Is a portfolio / GitHub necessary for job apps with 1 YOE?
I want to be competitive so I will probably have some level of these things (1 strong, full-stack project and the source for it in a couple of repos), but I already work a full time job and learn tools / practice coding outside of work as well. I also have been busy getting all sorts of things sorted out with living on my own for the first time this last year. Will I be at a disadvantage if I don't have a robust portfolio and GitHub? I've grown a lot as a developer and my old portfolio / github that I used to get my first job are not really things I want to share. To build up a 3-project portfolio would take a lot of time and having an active github of public repos is just not something I'm interested in maintaining - I'm already coding full time. I think my resume is very strong and I'll be ready to back it up in technical interviews. I'm honestly planning on presenting a github account with nothing but source for the 1 portfolio project. I do have another with a bunch of repos (though no activity for a long time) but, like I said, I'm not sure about the quality of the code in those projects and I'd rather just present something pure. Thoughts? I'm planning on applying to big tech in SV - if that changes things
There are some interviewers who’d say “if you don’t have personal GitHub projects or don’t contribute to OSS, then I know you’re not passionate and I don’t wanna work with you.” And there you have your answer. However, I think most don’t expect you to be a hobby coder if you’re already a professional coder.
Nothing is necessary, but it can't hurt and could help. Unless you have something more valuable to spend time on, why not polish up the portfolio or GitHub.
If you have job history, you’ll be judged on that, not on your side projects, unless they’re directly relevant.
Having some stuff on GitHub is a nice to have but not really going to move the needle on someone. Maybe it’ll help with getting an interview? The only GitHub thing that would help would be like some major contributions to large oss projects.
That takes some weight off my shoulders. I'm not really interested in contributing to OSS right now as I already have enough on my plate fleshing out my resume and doing interview prep. Hoping that if I can secure a phone screen the rest will be up to knowledge and skills