

Side projects are the new resume - bradly
https://medium.com/freelancers-life/a07e211240b2

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tptacek
If you say so. Some of the best people we've picked up didn't have significant
side projects, or any side projects. And jobs here are harder than most
industry dev jobs.

If you're a developer reading posts like this, you should know that it's a
seller's market. Work on side projects because you love them, but don't cram
them like extracurriculars on your college application. Very few competent
hiring managers can afford to downselect you out based solely on your Github
page.

If you're a hiring manager, my advice is a little sterner: unless you've got
candidates coming out of your ears (Github is an example of a shop that
_might_ have this problem), don't get confused about what your job is. You
need to work on two things: lead generation and lead qualification. Think
about recruiting as a sales & marketing problem, because it is one. Most
marketing teams don't set up qualifiers that are likely to reject leads that
might close.

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127001brewer
_If you’re a software engineer, you should be hacking at projects, building
apps, websites, and tinkering away at things you love to build outside of
work._

While I generally agree (that you should expand your knowledge and skills with
side projects), how many companies think that these extracurricular activities
are taboo?

As someone who is looking for a _new opportunity_ , I often hesitate to talk
about my side projects even though these activities demonstrate my complete
knowledge and skills. (During the day, I work primarily with Microsoft
technologies, but with side projects I have utilized Linux, Apache, MySQL,
PHP, Python, etc.)

The hesitation comes from not being considered since other candidates may not
have side projects and, therefore, more likely to be _totally_ focused on the
company's goals (and not their own). (A discussion on when a "work day" stops
would probably generate epic rants from various commenters.)

 _Edited for clarification._

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pc86
Somewhat OT, but I'd like to see a post about why a developer should be
blogging. I'd think a prolific Github repository or six-figure Stack Overflow
reputation would be much more important than me throwing up a few paragraphs
on the last WordPress plugin I wrote.

This is ignoring the fact that most of the jobs I am applying for are not
"insider" positions, but ones where the technology considerations are
orthogonal at best.

~~~
danielweber
I think it's the generic formula of "a great developer has these traits: <list
of all traits self has>".

I know I fall into the trap, too.

I love projects, but I _hate_ working on them thinking they could get me my
next job. Sometimes I just want to take a private protocol apart and see how
it ticks.

~~~
pc86
Agreed.

And for the record, my Github repository is the antithesis of "prolific," and
I generally have more cash in my pocket than I do SO reputation. :)

Luckily I am busy enough that I don't have time for any side projects for the
next few weeks, but perhaps soon I will be able to toss up some Arduino or C#
code.

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mechanical_fish
I used to worry about my relative lack of splashy "side projects". So I'd sit
down to work on one, and within five minutes I'd be asking myself:

"Should I work on this side project, or should I pick a bug off my company's
bug tracker and fix it, thereby making dozens of customers measurably happier,
making my manager happier, making my company marginally richer, delighting the
customer-support team to the point that they high-five me in the company
cafeteria, and making the product I work on every day just a little bit more
satisfying?"

The side projects kept losing this argument. But I fail to see the problem
with that.

Meanwhile, I guess I won't be getting a job at your company, but that's fine.
As someone who likes his day job to be satisfying, I'm probably not a good
fit.

~~~
nostrademons
I've faced the same dilemma ever since I started working at Google (and hence,
all my side projects have long since died - well, that and the rather
draconian IP agreement restrictions). I think it's a natural outcome of
working at a place with real users vs. a side project with no real users.

But I worry that this is just another form of putting all your eggs in one
basket. Taken to its logical conclusion, this works great until the market
shifts around you and suddenly your company's product doesn't have users
either. And meanwhile, you haven't been keeping your skills sharp so you're at
a severe disadvantage when you do have to switch projects.

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Dewie
Then a lot of companies should wave their _right to every line of code that an
employee makes while under our employment, both during hours and off-hours_.
This is a term of employment that I've read that many american corporations
work under

