GitHub is a crucial part of the hiring process. Candidates who keep a profile on GitHub have a great tool to create a good first impression on recruiters. Murilo Marques talked about how to build a GitHub Portfolio and get noticed by recruiters during the last VanHackCON 2021. GitHub.
According to GitHub, more than 73 million developers and more than 4 million organizations are present on the platform. So in only one place, you can find people and companies and share your code, collaborate, and network with them.
Also, it’s free.
“You can show them you can actually do the job that they are hiring for”, says Marques. Another upside is improving your chances of getting noticed and being invited for interviews. “Everyone knows you are supposed to build a resume or cover letter, but also, nowadays, GitHub portfolios are really important for you to get called to an interview. We know of candidates who did not get invited because they did not have any project on GitHub”.
Building your GitHub portfolio
Marques gave some very useful tips on setting up a profile on GitHub and starting working on a portfolio. Organizing your GitHub portfolio is essential.
Here is his step by step overview:
Bio and Intro
Start by adding your basic information, and don’t forget to have a photo so your portfolio can show some personality. “You can put your picture, the organization you work with, a little bit about yourself, your projects and social media, and also any other information that what to display for recruiters and to other developers”.
Profile readme
Marques explains how to make the most of the Readme session that, since introduced a couple of years ago, lets users ramp up their profile and add information about skills and projects in an excellent format. “It is an amazing feature”, he says.
“It is a dynamic resume that you can create a great impression with. To create it, you have to start a “project” with the same name as your account. The code is a markdown file, and you can add HTML to it which is so powerful because it means you can add text, links, gifs, and other things. There are infinite possibilities of styling and integrations here”.
Pin projects and commits
This section is important because you get to pin 6 of your most relevant products and the projects that will appear on your first page.
“Make sure you put your most relevant projects and are strategic about it. Add a description and tags to every project on the repository so that it is easier for the recruiter to have a quick understanding of the activity and then decide to take a deeper dive”, Marques advises.
The bottom part of this page will display a graph showing your contributions throughout the year.
Setting up your projects on GitHub Portfolio
So now that you are done setting up the primary sections of your GitHub profile, you are ready to move on to the projects menu. Our interview advisor has some great tips on giving your portfolio have that extra something that will make it stand out from the crowd:
State the project’s purpose – “This is something some people forget, but it is important to show that you understand your project’s impact in the world and that you are not just creating something because you like that particular technology”.
Describe the technologies and the decisions made – “Show how you structure your ideas so that the recruiters can understand your strategies”.
Make it easy – “Add instructions on how to set up, run or test your code, and don’t forget API documentation if applicable. Include coding standards and patterns”. You can use Postman to publish the documentation and then create an URL that you can copy to your project entry on GitHub.
The next step – “I like adding some possible improvements to the project so I can show the person reading my portfolio that I am aware, and I will go back to that from time to time if I have to”.
Invite others – Add instructions for a possible collaboration. For example, “Let people know if you are open to contributions!”
You can watch Murilo Marques’ talk here:
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