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Comment by scrrr | Hacker News Reader

A friend was recently asked the same, also said no, and was declined the interview. He is a very capable software developer.

It seems like being active on GitHub is slowly becoming almost a requirement in order to land a good job. I wonder if that is a good thing.

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I like your last sentence. I am also sceptical if this is a good thing. And with reason: If you are working as a skilled software architect - and you work on projects under NDA or other laws/contracts for a long time, it could definitely come to the result that you do not have "current code" somewhere out there on github and such sites. And not everybody has the time or the reason to contribute or start an open source project. That even becomes more critical if you want to do other things in your non-working time than coding. If you have the chance to work for a company where you are allowed and instructed to work on open source projects and technology, then you are lucky. But I doubt that the major of software designers does so.

Ya but I think you're missing an important point. Having an active Github can demonstrate a developer with passion instead of one who just sees it as a job.

I know way to many passionate, articulate, and terrible programmers to think passion a good thing. I also know plenty of really great programmers who don't find coding a challenge after all these years. On average I think passion speaks more to youth than the ability to get things done.

What does he do with the other 16 hours of his day? If I can hire someone who spends 41 hours a week programming, with 1 hour of work that I can actually see, that is going to be a big advantage over someone who claims they are a super-genius architect. Because the first person has documented proof of ability, but the second person just says he's really good.

Don't worry, though. I work with "C++ experts" who don't realize you have to allocate memory before writing to it. Knowing how to program is not a prerequisite to all programming jobs.

Only 41 hours a week? Where do they work and are they hiring?

Anywhere? I've never had a job that required more than 40 hours a week.

Some jobs don't "require" more than 40, but when your fellow developers are always there earlier and later than you are, and when your performance reviews go from bad to good after you ratchet up your number of working hours, and when your assignment list keeps growing longer and more urgent, you get the message.

This is probably a sign to change your situation. Start working 40 hours a week, expect bad reviews short term, build a huge open source portfolio using the extra 10-20 hours/wk you've created for yourself by opting out of the sick system.

Next year, you have a better job elsewhere.

This means it's time to change employers and get your 30% raise.

I suppose you also need to sleep, so that's 8 hours left of which you spend some preparing/eating food, maybe some sports every once in a while, shopping, socializing etc. Anyway, I'm pretty sure there are people who, while having a passion for software development, feel like doing something else for a change after 8 hours in front of a computer.

If you sleep 8 hours/day, that leaves you with 112 waking hours/week. After work, 1-2 hours of sports a day, you've still got about 50 hours/week.

You can't devote even 2% of that time to building a portfolio and helping possible future employers to evaluate your skills?

"Because the first person has documented proof of ability"

I think this really depends on the position you are trying to fill. A track record of shipping code to customers counts for a lot more in my eyes than open source code (unless we're talking about something really high profile like Firefox or llvm). A lot of really talented and passionate developers are plenty challenged and stimulated at work that they don't feel the need to work on hobby projects in their spare time. What could these people write in one hour that would be of significance?

>>work on projects under NDA or other laws/contracts for a long time

There are firms that actively ask people NOT to post code outside (citing IPR); and at times, even go ahead and mention that anything a person on it's payroll writes (even if written in leisure time or at home off work), belongs to the firm. The 'extended workplace' clause in terms of contract could be suitably flexed.

It seems like being active on GitHub is slowly becoming almost a requirement in order to land a good job.

You know, there is open source software which isn't on GitHub.

Personally I'm far more impressed with someone who has a commit bit on a project like FreeBSD, because it shows an ability to work together with other people. Having code on GitHub just shows that you're able to fork someone else's work.

There are of course large projects on GitHub, but your point still stands.

Being active with open source communities is definitely a huge advantage, but I wouldn't go as far as to say that you need to be active on GitHub. There are other ways to contribute open code :)

The ideal candidate will do both. It's fine if you just hack other code, and it's fine if everything you make is 100% your own. But the best programmers do both.

"A friend was recently asked the same, also said no, and was declined the interview."

I think that's retarded. There are more effective ways to filter out bad apples. Candidates could be asked to solve a puzzle and attach their solution to their application, for example. Most of the really good developers I know stopped coding in their free time after accumulating about 5-8 years of experience. They have other commitments (wife, kids...) and their day job is challenging enough as it is.

It happened to me but I was given a chance to prove my worth to them. It was a small company (basically a start up) , To cut the whole thing short I ended up with a job and worked with them for 2 years.

I'd never reject someone on that point alone. I'm guilty of not having anything (at least not something I'd like to show) out there too (thou I am working on it).

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