Hide your real name in Open Source
medium.com
Hide your real name in Open Source
1–10 of 59 posts
Re: Hide your real name in Open Source
#2The author does not put on very solid argument. "a company I interviewed at was not receptive of my GitHub profile" is not a very good reason for hiding real name.
Also the author claims that open source contributors will face personal attacks, which is certainly not new, but fails to give any concrete examples or statistics. Overall, the article provides nothing we do not know yet nor it supports its argument clearly.
Re: Hide your real name in Open Source
#3> You will have been sold a story about how contributing to Open Source projects will give you exposure, and that companies will be fighting to hire you. Sorry, it’s all lies: it was true 20 years ago but no longer.
I disagree, there are many companies that actively look for Open Source contributors to hire. Sure, it's not all companies, and very few people will be having companies fight to hire you - but that's really never been the normal case. What's been the normal case is what's still happening - many companies are hiring contributors to the projects they depend on.
> Do you know what I’ve been asked by every investment bank I’ve ever interviewed at? “we are suspicious that you are too active on github and will not commit to this job”
> The places that didn’t ask were unable to see my github profile, because of their firewall.
Ah. Okay, so investment banking as an industry are shying away from Open Source contributors. That might well be true, I have no experience in that industry. But, importantly, my lack of experience in that industry (and, many other industries!) prevents me from making blanket statements..
Edit: HN quote formatting gets me every time.
Re: Hide your real name in Open Source
#4I can't really follow the logic here -- maybe it's really just related to investment banks? I'm doing a lot of Github comments and worked with institutions that usually are considered secretive, and they usually don't care at all.
I've only heard once a feedback about my commits on Github and that was “I've checked you out on Github, cool, the other applicants didn't even have projects on it." Maybe it's a German thing, or maybe this guy is living in a bubble.
Re: Hide your real name in Open Source
#5I feel like being active on GitHub definitely helped me getting my current job.
Regarding "wrongthink", it's generally a good idea to keep politics out of your professional GitHub account if you want to work at a place that may not align with your opinions. Or your opinions are spicy in general.
The sort of people that post on HN can usually pick their jobs, which is why I'm surprised someone here would want a job where they have to self-censor constantly. If that caveat applies to the vast majority of jobs for you maybe you should reevaluate your opinions?
Re: Hide your real name in Open Source
#6Sounds like the author is trying to work in places that just are not going to be worth him working for (immediately they're giving him red flags). If I got the sort of feedback he gets when applying at places I would find a whole region of programming to get involved in. Banking software jobs are not the only places to work at. It almost sounds more like "it looks like you're a very devoted developer, if I hire you, you may outshine everyone else here, including ourselves, sooo we're not going to hire you."
Re: Hide your real name in Open Source
#7I feel like being active on GitHub definitely helped me getting my current job. Regarding "wrongthink", it's generally a good idea to keep politics out of your professional GitHub account if you want to work at a place that may not align with your opinions. Or your opinions are spicy in general. The sort of people that post on HN can usually pick their jobs, which is why I'm surprised someone here would want a job wh…
Honestly if a job wont hire me for what I do or say in my free time (as long as it's perfectly legal / not too crazy in the moral scope of things) then good riddance. If they wont hire me cause "I wont devote enough time to them" (translation might be, your hard work is intimidating to everyone working here so let's make up BS to not hire you) then good riddance. The interview process is a two way street, not a one way road. You want a job yes, but not one that is not going to be fitting to you.
Another factor to consider during interviews is some companies will say things to try and trip you up. They want to know what kind of person you are. Soft skills are always superior for coding skills. If you cannot communicate without having a childish rage fit you should not be a part of a team, you're useless to a team.
Re: Hide your real name in Open Source
#8I feel like being active on GitHub definitely helped me getting my current job. Regarding "wrongthink", it's generally a good idea to keep politics out of your professional GitHub account if you want to work at a place that may not align with your opinions. Or your opinions are spicy in general. The sort of people that post on HN can usually pick their jobs, which is why I'm surprised someone here would want a job wh…
You can keep politics out of your own github account. But maybe people who will bring their politics to you, regardless. Maybe you didn't even realize that you did something "wrong". Maybe you said something that wasn't "wrong" at that point, but a few years later, it is.
> Or your opinions are spicy in general.
So if not anybody likes your opinion, it's your fault for having the wrong opinions...?
Re: Hide your real name in Open Source
#9I feel like being active on GitHub definitely helped me getting my current job. Regarding "wrongthink", it's generally a good idea to keep politics out of your professional GitHub account if you want to work at a place that may not align with your opinions. Or your opinions are spicy in general. The sort of people that post on HN can usually pick their jobs, which is why I'm surprised someone here would want a job wh…
> generally a good idea to keep politics out of your professional GitHub account
People have been banned from Github projects for stuff that they said on Twitter that had nothing to do with their activity in open source, because it "made other contributors feel unwelcome". If the thought police will want to dig up dirt on you, they will gladly turn to any other social media available.
Re: Hide your real name in Open Source
#10[flagged]