Why GitHub Won't Help with Hiring
benfrederickson.com
Why GitHub Won't Help with Hiring
1–10 of 111 posts
Re: Why GitHub Won't Help with Hiring
#2While much of this article hits upon the right points, I’d like to add a few things.
- GitHub also allows you to display your activity on private projects (as long as their development also happens on GitHub, of course). - It’s not a great indicator, but it’s an indicator of what kind of programming people do for fun (or alternatively, that their employment/life circumstances don’t allow them to be active on GitHub).
I don’t think not having anything on there is a bad thing, but I’d like to talk to the candidate about why. Sometimes you’ll learn that people have the most fun non-programming hobbies or the most responsibly-filled lives.
Re: Why GitHub Won't Help with Hiring
#3Nonsense. The last two full time jobs and several gigs I've landed in the last five years I provided the hiring manager with a link to my public profile on github in lieu of a resume.
Re: Why GitHub Won't Help with Hiring
#4I wouldn't have been hired for the jobs i've had if it wasn't for my Github. I don't think false-negatives should lead you to disregard the ability to find that perfect developer. Is it not your responsibility as a developer to keep an accurate portfolio of your skill set?
Re: Why GitHub Won't Help with Hiring
#5One thing that have always annoyed me about Github is the lack of (free) private repos which makes the activity history patchy. So you show that you're active for months on end, then then radio-silence for a month. Or when you delete/move a repo and suddenly months of activity disappears. Just makes it look like you've lost interest in what you were working on =(
Re: Why GitHub Won't Help with Hiring
#6I look at GitHub profiles to help filter / disqualify candidates. Just last weekend, I had a marketing candidate who had stolen three Wordpress projects from their current employer and post them as public repos on their personal GitHub account. In addition to the flagrant intellectual property theft, the repos contained the wp-config.php file with exposed database “root” credentials to live, client sites.
Re: Why GitHub Won't Help with Hiring
#7Nonsense. The last two full time jobs and several gigs I've landed in the last five years I provided the hiring manager with a link to my public profile on github in lieu of a resume.
The author addresses that point in the introduction:
“As an example in the latest Hacker News' Who is Hiring thread, there are a bunch of different job ads asking for a Github profile as part of the job application.
...
While both of those posts give excellent reasons to reconsider asking for open source contributions when hiring, my take here isn't about why it is ethically dubious to require open source contributions or why GitHub isn't great for showcasing your projects.
Instead, this post is about why GitHub profiles just aren't all that useful when looking to hire developers.“
Re: Why GitHub Won't Help with Hiring
#8I look at GitHub profiles to help filter / disqualify candidates. Just last weekend, I had a marketing candidate who had stolen three Wordpress projects from their current employer and post them as public repos on their personal GitHub account. In addition to the flagrant intellectual property theft, the repos contained the wp-config.php file with exposed database “root” credentials to live, client sites.
I know it's not really your responsibility but did you inform those sites and/or the candidate?
Re: Why GitHub Won't Help with Hiring
#9Github projects don't need to be impressive or have substantial technical depth to provide a positive signal.
For example, a good README can communicate someone's abilities in documentation, thoughtfulness, and design.
Re: Why GitHub Won't Help with Hiring
#10I wouldn't have been hired for the jobs i've had if it wasn't for my Github. I don't think false-negatives should lead you to disregard the ability to find that perfect developer. Is it not your responsibility as a developer to keep an accurate portfolio of your skill set?
> Is it not your responsibility as a developer to keep an accurate portfolio of your skill set?
It is not. If an employer can't ascertain your skill level through the interview process, their hiring is broken. It is a slippery slope where we allow employers to dictate uncompensated signaling necessary for a role.
Observe how it worked out for everyone who got a degree because employers won't hire without one, and then they don't get hired regardless of that degree. So we'll all toil on public Github projects in hopes that'll be what convinces an employer to hire? Will we all need to intern for several months for free next?
@always_good: Hiring is hard. If you succeed in hiring the right people, it won't be because they jumped through your hoops, but because they were passionate, had some of the skills and could grow fast, and a huge helping of luck.