I am confused now. I have been working on my side project almost 2 years (started working on it a couple of months after my first job in it). Firstly my plan was to deploy this project and open to users finally, however after some time, I realized that there is a lot of similar web pages and it is not a good idea. So I decided to work on this project as some kind of battlefield for testing new frameworks. Finally I ended up with a quite big project (about 390 commits, front-end, and back-end part). Overall the quality of this project is not so good in my opinion, I see a lot of places where things can be done better. Do you think does it worth to put information about this project and link to the github? Even when the code quality is not so good, code coverage is low?
How to not waste time on a side project when trying to get a job
21–30 of 87 posts
Re: How to not waste time on a side project when trying to get a job
#22To be honest, this submission gives me the impression that it's clickbait material. The article is field with platitudes and small things you can glean from Cracking the Coding interview book. Judging from the user's submissions, this seems to be self advertising.
Re: How to not waste time on a side project when trying to get a job
#23I am confused now. I have been working on my side project almost 2 years (started working on it a couple of months after my first job in it). Firstly my plan was to deploy this project and open to users finally, however after some time, I realized that there is a lot of similar web pages and it is not a good idea. So I decided to work on this project as some kind of battlefield for testing new frameworks. Finally I e…
I would also love to know the answer to this. I have an app that is nowhere near what I would consider ideal quality-wise but it's a project that is done, deployed, and open source. Do I even mention it? I wouldn't as it stands.
Re: How to not waste time on a side project when trying to get a job
#24It would be interesting to know what proportion of employers even look at your Github, let alone dig into detail enough to investigate your side projects to this level. I work on quite a few side projects in my own time because I enjoy it, but I've never been asked about my projects on Github or my blog.
I'd guess it depends on the employer.
When I hire, code samples (like Github contributions) are my first screen of a candidate before I decide to interview them. It is proof of ability to write code and a testament to what I consider to be quality. I do this in lieu of whiteboard challenges or Fizzbuzz tests.
Re: How to not waste time on a side project when trying to get a job
#25It would be interesting to know what proportion of employers even look at your Github, let alone dig into detail enough to investigate your side projects to this level. I work on quite a few side projects in my own time because I enjoy it, but I've never been asked about my projects on Github or my blog.
I always do. For mid-to-senior it's more out of curiosity, but for entry-level it can impact my decision, especially for bootcamp grads.
I know the prevailing sentiment on HN is sometimes that hiring managers like making candidates jump through hoops to make themselves feel important, but I don't think that's the issue here. It's simply that someone who came to programming late in life is at a severe disadvantage compared to people who have been interested in it since fifth grade, and some kind of programming in your spare time is the best (only?) way to catch up.
Contra the article, I don't care if the project shipped, or if it's thoroughly unit tested, or how many iterations or whatever. I just want evidence that you're in the larval stage.
Re: How to not waste time on a side project when trying to get a job
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thought the the same. For me it's not doing sideprojects to get a job but having a job to finance my sideprojects.
In these cases, isn't it the dayjob that's the "side" project?
Actually it fells like this. In my job I also get the time to work a bit on the side-projects.
Re: How to not waste time on a side project when trying to get a job
#27To be honest, this submission gives me the impression that it's clickbait material. The article is field with platitudes and small things you can glean from Cracking the Coding interview book. Judging from the user's submissions, this seems to be self advertising.
It resembles the lightweight listicles of a career site's newsletter.
Re: How to not waste time on a side project when trying to get a job
#28I am confused now. I have been working on my side project almost 2 years (started working on it a couple of months after my first job in it). Firstly my plan was to deploy this project and open to users finally, however after some time, I realized that there is a lot of similar web pages and it is not a good idea. So I decided to work on this project as some kind of battlefield for testing new frameworks. Finally I e…
I would also love to know the answer to this. I have an app that is nowhere near what I would consider ideal quality-wise but it's a project that is done, deployed, and open source. Do I even mention it? I wouldn't as it stands.
I don't know about how bigger firms feel about it, but I'd probably not regard it as a positive. Only show me code you think I'd accept at my work place.
For juniors it could be a positive signal though, if you're the kind of person that always looking to learn new things. Depends on the situation if you should show it or not: who are you trying to come across as?
If you have the resume, don't show it. Otherwise, do show it and let me know what parts you like and why some other parts are WIP (comments are great here).
Another thing to take in consideration is your own criticism. You might be really critical of the project since you're an exceptional programmer, and great programmers tend to move forward quickly and look back at their own old code with distaste. :)
Re: How to not waste time on a side project when trying to get a job
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you elaborate on why that might be the case?
Regardless of how impressive your side project is, unless it is a very special exception (e.g. you’re head maintainer of a linux distribution or open source tool the company hiring you is extensively using and needs your expertise on), it’s only getting you into the door to talk to people, and it’s not a route around the interview process. So, ultimately that process is going to be whiteboard coding, because it (let’…
That makes a lot of sense.
Re: How to not waste time on a side project when trying to get a job
#30I don't understand the logic of this article. My side projects tend to be efforts in self employment, not 'click bait' for an employer. While not everyone has the same approach, this article seems to imply the only value of side projects is for future employers. I'd hate for people to get the wrong impression about the value of these projects.
Hedging risk by doing a side project relevant to your employment interests is perfectly valid. If you are employed you have the luxury of doing something random in your off hours. If not, you need to be very mindful of what happens if your side project goes nowhere and your savings run out.