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I have no side code projects to show you

codementor.io

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Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#91

Post by dmoy »

TylerE wrote: post #22
zamalek wrote: post #3

> I ran 50+ miles a week. I pushed myself to excel. To excel within the boundaries of the time and life-balance I had set for myself. Part of excelling at your job is learning new stuff - something that I am absolutely certain you do all the time, even if you only do it during work hours. Maybe this week you are starting a new project and need to learn Vue. Publish those 100 lines of code to GitHub. Just like that yo…

Better check your employment agreement. My company owns what I write on company time, I don't have the rights to just "put it on GitHub", and yes, I take that seriously.

Ditto. At my current place my employment agreement doesn't allow me to publicly post code I write in spare time.

My previous employer was a defense contractor, so... yea.

I don't have any side projects that I can share. Sucks, but that's the reality. If I get fired/quit and can't find a job without side projects, I have a list of things in my head to build in ~months if that's what becomes necessary.

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#92

Post by dualogy »

eropple wrote: post #42
warcher wrote: post #31

I’m not mad at you, but as the dude on the other side of the desk, I have to decide whether you can cut it and I’m fine saying no. I could make you do some whiteboard problems, but I think whiteboard problems are pretty far removed from your day to day development and I am uncomfortable relying on them as a proxy for your ability to ship code. I don’t really disagree with your philosophy of working while you’re worki…

On the flip side? As somebody who has plenty of open source projects--the set of employers who actually looks at them is within epsilon of zero. I have not once, not once gotten a meaningful question from anything I have posted on Github in any interview or client meeting even after suggesting up-front that it's worth taking a look. And I used to interview on a monthly basis just to keep in practice! No--instead you…

> As somebody who has plenty of open source projects--the set of employers who actually looks at them is within epsilon of zero. I have not once, not once gotten a meaningful question from anything I have posted on Github

I guess that isn't the idea here. I think the idea is for them to grab a dev from the next cubicle/floor, point them to the repo, ask "can he code?", and the dev says "sure looks like code to me, yeah."

"Showing up" is 90% of every move. Sure, the guy who copy-pasted something together could get the job that more talented dude who was too timid to share their stuff would be much more suitable for, but such are the trade-offs here.

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#93

Post by kelnos »

busterarm wrote: post #52
richardwhiuk wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Work the hours in your contract. No more, no less. If you aren't being compensated, why work longer?

It's not happening to me, but it happens in plenty of places. crunch time is very real.

Crunch time is real, and I don't object to it. Working 16 hour days as a matter of course is not "crunch time", and no employee should tolerate it.

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#94

Post by walshemj »

jonas21 wrote: post #50
nathan_long wrote: post #40

Honest question: do you use open source at work? Do you contribute to open source while at work ? If not, why not? A couple days ago I spent several hours puzzling through how to use an open source library. When I figured it out, I made a PR for documentation. Our closed-source app will benefit from having its dependencies better documented. I do very little coding outside of work anymore, but I still have public con…

Many employers take the stance that they own all the code you write while at work, and therefore you don't have the right to release it under an open-source license.

and outside work if its related to you day job

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#95

Post by sidlls »

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #76
sidlls wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if you believe software development is neither engineering nor science, and is purely creative. It isn't, though, and demanding a portfolio is almost as terrible a practice as Cracking the Coding Interview style interviews.

In traditional engineering disciplines like civil engineering, organizing bodies and licensure communicate competency, applicability, and ethical awareness. Software development has no industry-wide equivalent. There are small certifications for Cisco et al but for the general practice there's no standard.

This is true, and I regard that as a reflection of the immaturity of this industry.

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#96

Post by weberc2 »

eropple wrote: post #42
warcher wrote: post #31

I’m not mad at you, but as the dude on the other side of the desk, I have to decide whether you can cut it and I’m fine saying no. I could make you do some whiteboard problems, but I think whiteboard problems are pretty far removed from your day to day development and I am uncomfortable relying on them as a proxy for your ability to ship code. I don’t really disagree with your philosophy of working while you’re worki…

On the flip side? As somebody who has plenty of open source projects--the set of employers who actually looks at them is within epsilon of zero. I have not once, not once gotten a meaningful question from anything I have posted on Github in any interview or client meeting even after suggesting up-front that it's worth taking a look. And I used to interview on a monthly basis just to keep in practice! No--instead you…

Just to add my data point, my company does look at side projects as part of the hiring process.

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#97

Post by km3k »

colomon wrote: post #48

What strikes me as weird about this is the assumption that it's an either/or proposition. I am passionate about playing traditional dance music. And I have supported this by writing a program to generate high quality sheet music from ABC scores; scripts to download collections of scores or MP3s off the web; scripts to handle tagging/naming my MP3 files; etc. I am passionate about RPGs. Back in the day I supported thi…

I've come across places that wouldn't consider scripts and such to be "side projects". They expect something much larger to be of any consequence. And they want it to be somewhat relevant to the work they do.

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#98

Post by eropple »

bad_user wrote: post #87
eropple wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the flip side? As somebody who has plenty of open source projects--the set of employers who actually looks at them is within epsilon of zero. I have not once, not once gotten a meaningful question from anything I have posted on Github in any interview or client meeting even after suggesting up-front that it's worth taking a look. And I used to interview on a monthly basis just to keep in practice! No--instead you…

I don't share your experience and my guess is that you're not advertising your projects enough. If you have projects that you're proud of — mention them on your website, on your Twitter's bio, on your LinkedIn profile, mention them everywhere. Even better, once per year go to a conference and talk about those projects in front of an audience, such that you can then have videos on YouTube too. We like building things…

I think maybe there's a miscommunication here. Of course I've had conversations about my projects. Of course I've discussed them at length and in public spaces. Prospective employers have never asked. And, yes, it's clearly highlighted on my resume and my LinkedIn profile, with an entire section of my resume calling out interesting and high-quality projects.

Employers do not care. Other people? Sure. Employers? No.

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#99

Post by jasode »

shortsightedsid wrote: post #25

It's funny that the tech industry is so insistent on side projects. I mean - would you hire a marketing person based on their 'side projects' or a corporate lawyer purely based on their pro-bono work? Likewise, who on earth asks a building contractor if they have any side projects? You would ask for references or find a contractor via someone you know. What about recruiters themselves? How does one judge if a person…

>Or what about other engineering disciplines? Does one really ask a Mechanical Engineer or a Civil Engineer about their side projects?

Not civil engineers (because it's hard to build a 4-lane suspension bridge on a Saturday) but very often candidates in electronic and electrical engineering have side projects that can help them land a job. Are the electronics breadboard projects that you did in your garage absolutely required to get a job?!? No, but they help you stand out among the crowd.

The reason that is different from your analogies of marketers, lawyers, recruiters, etc is that the activity of programming is often a source of fun and play. Some children with curiosity start programming on their own and continue it into adulthood. (And hence, they might have some personal github projects.) In contrast, people typically do not do "lawyering" for recreational fun.

Programming is enjoyable enough for some that side projects on github are mostly a voluntary and organic phenomenon. Some employers are taking advantage of that signal and prefer to hire those types of programmers.

Re: I have no side code projects to show you

#100

Post by kelnos »

2trill2spill wrote: post #43
kelnos wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The next time I'm interviewing in front of a hiring manager who asks me about my side coding projects, I'm going to ask them about their side managing projects.

Then you will not get the job, which I thought was one of the points of job interviews.

Maybe that's not a job I want, if the hiring manager is lazy enough to 'require' side projects to consider a candidate.
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