How important is it for a programmer to have an online presence?

Question

I've noticed more and more mentions (both in posts here and in actual job descriptions) of programmers' "portfolios" - typically their public profiles on sites such as this, GitHub, etc.

How important is this, and would companies (startups in particular) reject (or immediately discard without even interviewing) otherwise outstanding candidates who don't have an online presence?

Personally, I prefer to keep a very low profile online. My name here cannot identify me, and I have other handles for other sites. I have a very spartan (and completely private) Facebook page. I do code on my own, but the code lives in local repositories. In general, the less information online about me, the better.

I could see a designer needing some sort of online portfolio, but for a programmer, is this really a big negative when job-searching?

Answer 1

It entirely depends on where you want to work. There is no universal answer to this.

Many (all?) employers will google your name and look you up. You really should do that as well to see what comes back.

The best way to control what they see is to have your own presence - something that will push any results that you don't want them to see way down the list, where they won't click through.

However, having an online presence is different from having a presence that shows you are active in your programming community. Blogging, answering questions on forums or Stack Exchange sites, participating in open source (or starting such) projects, writing articles etc show that. All of these are bonuses as far as good employers are concerned.

None of the above are requirements for getting a job, but they are all good to have in order to increase your chances. In other words, given two candidates that score similarly on the points the employer cares about, if one shows participation in the community and the other doesn't, the one that does will have a better chance at getting the offer.

Answer 2

If a start-up immediately rejects you, an otherwise outstanding candidate, for lack of online presence, it would be a strong indication of questionable hiring practices of the owners of that start-up, and so you should be glad that they did not hire you.

I worked for three start-ups over the course of ten years, and every time a major part of deciding to join had to do with my trust of the owners. I would not trust an owner with demonstrably shallow approach to hiring, the most essential part of growing a start-up into a company of respectable size.

Answer 3

would companies (startups in particular) reject (or immediately discard withouth even interviewing) otherwise outstanding candidates who don't have an online presence?

I would not want to work at a company, startup or otherwise, that rejected otherwise outstanding candidates on that basis. It seems like a foolish thing to do.

If I get a resume that says that the candidate is a StackOverflow user, or co-authored a paper, or worked on such-and-such a project, then I might check out their user page, or download the paper, or go to the web page for the project to learn a bit about it. These things help me streamline the interview process, so that I am not completely ignorant when I ask the question "So, tell me about the such-and-such project that you worked on."

I would not, however, do a general web search of a candidate's name in the hopes of learning more about them, for three reasons. First, names are not unique identifiers. Second, I'm unlikely to learn anything that will help me make a hiring decision. And third, and most importantly, I do not want to expose the company making the hiring decision to legal liability. If during my web search I accidentally learn that the candidate is married/unmarried/has children/is childless/is in the military/was once arrested/was once charged with a crime/was once sued/has a medical condition/etc, and then the candidate ends up not being hired, then the candidate potentially has an opportunity to bring an unfair hiring practices lawsuit.

In short: I wouldn't worry too much about it. It can help, but I don't think a lack of online presence will hurt you much.

Answer 4

Having a strong online presence surely helps a lot, but not a must.

As an applicant to a job, you need to show them a bit of what you are capable of to get an interview generally, assuming the firm has a large pool of applicants to choose from.

The review process really changes a lot depending on type of the firm, location and the open position. Some firms doesn't even bother to search online, and some will only do a small search. But, especially for popular firms and for good paying positions, here is what goes on generally:

1. They will post some ads for the open position, requiring you to fill out a form or asking for resume or requiring a solution to a problem they posted.
2. They will sift through the applications, eliminating some percent of them by looking at the answers or resume.
3. They will search the applicants that passed the first stage online, on Google and other social sites. They will check blogs, github, bitbucket, SE like sites, mailing lists, forums etc. to get to know you a little bit more, to see if you worth an interview. They will eliminate some of the applicant at this phase also.
4. At this stage, generally they will only have a small amount of applicants left, and they will start interviews.

Now, if you have a strong resume (work experience in related areas, good references etc.), the online search part may not matter much.

But, if you don't have much to write at your resume, your online profile becomes the main resource for the interviewer to learn about you. If you don't have much to show at that stage, and there are other applicants that have a resume like you but have a strong online presence to show them they are capable of doing good work, they will get bonus points.

The main point is, you need to get ahead of other applicants to get an interview, and having a strong online presence helps with that. It's not a must, but generally its a plus.

Answer 5

I can't imagine and employer turning you down because you don't have a presence online, however I can see them turning you down if you have a negative presence online. Certainly participation on sites such as these can really make you look better when your employer looks you up, so it's not a bad idea to expose some of these types of sites online.

You can check out tools like WebMii to find out your internet presence. Employers often use tools like this on top of simple Google searches.

Answer 6

The necessity of an online profile varies with what kind of work you are applying for. Freelancing web designers need a more robust online portfolio than a senior developer for embedded systems. Just keep in mind that some fields may be a bit more challenging to get in to without an online portfolio.

I too like the idea of trying to keep as minimalist as possible my self created online profile, companies are capable of getting enough information about me other ways without my help adding more. Just always make sure once in a while Googleing your name doesn't turn up anything too damning.

Answer 7

Something else to bear in mind is the Fake Candidate.

Some unscrupulous recruitment agencies pose as candidates in order to get details of a job going. They'll create a great looking CV, farm it out on job boards and wait to get an interview. Once they have the details of the interview and the company that's hiring, they'll cancel the interview for a variety of reasons (already got an offer/changed mind/couldn't find the office/etc).

Having an online presence is a sure fire way to check if a candidate is real, so for me, it is essential that someone has either linkedin (with more than a couple of connections), twitter, a blog, facebook, stack overflow. If they have none of those, alarm bells start ringing and I'm immediately on my guard.

Not having a profile online won't stop me looking at the CV and interviewing, but it certainly doesn't help.

Answer 8

It is definitely good to have an online presence, as most companies will look you up. It's probably good to have some rep on SO or Programmers, or be active in another social community, as that is just another way to showcase your skills. Be careful about having too much of a presence here, as companies most likely would not like to hire someone who is on SO 24/7, also, be careful what you ask, as that may show some flaws in your knowledge-base. Definitely be active on github as well, that will not only help your career chances, but will also make you a better programmer.

Answer 9

I think this is tough to answer. For the jobs being posted and filled the old fashion way, you probably don't need this and I doubt anyone there would check to even see if you are online. The question is, how many jobs are being filled based on finding individuals online? Your online presece may help make connections that lead to a good job. This can be a great substitute for devs with little work experience.

We all want to be evaluated on our merits to do the job. Often we lose the "luck of the draw" because we only have 4 years instead of the required 5 (I know no one ever sticks to that.), or didn't go to the right school, or obtained a particular certification, show tatoos or don't, put on a suit and tie, didn't comment your FizzBuzz test or you lack communication skills have prevented someone from getting a job one time or another.

Some may feel that you won't fit into the team or corporate culture if you're not a blogger. A specific project may be a perfect match, but does that web service framework you built mean you know nothing about mobile apps or you won't like that type of project?

Like everything, if you do it right, it will pay-off in the long-run.

Answer 10

I fully agree with Oded, lack of online presence might hurt when looking for new position but keep in mind that developers usually dont have online presence or keep it under wraps just like you so at this moment this might not be such an issue at all.

Since you are already present online, probably the best solution would be to add links for your online profiles into CV so those employers can get info about you but others cant.

Answer 11

Depends on what's meant by "online presence"

No presence

• Github (because it is hard to associate a real person with a nick).

Bad presence

• Facebook (reviewers uses Facebook for reject candidates)
• Twitter (candidates are considered that likes to skip the work)
• Online videogames (ditto)

Good presence

• Personal website (professional and focused in computer and software)
• Sites done by you (customers sites), i.e. "hey, i do this site"

Excellent presence

• Get a Microsoft MVP.
• Be a renowned beta tester of some popular technology (Java,PHP,C#..)

Answer 12

Here's an article on branding by Inc magazine.

Coming from an internet marketing background, it is the equivalent of "street cred" as far as branding who you are is concerned. Of course no large employer who is worth their salt would hire without passing you through a skills assessment and background check. But 75% of all employers look on Facebook regarding a candidate to see if he/she would be a good "fit" more of an asset or liability. When I hire coders (I am a one man show), what puts them on top of the short list is when I see that they are not novices and have exhibited knowledge and experience in forums and on the web..they have a web presence.

If your qualifications matched someone else's, or if it was even a little bit below another's, but had many notable associations to credible industry websites, you would look better than the next guy with no "branding". Think of it like Coca-Cola, do you want to buy a drink everyone is after or one that no one has heard of...

Also, keep a Facebook profile for you (personal-non searchable or restricted) and one for your business profile (searchable with relevant topics relating to your industry experience and testimonials from people you helped if applicable). Linkedin is good too... a huge runner up in business branding following facebook.

Being marketing savvy is a plus, not only by getting your visibility to prospective employers/jobs but an easy way to contact and/or refer you from potential clients and previous clientele.

Answer 13

I was recently asked by a startup company to give the online references to showcase my work and the technical prsence, I suppose the domain matters a lot, If you look for a job in Android/iOS/games and web apps related jobs then be prepared to show your work. If you are into embedded/financial/banking/DB looking for a job in larger firms then the track record matters more.

Answer 14

In my experience the personal site/brand/presence is incredibly helpful in having cool job opportunities present themselves. Especially in software development.

Good companies won't reject your application if you're without a solid online presence, but having one will definitely help companies find you.

Side note: If you're a freelancer looking for gigs, it's paramount that you spend some time creating a great online presence. Portfolio, github profile, stackoverflow, and public client reviews.

Today you will always be filtered based on your online presence first. Pretty much always.