Ask HN: Do employers actually look at your GitHub, side project or blog?

4 points by hemling 10 years ago | 8 comments

I have spent a lot of time blogging (mostly creating tutorials about subjects I care), creating small github projects and I have a long history of creating side projects (though, unfortunately, not comercially successful).

I'm currently searching for a new job. In all the interviews I did so far no-one ever seemed to had a look at my blog, github or side projects.

Instead, I get asked only about work experience (or have to do code interview). My problem is: I'm really bad at selling myself and talking about past experience unless I get asked very specific questions. If I have to tell in a free-form manner about me I usually don't impress.

But I'm a very motivated developer who cares about his craft. I'd very much prefer to only get judged by things I produce. Is that even possible?

What's your expericene?

lsiunsuex 10 years ago |

I had a phone interview last week - a pre-screening as i've come to call them - first time i've ever been asked if I have a Git account and what is it.

The recruiter sounded like he was reading off of a script - threw out a bunch of buzz words - scrum, agile, etc... sounded really nervous on the phone. Never have an HR person call a confident programmer haha.

When asked about experience - i rattle off a few small projects then a few big projects - what i did, if it saved company x any money (people love to hear you saved someone money or made them money)

Some recruiters look at past work - or at least will look at it when you go in for a face to face interview - those are the jobs i expect some kind of result from - either yes, your hired or at least they tell you they hired someone else.

Some recruiters - and this seems to get worse and worse as everyone tries to cash in on being a recruiter - know nothing about front end development, back end development, sys admin, etc... they know a few buzz words; they know to listen for specific languages, but thats all. These are the ones I rush to get off of the phone with quickly and remove them from my linkedin connections.

If you find me on LinkedIn and are not at least competent enough to look at the work i've listed there, then your not serious about your job and i'm not serious about working for your employer.

Anyways </rant> my point is not all employers are created equal; not all recruiters are created equal - keep plugging away and eventually, you'll find someone that cares about code quality / skill and not just keywords / numbers.

thomas-b 10 years ago |

Being in an SME, we don't have dedicated HR and the screening/interviewing is distributed between a part of the executives (all with technical background). We always look (and even ask for in the job ads) for active github / blog...

What we will look for in those depends on the job obviously, but we will look. It's the same for my close network of people holding those responsibilities in similar companies (Europe, Asia, UAE).

Also in my experience IT staffing agencies most likely won't look/care.

On a side note, you say: >> I'd very much prefer to only get judged by things I produce. Is that even possible?

isn't it exactly that: >> (or have to do code interview)

hemling 10 years ago | |

I usually do well in a general code interview. But it's certainly not the same, as mentioned many times on HN, lots of devs have problems with code interviews and personally I find their value doubtful. Solving some puzzle is not the same as writing a technical blog or building a side projects over months or years.

nicbou 10 years ago | | |

My biggest gripe with them is that lots of people can write code that gets the job done, but people who write maintainable code are much rarer.

jmnicolas 10 years ago |

I guess the answer is "it depends" ... most of the time the first people that are going to screen you are not on the technical side, but more on the people side and if I understood you it's not your strong side.

I think the days of the awkward computer scientist are behind us. We're supposed to be both social and technical. Can someone help you work on your social skills ?

A little anecdote : I had a manager that was checking people by googling their email address. Once he showed me the Google search for a guy that applied for my position : the top 3 results were from sado-maso forums :-)

hemling 10 years ago | |

I don't think I lack social skills in particular, I'm easy to get along with and in all my jobs I (think) I made my bosses happy. What I lack is the selling part, the "explain what were your challenges in your last project and how did you solve them".

ramtatatam 10 years ago |

I have been running my side project for a year and advertised it on LinkedIN. My network is quite small - only 300 people. Out of 300 people exactly 0 had a look at it :-) On rare occasions I was mentioning this work to some people and yet again, nobody care. My observation is - only real geeks would spend their time to have a look, people who actualy do code. In 99% of cases potential employers are not those people (otherwise you would know where to mention your project and from your question I assume this is not your case)

nicbou 10 years ago | |

You hit the nail on the head with LinkedIn. Those who actively browse it are not your target demographic.

Some of them may care about the finished product, but you'd better save it all for the technically-inclined people.