

Ask HN: Can open-sourcing a side-project hurt my job applications? - yaanoncoward

Over the last months I have been working on a side-project, now I am looking for work. Since I am an experienced software engineer with barely a Github presence I wonder if it might hurt to publish  workable but rather pragmatic code as my sole open-source project.<p>Some more background: A non-trivial amount of hours went into the project, it clocks in at about 10k of (already refactored) LOC and it actually works. There are other open-source solutions but they all suck in their own ways. My project is not particularly elegant or reusable outside the narrow scope I chose (e.g. it only works with one database backend, is somewhat modular but not does not provide a multitude of abstractions,...). TL;DR. It was never meant to be a panacea and has the same issues like most 1st productive versions of startup code.
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socceroos
I guess if your side project betrays a distinct lack of knowledge of basic
programming then it could hurt you.

My suggestion would be to use your project as a springboard during any
potential interviews to detail the areas in which you have grown as a
programmer since the project's creation.

