So You Know Your Way Around GitHub. Now What?

October 23, 2014 at 11:28 AM by Rob Stevenson

You all know GitHub as an invaluable tool in assessing candidates based not merely on resume claims or github-154769_640previous pedigree, but on their actual work. As you've no doubt found out yourself, however, it's one thing to know your way around the site, and quite another to know how to properly assess GitHub profiles. Recently, the professional Q&A board Quora took a bit of a dive into GitHub, and users listed off some key areas for what makes a profile truly stand out.

Here, Ron, himself an experienced engineer, goes through a handful of GitHub green lights and red lights. He stresses the importance of well organized and annotated work, by way of logically ordered directories, a detailed README, and the use of existing frameworks. On the flipside, he condemns the overuse of replicated code and lack of stress testing.

 

Read Quote of Eugene Marinelli's answer to What do employers like to see in someone's GitHub account? on Quora

Eugene makes an important point surrounding user activity. Users who regularly post over a prolonged period of time are far more trustworthy than someone with sporadic and irregular contributions. In the latter case, Eugene argues, it's likely that a user merely popped up on the site with a single, well tailored project to impress employers. It's fair to assume that a single, one off project is not fully representative of their work, and isn't enough to properly assess a candidate.

Read Quote of Yee Lee's answer to What do employers like to see in someone's GitHub account? on Quora

Yee, former Google PM and TaskRabbit VPE, raises an interesting point about recent grads. Entire classes of budding engineers complete the same sorts of tutorials. If you're seeing these elementary projects, it doesn't speak to the apex of a young engineer's ability, and does nothing to help them stand out. Try and find something else where the user really stretched his or her legs to complete something useful or unique.

How do you go about assessing GitHub profiles? Leave a comment or tweet @EnteloRob!

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