Comment by zelphirkalt

Comment by zelphirkalt 15 hours ago

13 replies

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About point 2: I have yet to have a job interview, in which the interviewer has even taken a look at my website. Well, actually I don't know that, of course, but what I want to say is, that none so far showed any sign or indication of having taken a look, and as a consequence also no sign or indication of knowing anything about any of my showcased projects. In 95% of the cases it was just that they want to do their one thing, their one test, and not consider the candidate as a person at all. No time for that these days, I guess.

flpm 13 hours ago

Also a hiring manager. I always do. For me a good personal site is a huge step towards a phone interview. I look for things people do not because anyone told them to do (college projects, internships, work), but because they were excited about it. That initiative and excitement is what will set you apart from the other 100 resumes that look exactly like yours.

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  • zelphirkalt 10 hours ago

    I hope you can "infect" others with this kind of view, so that more people adopt it.

    My CV currently also includes a link to my repositories and a page briefly describing some projects that got anywhere. Far from all of my 100 or so personal free time projects get finished, but some do, and those are described and linked in my CV and on my website.

    At least I do get interviews, which must mean at least something, and sometimes it's just the role that is not fitting. Often it is their tech stack and they do not believe in engineers learning things on the job, looking for a perfect match. Sometimes it was some test that they do, that presumes some knowledge about some library or that is some specific leetcode thingy, that I wouldn't code that way anyway, if I had the choice.

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    • deadbabe 8 hours ago

      Please no, I don’t want people making blogs just because they want to get a job from it at some point, they should be making blogs because they love to blog.

      Imagine everyone having some cookie cutter blog, just a standard part of a resume.

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      • johannes1234321 4 hours ago

        At least pre AI it was easy to identify if a blog was done due to interest or for self advertisment.

        I haven't been recruiting recently but goes it's even simpler to identify blogs full of loveless AI slop and people who care about a topic. (Even if they use AI for language assistance etc)

        Topics, which details being presented, frequency, ...

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      • ozim 6 hours ago

        Just look how it goes with GitHub everyone has some BS repos and then also they spam projects to get contributions for CVs.

        Hacktober was the worst but I think it went away because of BS spam contributions.

        CVE and in general security issues reporting has this issue nowadays where everyone wants to get CVE on their name to have it for CV. It is worst stuff ever.

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taude 11 hours ago

That's wild. I first typically LinkedIn search someone, and then web search someone, even before I get too deep into the resume (they've already been filtered and ranked for me).

In the past I got a job I had for 8 years through my blog, a startup that eventually sold....

So, it's been pretty good for me, and doesn't actually take that much extra effort on top of the learning you do daily working in tech.

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Joeboy 11 hours ago

I do. I find interviewing pretty awkward and am happier if I can find something interesting to talk about. I'm bad at maintaining my own blog though.

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fabianholzer 7 hours ago

I'm involved in screening CVs and interviewing candidates. If there is so much as a email adress that indicates a personal domain, I look it up to see whether behind it there might be something like a personal website. When the CV is good and Github repositories etc. are mentioned I also take a brief glance there. But indeed, it is very rather rare that I make the content a part of the interview.

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miketery 12 hours ago

That’s a good signal for you. When you find the person who did look you will know they stand out.

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  • zelphirkalt 12 hours ago

    Only question is, how long I can comfortably hold out, not doing a shitty job, until I see that signal flaring up, because they seem far and few between, so far. It might also just be a Germany thing, this kind of hiring, that is blind to the genuinely curious and creative people.

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rustystump 8 hours ago

You likely are interviewing at big companies. I have worked across the industry and the smaller the team the more they look at my website work etc. some even asked about game reviews on my blog during the interview.

However, even at big companies it can be useful depending on context but you have to bring it up in relation to why you are a fit for the job. Genuine enthusiasm goes a long way especially in the dry corporate world.

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synergy20 14 hours ago

or the job market is too crowded due to recent layoffs

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