

Ask HN: Should I put my github profile on my Resume? - lukesandberg

I don't have much stuff on github, and all (2) projects are just things i did for fun just out personal interest.<p>But nonetheless i am somewhat proud of the little bit of work of mine that is up there.  Should I put the url in my resume?  Does anyone else do this?
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josegonzalez
Yes. That is how I got my current job, and exactly how freelance hirers decide
they want to work with me.

My theory is that for a developer, a LinkedIn profile is less useful because
it basically just states who you know and what you focus on. Twitter accounts
show nothing other than that you exist. You likely want to hide your Facebook
- my boss was not my friend until after he hired me ;)

A github account is so much more than a blog. A great one need not have many
repositories, nor many followers. It just needs to show that you:

\- Can Program

\- Document your code

\- Use version control well (or at all)

\- Love to program

A github account is an easy way for non-designers and non-frontend developers
to have a portfolio of their past work. It's also a great way to exercise your
mind outside of work.

Nota bene: Make sure you legally can write open source. YMMV, but state law
might actually back that silly form you signed when you were hired. It helps
when your open source code has nothing to do with your actual job.

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devmonk
Yes! And there are other HN threads with similar questions:

<http://searchyc.com/github+resume>

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poink
Sad but true: Simply demonstrating you know what Github is would put you ahead
of half the people who apply for our Rails jobs.

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msbmsb
Definitely. Many professions have some kind of portfolio of previous work to
demonstrate to a potential employer. Since it's common in the development
field to not be able to show any source code you have written from a prior
company, any kind of visible open source code you might have should definitely
be on a software developer's resume.

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djb_hackernews
Let me piggyback on this one, as it's something I've thought about for a
while. I am a committer for an Apache project. Not a major one, but I have the
email address to prove it. This happened because I submitted a small patch for
a new feature and asked some good questions and they asked me if I wanted to
be a committer. Since then, I haven't had much to do with the project (no
fault of my own, it's just a solid code base that isn't too popular)

Do I put that on my resume? At what point do OSS contributions become too
small to mention?

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symkat
Any contributions to Open Source Projects, your own projects that you've
released, and notable contributions should be shared. Similar to how a
designer has a portfolio. If you have a tech-related blog you might want to
include that as well (but not your personal ranting and raving blog about how
sad you are and that your kitty is ignoring you again.) That's just creepy.

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kineticac
For hiring, sometimes I just want to see the candidate's github account and
tech blog. That will say more than the old school resumes.

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ary
Absolutely. At worst it adds another dimension to who you are and what you can
do, at best it might let you sail past tedious technical quizzing.

See also: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1708328>

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pstinnett
Absolutely. Github profile (or even knowing what Github is) puts you way ahead
of many resumes.

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cheald
The company I work for is currently looking for a Rails developer, and I'm
first-line in the screening process. A Github profile is a huge plus, and if
there's good code in there and/or decent open source activity, it's a major,
major bonus.

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JerryH
For sure, I did : www.metalcat.net

Even though I've just opened an account and there is nothing on there yet,
though I link to all things that are _me_

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iuguy
Definitely. If you have one on your CV I'll check it out, and it gives me
things to discuss with you in the interview that you'll be more comfortable
with.

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drdo
If i were a prospective employer, i would definitely find that a plus.

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jmathai
It depends on how good your code is ;)

