

Why Is Being Late To The "GitHub Party" Bad? - drdeadringer

I recently read a &quot;response article&quot; related to a programmer&#x27;s difficulty in marketing his product.<p>There was a line that disturbed me:
&quot;If you think you will “buy your way to visibility through ads” then, in marketing terms, you’re like the programmer who just discovered Github ... in 2013.&quot;<p>What is so wrong with waiting on joining Github? What if I wanted to wait, or just didn&#x27;t see the point of &quot;socialized programming&quot;?<p>Response Blog-Article In Question:
http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.chrisle.me&#x2F;2013&#x2F;11&#x2F;dear-clueless-about-marketing-programmer-yes-its-hard-but-not-impossible&#x2F;
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avenger123
I think Github is great but since when did it become a requirement for
validating one's worthiness as a software developer?

I would love to know how relevant being on Github is for most people that are
not in SF. I personally think its nice but not really relevant at all.

Sometimes I think its a brilliant marketing move by Github. Get everyone to
assume they need a Github account for career advancement, highlight/praise
everyone who has one and let them influence their own circle to sign up and
repeat the cycle. It's great marketing. I'm not suggesting Github is promoting
this but they certainly don't discourage it.

It's nice to have a Github account but it's like LinkedIn. No credible
recruiter is going to ignore a candidate because they are not in LinkedIn or
they are on it but have a very small number of connections.

Based on a conversation with a highly successful executive recruiter, most
people they go after don't even have a resume, let alone a LinkedIn account.
Their presence within their peer network plus their work speak for itself.

I guess working in SF and going after start-up jobs, Github account and
participation is relevant, but for most of us, the companies we have worked
with, the projects we have done will have more relevance. I don't know any
company that I have worked with that looks at Github as a barometer (this is
with respect to enterprise development).

Another thought in all this is that if I really cared about my Github
participation, I could find a bunch of programmers in India, China or
somewhere else, or even locally have them go through a few projects and do
some work under my account. I would pay them a nice fee and be done with it.
This I believe is the elephant in the room with Github that no one talks
about. Is this happening? I can't say personally but if anyone seriously
believes its not is also likely to take the NSA at their word.

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n00BsaiboT
I've known about github for a long time, but I have no desire to share my
code, and thus have not created a profile.

If one day, in the far flung future, I decide to release my source code on
github, that will be the day I create a profile.

The recent creation date of a user profile might cause a silly person to jump
to the conclusion that I am inexperienced and naive. But why should I care
what silly people think?

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Lockyy
There is another important possibility; you only just became a programmer and
are inherently "late to the party" when it comes to Github.

I don't see how anyone could use a join date as a measurement of someone's
skill as a programmer, it reflects nothing.

However in context they may be right. If you're talking about visibility then
having only just joined may result in your exposure on the site being smaller
due to having had less time to produce work that would attract attention.

~~~
drdeadringer
"you only just became a programmer and are inherently "late to the party"

A good point, thank you.

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binocarlos
I think that people that turn up to the party not giving 2 shits about the
time have a much better party

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senthilnayagam
it is being a early adopter, think of guys on twitter having 2 letter id's,
you can't get those anymore

unless you are already a celebrity or you have great contribution in your line
of work, people do judge you by their prejudices including member since on
github

~~~
drdeadringer
"People have prejudices against late-adopters"

Also a good point. I was a late adopter to github, as I had troubles wrapping
my brain around "socialized programming" as it related to what I considered a
"personal" project.

I saw the light, and signed//repo'd up. In 2013.

The line in the article I referenced made me pause, so I thought I'd ask.

~~~
lerici
Yeah but if you're like me bringing up some of the nice nuggets, still viable,
from hard copy in some cases and media that's fallen off the cliff (SUN
cartridge tapes, etc) can be a bit more than tedious.

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f7t7ft7
Don't believe everything you read.

~~~
drdeadringer
... and half of what I hear :)

Reminds me of a phrase from one of the original broadcasts of 'The Shadow':
"Believe half of what you see, and nothing you hear." [spoken to sidekick
Margo Lane]

