How to Use Github to Land your first software Job[Storytime Saturdays]
No I'm not going to tell you to build an amazing feature for a company.
I had a very interesting conversation with somebody recently,
They were a career counselor for Computer Science students. She loved my advice on LinkedIn Optimization and Networking. However, she brought up an interesting point to me. Someone like me meets a lot of people through the activities and is active on LinkedIn. Many students she mentors refuse to leave their rooms. They want to stay inside and code all day. They don’t want to talk to people, aren’t sure of how to approach strangers on LinkedIn, or do any of the other things I suggest. She said that my advice would not apply to these people.
The funny thing is that I’ve worked with these kinds of people. People that actually enjoy coding, and get back home and work on personal projects. The kinds that watch and attend tech conferences for fun. Yes, those kinds.
In this article, I will share how I helped those beings network, using their Github. Believe me, you don’t want to miss this. This advice will be tailored more towards students and people towards the start of their careers. However many of these will also be useful to older…. ehmm more established developers.
Highlights
Who this is for- This kind of advice is for a very specific kind of person. If you’re someone who wants to highlight only their coding skills, then using Github as your primary platform makes sense. However, keep in mind there is a huge tradeoff you’re making. You’re trying to use your coding to compensate for a lot of other things. So make sure you’re really willing to put the amount of effort in to make it a worthwhile effort. For people who don’t enjoy coding to that degree, I would suggest focusing on the other ideas I mention.
The Great Github Lies- Most GitHub advice focuses on two things. Firstly they say that the best way to gain a job through open source is to add an amazing feature that helps you gain clout and has people reach out. Second, they recommend contributing a lot, so that your GitHub contribution chart has more green than a mid-2000s rap video. Both sound good to hear. Both are ultimately not optimal. There is a better way to approach things.
Github is a social network too- Sure it doesn’t function like your typical social media. But it is very much a way to connect with like-minded people interested in the same things. Which is the pitch of every social network. Using it in this way will help you a lot.
There are no shortcuts- Ultimately, you will need to put in the work, even in this case. Sure you won’t have to spend as much on other things. And yes talking to people is mostly frustrating and leads to nowhere. So this approach largely skips that. However, you will still have to spend a lot of time coding and getting involved in such communities. Ultimately, this is not an easier path, just a different one.
Sound interesting? Let’s get into it.
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Figuring out if this is for you
The first important thing to do is if this advice even applies to you. How do you do that? Try spending a meaningful amount of time (at least 6 months) contributing extensively to open source communities. That’s really the simplest way. If you end up enjoying the process, then very likely you at least like coding enough for this approach to make sense.
Here are some questions that can help you decide whether such an approach is valid for you.
Do you feel interested in learning about the newest languages/frameworks?
Do you enjoy working on coding projects for extended hours, even if they have no monetary gain for you?
Is there a particular kind of development (Machine Learning, Mobile, Game, Web, etc. )that you like enough to devote extended hours to? Like digging into the intricacies of frameworks and architectures.
The last one is particularly important. I find Machine Learning interesting. I spend a lot of time going through AI research. But there’s no way I have the patience to look into the AI frameworks (TensorFlow, Keras, Scikit etc) to learn about the implementation details of these libraries. Are you someone who’s actually going to enjoy the implementation details, or are you just into the end result? If you’re going down the Github route, you will need to be the former.
If you’re unsure, just test it out. There’s nothing wrong with trying new things out, even if they don’t work out. Having more experience in your belt can only help. And you’ll know yourself better.
Assuming this is something you’d like to explore, let’s get into the next part- what most advice gets wrong about using Github well.
The GitHub Lies
Many well-meaning people will tell you that there are two ways you can get jobs through Github. Firstly, you find a thriving project, and you start contributing. Once you contribute something amazing, you will gain a lot of clout. Then all you have to do is pick the best offer made.
This is not untrue. It’s just not good advice for the majority of people. Think about how hard it is to actually build amazingly meaningful features. Sure if you can, you might gain a lot of attention and offers. But making this your strategy is like planning to win the lottery. Especially if you’re a beginner with limited skills and experience.
The second is a lot tamer. Have a great Github profile with lots of contributions. Link it in your resume. And when recruiters/hiring managers look at it, they will realize you’re coding Jesus. Your interviews (and jobs) are guaranteed. Just make your activity look like the ones below.
We’ve already been told that recruiters spend 6 seconds looking at your resume. Most won’t take the time to go through your links. Especially if they’re in the big tech firms, where they have millions of applicants.
Obviously to get good at coding you will have to code more. And contributing a lot increases your chances of making the right contributions, propelling you forward. However, this can turn a slippery slope. You’ll have to take breaks, whether to recharge or to learn and master new ideas/tools/frameworks. Contributing just for the sake of it (or just keep up the green) will lead to you doing a lot of dead work, and might stop you from making the most of your time on Github.
So what should you do? Let’s cover that next.
Using Github the right way
Many people get confused when I tell them that they should use Github as a social media site. What does it mean? Am I telling you to upload selfies and pictures of your dogs on Github?
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