. This is my favorite interview question to ask.

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#365

Post by nanodano »

Here are the sentiments that I took away from this article, even if it was not the intention.

- “If I don’t have the time to be THE BEST, I won’t bother even trying to be great.” - “I am okay, even proud to be a mediocre developer. I don’t want to commit lots of time to programming.” - “I would rather have an employer who accepts me for being mediocre because I have interesting things going on in my life.” - “I’d rather work on a team full of mediocre devs as long as the company had a great culture”

I’m not saying it is an “incorrect” attitude. Someone may want to put together a team of developers who don’t really care about their craft, as long as they like to hang out together. I feel very differently though. I would much rather hire a developer who is mediocre but wants to get better than a mediocre developer who has the attitude of ‘I don’t want to put in all that time to be good at my craft. Did I mention I had a dog business though?’

As someone who has interviewed developers, I can tell you that most candidates do not have side projects. If you have side projects, it is a huge bonus. Not having side projects is not a big deal. Plenty of people get hired who don’t have side projects.

But, if a candidate said no they don’t have any side projects, and then followed it up with something like ‘Yeah, I’m not one of those people who really likes coding enough to do any in my free time, plus I care more about my dog business that I run’ that says to me 'I don’t really care about this job."

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#366

Post by [deleted] »

eropple wrote: post #42
warcher wrote: post #31

I’m not mad at you, but as the dude on the other side of the desk, I have to decide whether you can cut it and I’m fine saying no. I could make you do some whiteboard problems, but I think whiteboard problems are pretty far removed from your day to day development and I am uncomfortable relying on them as a proxy for your ability to ship code. I don’t really disagree with your philosophy of working while you’re worki…

On the flip side? As somebody who has plenty of open source projects--the set of employers who actually looks at them is within epsilon of zero. I have not once, not once gotten a meaningful question from anything I have posted on Github in any interview or client meeting even after suggesting up-front that it's worth taking a look. And I used to interview on a monthly basis just to keep in practice! No--instead you…

[deleted]

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#367

Post by nanodano »

chrisco255 wrote: post #343
ultrasaurus wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hiring manager here who reads Github profiles -- it just occurred to me that I've almost never actually mentioned it to the interviewee. It's flavoured the conversation for sure (except for the bootcamp grads who all have identical Githubs) but I tend to talk more about your process than the actual code.

As a software engineer who does technical interviews, I also regularly review GitHub contributions if mentioned on the resume. It's not a deal killer if someone doesn't have these things...but if you're up against another candidate who does (and their work is good)...then the other candidate is likely getting the job.

What % of candidates have side projects to show you? When I did interviews, I saw probably less than 10% have any side projects to show.

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#368

Post by nanodano »

kemitche wrote: post #269
notzorbo3 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Employers don't care. The wrong empoyers don't care. The right ones do. My github portfolio is a means for me to determine if a potential employer is suitable for me, not the other way around. It's not a test for me to pass, it's a test for a potential employer to pass. If a recruiter brings up things listed on my LinkedIn page, I know they're not suitable for me. If they bring up things on my github, I'm reasonabl…

I don't expect my surgeon to do surgery in his spare time. Nor my plumber, dentist, gardener, or any other professional. I look at their past work history and reviews from customers and/or coworkers. I will never understand the belief that side projects are in any way necessary. I'd much rather have a well rounded individual who isn't moonlighting on other things but rather can bring his clear focused mind to the off…

What about an artist or a musician? Would you expect a musician to practice and get better in their free time or only play their instrument during paid gigs?

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#369

Post by nanodano »

justboxing wrote: post #322
eropple wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the flip side? As somebody who has plenty of open source projects--the set of employers who actually looks at them is within epsilon of zero. I have not once, not once gotten a meaningful question from anything I have posted on Github in any interview or client meeting even after suggesting up-front that it's worth taking a look. And I used to interview on a monthly basis just to keep in practice! No--instead you…

> instead you get dance-like-a-monkey "coding tests" (unpaid, of course) that are nonportable from employer to employer. This - the non-portable aspect - is what irks me the most. Especially for enterprise developers. Since most of the software we develop is under NDA, we cannot put any of it online to showcase our skills. I've had to do 3 different take-home "coding exercises" over the last 10 days. 1 was for a Hedg…

If you asked a musicians to perform an audition before you hired them, would you accept the response, "Sorry, I don't work for free."

Would you expect a musician to practice their instrument in their free time or only play their instrument during paid gigs?

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#370

Post by 333c »

ultrasaurus wrote: post #218
eropple wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the flip side? As somebody who has plenty of open source projects--the set of employers who actually looks at them is within epsilon of zero. I have not once, not once gotten a meaningful question from anything I have posted on Github in any interview or client meeting even after suggesting up-front that it's worth taking a look. And I used to interview on a monthly basis just to keep in practice! No--instead you…

Hiring manager here who reads Github profiles -- it just occurred to me that I've almost never actually mentioned it to the interviewee. It's flavoured the conversation for sure (except for the bootcamp grads who all have identical Githubs) but I tend to talk more about your process than the actual code.

> except for the bootcamp grads who all have identical Githubs

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by this? What sorts of things do they all have in common?

Post reply on HN