Python Learning

[Rob Gaddi]

On 12/18/2017 01:52 PM, Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Monday 18 December 2017 16:05:10 Rob Gaddi wrote:
> 
>> On 12/18/2017 08:45 AM, Larry Martell wrote:
>>> On Mon, Dec 18, 2017 at 11:33 AM, Marko Rauhamaa <marko at pacujo.net>
> wrote:
>>>> However, one great way to stand out is a portfolio of GitHub
>>>> projects. Several people have gotten an offer largely based on
>>>> those (after they aced the technical interviews). For example, we
>>>> just hired someone who had written a game in sed. That doesn't make
>>>> him an "interesting person," nor do we look for game or sed
>>>> developers. But that silly exercise deeply resonated with our team.
>>>> We expect to have great synergy with him.
>>>
>>> I have been excluded from even getting an interview because I did
>>> not have a portfolio of GitHub projects. I think that is a bad
>>> filter. I work 60-70 hours a week for pay, and I have a family and
>>> personal interests.
>>
>> When I'm hiring I don't necessarily need a candidate to have an
>> extensive open-source portfolio, but I need to see some kind of
>> portfolio, just as a bar of "This is what I consider my good work to
>> be."  The idea that someone is going to have years of experience, but
>> not a single page of code that they can let me look over always
>> strikes me as odd.
> 
> I've known Larry for years via another list. He has worked on a lot of
> stuff in the financial arena, wrapped in non-disclosure clauses that
> prevent him from even saying what color he dots the i's with, so he gets
> work as much by word of mouth as other more conventional paths.
> 
> To not hire him because he doesn't have a big portfolio could be a
> mistake, Rob. Its up to you.
>> --
>> Rob Gaddi, Highland Technology -- www.highlandtechnology.com
>> Email address domain is currently out of order.  See above to fix.
> 
> 
> Cheers, Gene Heskett
> 

Not a big portfolio, anything.  Shell scripts that you're using to 
simplify your home login.  The garage door monitor you rigged up from an 
Arduino.  The Python script I wrote to fill a USB stick with a randomly 
chosen selection of MP3s.

I as well don't have a huge portfolio of GitHub projects that I spend my 
life maintaining, but I refuse to believe any of us get away with not 
writing any code outside out professional lives.  Personally, I'd argue 
I can get a better read of a programmer from the 120 line toy they 
tossed off one day to solve an immediate need than I can from the 50 
kLOC proprietary project they share with two other developers and are 
NDAed to the hilt on.

And as for Larry in particular, he's posted a portfolio's worth of code 
to this mailing list just in trying to help folks through their issues. 
For an actual interview I'd want it cleaned up to what he'd consider to 
be acceptable documentation standards for a project, but "demonstrate 
competence" is a well-cleared bar.  I just don't have any work at the 
moment that would justify bringing that big a cannon to bear.

So I stick to my point.  If you have literally nothing that you can show 
me at an interview, I'm dubious.

-- 
Rob Gaddi, Highland Technology -- www.highlandtechnology.com
Email address domain is currently out of order.  See above to fix.