Why Is Being Late To The "GitHub Party" Bad? | Hacker News Reader

Why Is Being Late To The "GitHub Party" Bad?

4 pointsdrdeadringer10 comments

I recently read a "response article" related to a programmer's difficulty in marketing his product.

There was a line that disturbed me: "If you think you will “buy your way to visibility through ads” then, in marketing terms, you’re like the programmer who just discovered Github ... in 2013."

What is so wrong with waiting on joining Github? What if I wanted to wait, or just didn't see the point of "socialized programming"?

Response Blog-Article In Question: http://www.chrisle.me/2013/11/dear-clueless-about-marketing-programmer-yes-its-hard-but-not-impossible/

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I think Github is great but since when did it become a requirement for validating one's worthiness as a software developer?

I would love to know how relevant being on Github is for most people that are not in SF. I personally think its nice but not really relevant at all.

Sometimes I think its a brilliant marketing move by Github. Get everyone to assume they need a Github account for career advancement, highlight/praise everyone who has one and let them influence their own circle to sign up and repeat the cycle. It's great marketing. I'm not suggesting Github is promoting this but they certainly don't discourage it.

It's nice to have a Github account but it's like LinkedIn. No credible recruiter is going to ignore a candidate because they are not in LinkedIn or they are on it but have a very small number of connections.

Based on a conversation with a highly successful executive recruiter, most people they go after don't even have a resume, let alone a LinkedIn account. Their presence within their peer network plus their work speak for itself.

I guess working in SF and going after start-up jobs, Github account and participation is relevant, but for most of us, the companies we have worked with, the projects we have done will have more relevance. I don't know any company that I have worked with that looks at Github as a barometer (this is with respect to enterprise development).

Another thought in all this is that if I really cared about my Github participation, I could find a bunch of programmers in India, China or somewhere else, or even locally have them go through a few projects and do some work under my account. I would pay them a nice fee and be done with it. This I believe is the elephant in the room with Github that no one talks about. Is this happening? I can't say personally but if anyone seriously believes its not is also likely to take the NSA at their word.

I've known about github for a long time, but I have no desire to share my code, and thus have not created a profile.

If one day, in the far flung future, I decide to release my source code on github, that will be the day I create a profile.

The recent creation date of a user profile might cause a silly person to jump to the conclusion that I am inexperienced and naive. But why should I care what silly people think?

There is another important possibility; you only just became a programmer and are inherently "late to the party" when it comes to Github.

I don't see how anyone could use a join date as a measurement of someone's skill as a programmer, it reflects nothing.

However in context they may be right. If you're talking about visibility then having only just joined may result in your exposure on the site being smaller due to having had less time to produce work that would attract attention.

"you only just became a programmer and are inherently "late to the party"

A good point, thank you.

I think that people that turn up to the party not giving 2 shits about the time have a much better party

it is being a early adopter, think of guys on twitter having 2 letter id's, you can't get those anymore

unless you are already a celebrity or you have great contribution in your line of work, people do judge you by their prejudices including member since on github

"People have prejudices against late-adopters"

Also a good point. I was a late adopter to github, as I had troubles wrapping my brain around "socialized programming" as it related to what I considered a "personal" project.

I saw the light, and signed//repo'd up. In 2013.

The line in the article I referenced made me pause, so I thought I'd ask.

Yeah but if you're like me bringing up some of the nice nuggets, still viable, from hard copy in some cases and media that's fallen off the cliff (SUN cartridge tapes, etc) can be a bit more than tedious.

Don't believe everything you read.

... and half of what I hear :)

Reminds me of a phrase from one of the original broadcasts of 'The Shadow': "Believe half of what you see, and nothing you hear." [spoken to sidekick Margo Lane]

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