Debunking the GitHub Profile Myth for Junior Developers
Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash
It’s one of those things that people say when you’re first getting into software development and are looking for that crucial first job.
Get a GitHub profile to showcase your skills.
Yet by the time you have a body of work, you no longer seem to need it. What’s going on?
I remember a guy who came up to me at a meetup saying he had a side hustle App that he wanted to use to track which children’s playgrounds are busy.
I’m not joking.
I think only the Police are interested in that one.
What is happening?
My experience
I had a friend who achieved a top CS grade at a university. Not a top university, and they felt FAANG would be out of the question. Instead, they joined a media company for mobile development where (in their words) they didn’t do any work.
They achieved one of those Bunk software development jobs. The ones we all wish to avoid.
The reason is that great companies just wouldn’t take the risk. They wanted developers with a magical 5 years' worth of experience and didn’t wish to invest in training at all.
Get gud
As a less experienced developer, you ask a company to take a risk on you as you don’t have evidence of your experience.
You might have a degree, you might not.
You might have been on a worthless code camp, you might not.
Companies often don’t see education as a measure of competence in either case.
How can you possibly prove that you’re willing to work hard?
Oftentimes you’ve taken the advice of a friend/colleague/the Internet and built up a weighty selection of code on your GitHub profile.
What could possibly go wrong?
It turns out so much can go wrong. The hiring process conspires against you.
They’re all against me. I can be both paranoid AND right.
The causes
The Resume Filter
A recruiter will look through your experience and see if you’re likely a good hire. You’ll frequently be matched against a set of criteria for your dream role. Having a GitHub profile at this point does no good since the recruiter doesn’t have the technical skill to evaluate your code.
The Interview
Your employer still needs to interview you to see if you’re a good fit. They’re looking at the reasons that you might have applied for the position, your past qualifications, and your experience. Having a GitHub profile at this point does no good, as this is a face-to-face interview.
The Technical Test
Interviewers are still using their own projects as technical tests, and they are all subtly different from each other. As the candidate it is how you complete that project and it matters not how great your other work is, you need to complete this challenge.
Having a GitHub profile at this point does no good, as this is about how you complete this technical test rather than any of your own projects.
The Technical Interview
Oftentimes this takes the form of reviewing your technical test. You might get questions about your other experience production code only.
Having a GitHub profile at this point does no good, as code needs to be developed in a team to be relevant.
The Behavioral Interview
This interview (should you be so lucky to make it this far) is nothing to do with coding.
Having a GitHub profile at this point does no good, as this is about behaviors rather than code.
The CTO interview
This interview with the CTO (head of department, or founder depending on the company) checks for your fit and technical skills. The interview can look very different depending on the company that you are interviewing for.
Having a GitHub profile at this point does no good, as the CTO has no time to look over your work.
The solution
When You’re Not Looking For A Job
You don’t need a GitHub profile in order to keep your job. You need to perform in your job rather than spend time on other code, right?
However, there is one way that a GitHub profile can help.
You want to build a reputation for yourself. This might represent itself as Twitter followers, or you might want to start building yourself up for conference talks. This means, essentially, you are using GitHub as a social media platform and are looking for stars in order to show your validity.
This can have currency actually, who said like and subscribe? You boost your personal profile, and it really can lead to cash, job opportunities, and even fame.
So, why the heat from me?
I hate the waste of time and effort in the software development industry.
So much needs to be fixed, without stopping great people from getting into the industry by creating artificial barriers.
Conclusion
Let’s stop shortchanging junior developers and those who want to enter the industry. Bad advice? We need to get people thinking about the big issues and deliver value to customers (rather than value to hiring managers.)
What would the Secret Developer say?
Don’t do anything without knowing why you’re doing it. Plan ahead.
Think about how you want your career to work, and make it happen!