I have turned down several jobs when they tried to hit me with that clause. I have negotiated a better clause that gave them the work I made for them, which just happens to line up with state law here
> But now we need to work Saturday and Sunday on open source projects so we're worthy of sharing a coffee with a hiring manager?
I wouldn't want to hire someone who didn't enjoy coding enough that they didn't have something on publicly visible repo.
Shudder. Sounds like one chooses to work for you, or have a healthy life that involves non-coding/computer hobbies and relationships.
Maybe it's a good filter for us in the opposite direction.
Why? Those people sound like terrible employees. Those are the people who come into work to punch the clock and get paid while saving their energy and creativity for their side projects, which is what they'd really rather be working on.
I would prefer to hire people with publicly visible code.
I don't know about you, but after working an 8-10 hour day, anything I make in my off hours is a steaming pile of shit. Certainly nothing I'd be showing to potential employers. Do you know who can make jewels after 8-10 hours of work? People who punch the clock, do the bare minimum and save their creative energies for their side projects after they get home. That's not somebody I would hire.
Another scenario is the person really is just a coding machine and does so 12+ hours a day. Those people burn out, eventually.
There is lots of reason why competent developers would not actively participate to OSS or have public repos. I think you are holding applicant to an unreasonable standard that does not entails they are bad if not upheld. I have worked with some extremely talented people - far more than I ever could be - who had 0 contributions, 0 repos and publicly available code.
Why? Because they valued the time spent with their family and friends more. They got the job done which is ultimately what I pay them for. Which is all that matter really. Are they competent? Do they get work done? Can they potentially take-up bigger engineering challenges (i.e can they grow). Yes? Welcome at X co.
Unfortunately their competence is not directly important, my ability to assess their competence is. I have no reliable way to evaluate a person without public code. They could be the greatest or the worst coder without public visibility.
Also 99.9% of the tasks I wish to do are solved so it's not like I'm going to make my life easier by solving the task. For the few that I find that I want I understand they require extraordinary resources/programming skill that I just don't possess.
Those who have don't because that would be redundant and a waste of time. This is simple.