GitHub, an online open-source community for engineers to get together and share their code, is getting a lot of attention as an opportunity for talented tech professionals to show their work – and get noticed by recruiters!
Maybe you’re already using Twitter and LinkedIn for your job search, but are you participating on GitHub? According to an article published in Forbes last fall, the site is “the next big thing” in social networking for tech professionals.
People are saying that engineers who take the time to develop a GitHub profile and put in the energy to participate on open projects can be better evaluated in advance by recruiters and IT leaders, which can be an advantage over other professionals on the market. “From small startups to established, household name powerhouses, GitHub is now see as the go-to place to spot quality talent,” wrote Daniel Terdiman in an article on the subject published by CNET.
“It’s an excellent opportunity to see what they are passionate about, their coding style – good or bad – and fun side projects,” Zappos Labs Director Will Young said in the same article. “We love when developers see a need and just go ahead and code a solution to share with the community. We are looking for some amazing problem solvers on our team. This is hard to get from an interview or resume. But sometimes, we see someone’s GitHub library and think, ‘Wow, that is really cool and handy.”
So the big question is – how do you use GitHub to find work? After completing your profile, you can upload examples of your code and network with other professionals. Also, if you make a contribution to an open project, that information will show up in your profile. The site acts as an online portfolio, in many ways.
Potential employers will have the opportunity to immediately view your work and analyze your code. You’ll be demonstrating that you have the ability to solve complex problems, and can do more than just build a nice looking website using other people’s templates. In addition, many people are finding that they are being passively recruited for terrific new positions just on the basis of their work on GitHub – even without officially posting a resume.
There’s also an excellent article written by Matt Reich about how to use the site to show your code here, and if you need a primer, GitHub has a help page where you can get started here. They also offer tips for best practices for tech professionals about to leave their current company, and an info page for recruiters on how to best use the network to attract new talent.
Market Street Talent offers excellent opportunities for talented IT professionals, including some terrific hands on, focused roles – and we’d like to hear from you. What are your experiences with GitHub? Do you participate in the community, or have you recruited by searching the site? Tell us what you think and keep on coding!