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Github is Your New Resume

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121–130 of 152 posts

Re: Github is Your New Resume

#121
post #23

While this works for freelancers/students/startupers, it doesn't work very well for people working in bigger companies. If your interests are related to your day job, I think it's quite risky to put your code on GitHub, even if the code is not "official". While I do have a GitHub account with some code in it, that code is not really representative. If having a relevant GitHub account becomes a pre-requisite, you may…

Yep. Without thinking, I used code for an open source library I had written in my spare time in our proprietary software, and it came up during a due diligence check for acquisition.

Wasn't a big deal in the end, I just made sure it was using a commercial friendly license, but you do have to take care.

If it was a US employer they may have sued me if they didn't think that the OSS code came before the inclusion in the product (which it did).

Re: Github is Your New Resume

#122
post #120
post #2

this may be true in startup land, where hires are evaluated by the engineers/managers/founders but it's absolutely not the case in the world of BigCorps. many recruiters (including internal ones) are less technical than anyone would like and have to operate on looking at key words in a resume before deciding what to pass along to managers. a github account with a bunch of code in it would be so confusing they'd just…

I think you're mixing up BigCorps with IncompetentCorps. I've had plenty of BigCorps asking me to interview with them based solely on my open source work (they contacted me). Those were companies like Amazon, Google, Twitter etc. (companies I would consider working for). So I know that this advice works also in the context of BigCorps that are technical and competent. I haven't had similar offers from GM or WalMart o…

for what it's worth, my experience comes from getting hired at vmware and ITA software (now google). in my experience, the recruiters who source and filter resumes at those companies are rarely technical.

Re: Github is Your New Resume

#123
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you hire a developer based on their resume alone? Probably not. The article is saying that Github is the new resume, not that you should only hire people based on what they do on Github. I have no problem if you want me to demonstrate experience from a previous job, but it's not like that is some magic bullet to finding a good hire either. I could easily embellish my experience and you have no way to tell. But exp…

You wouldn't hire someone based on their resume alone but a resume is usually required. What you're saying is Github is now a requirement which is absurd. Also this would mean I have to use a particular tool for development (maybe I should be required to only use gcc for my C projects too). A particular tool on a particular site. I like Mercurial. The projects I like to contribute might use Google code. Guess I am go…

There are plenty of times when a resume is not required for a hire. A recommendation can replace it, chatting with the person in a dev irc channel, contributions to open source, etc.

You aren't required to do any of those things, but it makes sense that the more quality information about yourself available the better your chance at getting a quality job.

Re: Github is Your New Resume

#124

I don't use a public Github because my interesting code often isn't something I want to share with the public, particularly if it happens to include AWS credentials, API keys to various services, etc. All my most interesting sites have been money making endeavors as well, so I don't see any reason to give away the source code, or share it with the public. I do share the URL of the finished product, though, and that h…

I usually put my credentials in a separate include file and then filter it out with gitignore.

Re: Github is Your New Resume

#125
post #2

this may be true in startup land, where hires are evaluated by the engineers/managers/founders but it's absolutely not the case in the world of BigCorps. many recruiters (including internal ones) are less technical than anyone would like and have to operate on looking at key words in a resume before deciding what to pass along to managers. a github account with a bunch of code in it would be so confusing they'd just…

Maybe a better title would be "Github is Your new Resume... At Progressive Companies With Strong Engineering Organizations." I think Daniel nailed it.

Thank you. I wasn't writing about dinosaurs :)

Re: Github is Your New Resume

#126

"Your first job should be at an organization that embraces open-source and lets you contribute to existing projects. Other companies simply don’t deserve you." Oh, I had to laugh at that. Good luck explaining that one to the wife. I'm sorry honey, the pay way great, the benefits were good, there was an excellent health plan and even a stock buy-in option.... if ONLY they had agreed to embrace open source so I could w…

You're implying that a company that encourages open-source contributions sucks at pay, benefits, health plan and stock. You should know that generally startups, which by definition encourage more open-source contributions, have comparable pay, benefits, health plans and stock after their first round of financing. There's more risk in theory, but the numbers since the financial crisis are against this theory.

Re: Github is Your New Resume

#127
post #63

Not in my experience. Most job boards are dominated by technical recruiters so, to get in through them, you play by their rules. In their world, web presence of projects almost never counts. The rationale is that "anyone can point to my work and claim they did it." The preference for assessment is still resume keywords, good references, and multiple choice tests.

There's a huge trend of engineering managers to take things in control to avoid this. Every time I had an HR person between me and a candidate they managed to screw something up. Here're some better job boards.

http://wearenytech.com/jobs (New York based) http://careers.stackoverflow.com

Re: Github is Your New Resume

#128

You're not your Github account. You're not your Facebook account. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your f'ing open source project. I don't espouse the negativity in Fight Club, but the quote that I've adapted seems particularly relevant here. "Facebook users 'are insecure, narcissistic and have low self-esteem'" http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1310230/Fac…

I actually agree with a lot of stuff here. One should contribute to things that are useful for your job or your future, not spend time polishing your github resume.

Re: Github is Your New Resume

#130

"Your first job should be at an organization that embraces open-source and lets you contribute to existing projects. Other companies simply don’t deserve you." Oh, I had to laugh at that. Good luck explaining that one to the wife. I'm sorry honey, the pay way great, the benefits were good, there was an excellent health plan and even a stock buy-in option.... if ONLY they had agreed to embrace open source so I could w…

If open source is so important to our hypothetical you that you'd turn down an otherwise-great job over it, why did you marry someone who is so unsupportive of it? Even if your SO is 'bad with computer', presumably they know how much you value "open-source" (whatever the heck that is). Sounds like hypothetical you made some poor life choices.
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