
Hide your real name in Open Source - octosphere
http://medium.com/@fommil/hide-your-real-name-in-open-source-3d67e74a8c56
======
stockkid
The author does not put on very solid argument. "a company I interviewed at
was not receptive of my GitHub profile" is not a very good reason for hiding
real name.

Also the author claims that open source contributors will face personal
attacks, which is certainly not new, but fails to give any concrete examples
or statistics. Overall, the article provides nothing we do not know yet nor it
supports its argument clearly.

------
alkonaut
An active OSS profile is certainly more often an advantage than a disadvantage
if I'm interviewing someone.

Obviously, some of the people crying over CoC's may also be annoyed to learn
that I look at least as much on a persons intra-personal skills when I read
through their github history, as I do on their code. Github is a social
network. The people there are humans. If you have shown you can communicate
well with people over code, especially people you disagree with, that's a very
important skill, and it's a skill you can't convey in your CV.

~~~
anothergoogler
The post's audience has zero difficulty landing a good job.

------
gant
I feel like being active on GitHub definitely helped me getting my current
job.

Regarding "wrongthink", it's generally a good idea to keep politics out of
your professional GitHub account if you want to work at a place that may not
align with your opinions. Or your opinions are spicy in general.

The sort of people that post on HN can usually pick their jobs, which is why
I'm surprised someone here would want a job where they have to self-censor
constantly. If that caveat applies to the vast majority of jobs for you maybe
you should reevaluate your opinions?

~~~
giancarlostoro
Honestly if a job wont hire me for what I do or say in my free time (as long
as it's perfectly legal / not too crazy in the moral scope of things) then
good riddance. If they wont hire me cause "I wont devote enough time to them"
(translation might be, your hard work is intimidating to everyone working here
so let's make up BS to not hire you) then good riddance. The interview process
is a two way street, not a one way road. You want a job yes, but not one that
is not going to be fitting to you.

Another factor to consider during interviews is some companies will say things
to try and trip you up. They want to know what kind of person you are. Soft
skills are always superior for coding skills. If you cannot communicate
without having a childish rage fit you should not be a part of a team, you're
useless to a team.

~~~
grawprog
> If you cannot communicate without having a childish rage fit you should not
> be a part of a team, you're useless to a team.

This is very true. We had to let someone go recently because of this. He'd
been there about 5 months. He was getting pretty good at the job, but every
time he'd make a mistake he'd go into a rage. Or he'd just show up in the
morning in a bad mood and be pissy with everyone all day. On the last week he
was there he flipped out on a delivery driver, twice, freaked out at my
coworker and got into a big argument with him when he asked him if he could
work a Saturday to help with some maintenance that needed to be done, flipped
out in the middle of operating a machine after he made a mistake, walked away
in the middle of it, started smashing a bunch of things and just freaking out
at himself. That was when he was let go, the owner came close to calling the
cops on him.

It was too bad everybody tried talking to him for months to try and get him to
relax. On good days, he'd helpful, eager to learn, did well and generally
seemed like a fairly decent person. But on bad days...you never knew what was
going to set him off and it just got to be too much for everyone to handle.

------
KenanSulayman
I can't really follow the logic here -- maybe it's really just related to
investment banks? I'm doing a lot of Github comments and worked with
institutions that usually are considered secretive, and they usually don't
care at all.

I've only heard once a feedback about my commits on Github and that was “I've
checked you out on Github, cool, the other applicants didn't even have
projects on it." Maybe it's a German thing, or maybe this guy is living in a
bubble.

~~~
BonesJustice
I work for an investment bank and have interviewed at plenty of other
financial institutions, including other investment banks and hedge funds. Few
have commented on my open source work, and those that have basically said, "We
checked out your project, it looks pretty cool."

I had one particularly tech-savvy CEO personally reach out and try to recruit
me _because of_ my open source work. My project wasn't directly related, but
he recognized the similarities between the problem domains, and that impressed
me. But his wasn't a financial firm.

I can't imagine any tech-centric organization being hostile toward open source
contributors, whether they're an investment bank or not. I could _maybe_ see
it on teams that aren't tech-focused and are led by old-school business types
who just don't "get it". But teams where tech is their biggest asset, like
electronic trading? No way. If you run into this sort of thing when applying
for jobs in the financial sector, you're looking at the wrong jobs (or the
wrong banks). Look for roles on electronic trading teams or HFT. The work is
more challenging, and the compensation is better anyway.

Better still, apply at Susquehanna or Two Sigma, or some other place that
really recognizes the value of their engineers. Stay away from huge banks like
Citi.

~~~
vidarh
> If you run into this sort of thing when applying for jobs in the financial
> sector, you're looking at the wrong jobs (or the wrong banks).

I agree. Personally I couldn't imagine working at a company that was hostile
to my open source contributions, anyway. If I was contributing to something
controversial, maybe.

Of course that's a reaction coming from privilege: I can afford to turn away
potential employers like that. Maybe my Github profile has turned people away.
If so, I don't see it as a loss.

On the other hand, I've fairly regularly gotten contacted by recruiters
pointing out they've seen I have a variety of Ruby projects on my Github, for
example, so overall I'd be surprised if it is overall a bad thing for most
people.

------
kuroguro
Generally decent advice. I like my privacy and I use handles everywhere I can,
I've even worked remotely and the employer didn't know my real name until they
had to send the first paycheck :)

The reasoning in the article seems weak tho. I would guess the author is
lashing out after a bad interview or something.

~~~
ghaff
It depends on what you do. If your identity and participation in public
activities is integral to why you're hired, you don't really have an option to
keep everything private. Personally, I decided long ago that if I'm not
comfortable saying or doing something using my true name, I probably don't
need to say or do it. Yes, that's a somewhat privileged position to be in but
nonetheless it's the case for me.

~~~
majewsky
> Yes, that's a somewhat privileged position to be in but nonetheless it's the
> case for me.

It's important that we're conscious of that privilege, because we're the ones
who build the IT systems for those who don't have it.

------
sebazzz
> “we are suspicious that you are too active on github and will not commit to
> this job”

In other words: You don't want to work there. If they see that you are busy in
your time off on Github, it can only be an upside. (But note: no downside if
you don't use github at all)

~~~
lkurusa
Exactly my thoughts. If an interviewer said that during a phone call, then I'd
wave good bye and hang up as that is simply not a sentiment I can be OK with.

------
userbinator
_and use hacker names_

Amusing to see this phrased, since even before the Internet we had a perfectly
cromulent word for this: handle.

~~~
milpool
Crash Override. Acid Burn. Lord Nikon.

~~~
octosphere
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_hackers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_hackers)

------
giancarlostoro
Sounds like the author is trying to work in places that just are not going to
be worth him working for (immediately they're giving him red flags). If I got
the sort of feedback he gets when applying at places I would find a whole
region of programming to get involved in. Banking software jobs are not the
only places to work at. It almost sounds more like "it looks like you're a
very devoted developer, if I hire you, you may outshine everyone else here,
including ourselves, sooo we're not going to hire you."

------
kiallmacinnes
> You will have been sold a story about how contributing to Open Source
> projects will give you exposure, and that companies will be fighting to hire
> you. Sorry, it’s all lies: it was true 20 years ago but no longer.

I disagree, there are many companies that actively look for Open Source
contributors to hire. Sure, it's not all companies, and very few people will
be having companies fight to hire you - but that's really never been the
normal case. What's been the normal case is what's still happening - many
companies are hiring contributors to the projects they depend on.

> Do you know what I’ve been asked by every investment bank I’ve ever
> interviewed at? “we are suspicious that you are too active on github and
> will not commit to this job”

> The places that didn’t ask were unable to see my github profile, because of
> their firewall.

Ah. Okay, so investment banking as an industry are shying away from Open
Source contributors. That might well be true, I have no experience in that
industry. But, importantly, my lack of experience in that industry (and, many
other industries!) prevents me from making blanket statements..

Edit: HN quote formatting gets me every time.

~~~
wlesieutre
>> The places that didn’t ask were unable to see my github profile, because of
their firewall.

And god forbid you want to use a tool distributed through github, which at
this point is most of them

------
timgrossmann
Weird view on OSS... I'm still in university but my GitHub profile would've
already gotten me 13 offers if I would've been into starting to work for a
company.

It got me my first talk on a conference, got me in contact with a lot of
different, very interesting opportunities and people from around the world.

Haven't seen a single disadvantage in it, yet. Not even one.

------
mikekchar
On one hand I understand what's being said, but on the other hand I'm not sure
the author is paying attention to the endgame here. So you hide your open
source work, or charity work and get a high paying job at an investment bank
-- an investment bank that's worried that you might not be "committed to the
job" if you work on open source.

Does the author understand what kind of "commitment" they are talking about?
Do they understand why investment banks pay the kind of money they pay for
software developers?

If it were me, they'd be damn right that I'm not "committed". _Why_ do you
write open source software? Why do you work for charities? Because you are
_free_ to do so!

In my youth, I gave up my freedom in order to work. I will never do that
again. It was a mistake for me. I think it is probably a mistake for anyone
who loves their freedom. It's a mistake for people who want to be free to help
others when others need help, not when the office allows it (which will be
never, BTW).

Yeah, you can sell out, and for some people it's probably incredibly worth it.
But if you judge the value of your life by what you _do_ rather than what you
_receive in compensation_ , then I really don't think you'll be happy with
that trade-off.

YMMV.

------
Sprign
I never found a company which would judge OSS contributions negatively and
I've seen quite a few of them (I tend to change job very often and I've 10+
years of working experience).

I am wondering whether the author of the blogpost considered the option that
what they were telling him was just an excuse. Maybe the problem is not his
OSS but the fact that the author behaviour in the community is not exactly as
brilliant as he may think and that made him a controversial figure?

Of course, being anonymous means you can start any flame you like, treat
people as you want and get away with it; not sure that that's the best way to
achieve less toxic communities anyway.

------
m000
Hiding your real name in Open Source and using a multitude of pseudonyms
instead is plainly bad advice for most people. Yes, you will be covered for
that one employer that will not like your OSS profile. But you are giving a
hard time to the majority of the employers who will have to jump through the
hoops you've set to get a picture of your OSS contributions.

Also, what would be the reaction of a recruiter reading a resume that lists
e.g. 5 different github profiles? I doubt the recruiter would think "very
smart of him". More likely, they would be left wondering if the applicant is
self-important, a tinfoil hat wearer, or an outright liar. At any rate,
probably someone they wouldn't be inclined to hire.

~~~
watwut
> Yes, you will be covered for that one employer that will not like your OSS
> profile. But you are giving a hard time to the majority of the employers who
> will have to jump through the hoops you've set to get a picture of your OSS
> contributions.

They will have to jump hoops only if you dont want them see it. Otherwise you
just include link in your CV and they dont have to jump anything.

> Also, what would be the reaction of a recruiter reading a resume that lists
> e.g. 5 different github profiles? I doubt the recruiter would think "very
> smart of him". More likely, they would be left wondering if the applicant is
> self-important, a tinfoil hat wearer, or an outright liar. At any rate,
> probably someone they wouldn't be inclined to hire.

I can see why recruiter would think "weird", I dont see why he would think
"self-important, a tinfoil hat wearer, or an outright liar".

~~~
m000
> They will have to jump hoops only if you dont want them see it. Otherwise
> you just include link in your CV and they dont have to jump anything.

If you apply for a niche position with <10 applicants in total, yes they will
jump. But if they are flooded with applications, no they won't; they can
safely bet that there is another applicant with similar qualifications and
more accessible OSS presence.

> I can see why recruiter would think "weird", I dont see why he would think
> "self-important, a tinfoil hat wearer, or an outright liar".

That's just a few different shades of "weird" as a person.

The resume is all the recruiter knows about you at that moment. Do you really
want any "WTF"/"weird" spots in it? This is setting up the board for the
recruiter to make the (subconscious) deduction "weird resume" -> "this may be
a weird person". They may or may not do it, but it surely won't get your
resume any points.

~~~
watwut
> But if they are flooded with applications, no they won't; they can safely
> bet that there is another applicant with similar qualifications and more
> accessible OSS presence.

That is quite unlikely. You are overestimating amount of programmers with non
minimal oss presence. And, if they are flooded they won't search you by name.
They might maybe click on cv link.

> That's just a few different shades of "weird" as a person.

That is small price for having control, really.

------
orev
This sounds like the investment banks are reacting to the Goldman Sachs case
against Sergey Aleynikov, either they want to avoid someone “stealing” their
code, or they just don’t want to have to deal with that kind of situation.
It’s certainly not right, but if you work in that sector, it’s something you
need to be concerned about and take these kinds of attitudes into
consideration.

------
wink
Using pseudonyms is never a bad idea but even when I did this in the past I've
had to many near misses of uncovering myself because I fucked up some git
config, or had the wrong browser tab open or just replied to a tweet from the
wrong account.

I admit it, I'd be the world's worst spy. Too honest and too clumsy.

------
fergie
Its certainly true that open source projects eat into your work time. The real
question is: can your employer find a way to turn this to their advantage? If
you dig a little to find out how open sourcerers put bread on the table, it
soon becomes apparent that employers pay them to mess around on GitHub. Seek
these organisations out.

------
dblock
People do this quite a lot it seems. I have spent a lot of time over the past
year trying to dig up someone’s email and real name from GitHub (shameless
plug for [https://github.com/dblock/fue](https://github.com/dblock/fue) that
helps with this).

Privacy is dead. I think that being public allows you to control what’s being
public and that’s the best we can do.

------
lanevorockz
Hide your name or else some crazy people might want to destroy your life and
take over your project from you.

------
huffmsa
Nah, just defend yourself better. "I'm this active because I'm a code writing
machine and run out of shit to do at work."

Someone harassing you because of your OC contribs? Burn their (metaphorical)
house down.

