That's silly. I don't even have a GitHub account. All my professional life ( 20+) I've been writing code or building solutions for private companies, all the cool stuff I programmed lies in a private repository. And for the reference, I am always sending nicely PDF-formatted, very relevant, but succinct, CV and not a "poorly formatted, badly designed Microsoft Word template filled with irrelevant information you’ve c…
I don't agree with this guy, and I spend a lot of my time hiring developers. However: if you don't have open-source code, I tend to assume you don't do much programming in your free time. And if you don't program in your free time, how are you going to become a really strong developer? How will you get exposed to a range of technologies outside what your employer uses, and a range of problems outside your work domain…
While I don't like the article posted here, I like the title.
In my experience in hiring coders where we use open source tools, this has become my #1 filter.
ALL OTHER THINGS CONSIDERED EQUAL, if two people apply to work with me, and one has no GitHub/StackOverflow/community presence, yet the other one does, the person with community presence has a far better chance of me taking them seriously.
I know you all think you're great coders (and you probably are - this is a smart forum here), but there's just so so so much bad code out there whose creator took no pride in it and has no passion for it.
So if you come to me with a nice blog, a ton of points on StackOverflow, or a GitHub account with at least one beautifully-crafted repo, you're going to stand out head and shoulders above the rest.
Like it or not, that's a huge test for me anymore.
I'm done hiring people who don't care, don't take pride in their work, and don't have an outward passion for it. So find a way to prove that you do. End of story.