Assuming it is for a technical role, would Karma be interesting for the person hiring? Would your comments be useful to know if you're a good fit? Or is it just too risky?
Depends how bad you want the job, how worried are you about your privacy and what you are planning to do on HN which is more important than what you have done before.
HN is very well known to a subset of the high-tech community, not necessarily limited to the SF Bay Area by any means, but probably concentrated there. It is less well known outside of that region, and generally unheard of outside the tech industry.
I would not expect an HN username to do much good on a resume unless, as JM suggests, you are applying to a YC-backed company.
On the flipside, the kind of company that considers your HN username a compelling data point on your resume is probably a fun company to work for. :)
On the flipside, the kind of company that considers your HN username a compelling data point on your resume is probably a fun company to work for.
This is exactly why it doesn't hurt to include it. I live and work in London and if someone applied for one of my jobs and had their HN username on their CV, I would check it out immediately. The fact is, it shows an active interest in the field outside of your day-to-day work. I can't think of any circumstance where it would have a negative impact.
GitHub/StackOverflow, yes... HN karma isn't supposed to be something you aspire to or cultivate, it's more for you to know your self, relative to the community here.
Yes if you've been cultivating that user name with sharing it in mind from the get go. Otherwise no, there might be an incriminating little nugget of poop in there somewhere.
hell no, here is why. I use a semi-anonymous username for a reason. I generally respond to most threads without properly thinking most responses out (after all, its a forum) and a lot of the time those responses are something I regret later on.
Nothing I post here I'm really embarrassed about, but nothing I'm really proud of.
Only if 1) you are one of the top posters on HN, 2) you are sure the people reading your resume are avid HNers and would recognize your name. Otherwise it's more likely to hurt than help.
I doubt anyone would care about karma, but if you're in the habit of making thoughtful comments, it could help give the interviewer a sense of who you are, the depth of your thinking, the subjects that interest you, your writing skills, etc.
If you were to include your username in the "interests" section of your resume, I think it would do no harm if your comments are reasonable and could possibly help depending on the personality of the person who reads your resume.
I see no reason why HN karma should be relevant for technical roles. Well, maybe there were deep technical conversations which would really impress, but noone's gonna dig for that.
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[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 46.5 ms ] threadI would not expect an HN username to do much good on a resume unless, as JM suggests, you are applying to a YC-backed company.
On the flipside, the kind of company that considers your HN username a compelling data point on your resume is probably a fun company to work for. :)
This is exactly why it doesn't hurt to include it. I live and work in London and if someone applied for one of my jobs and had their HN username on their CV, I would check it out immediately. The fact is, it shows an active interest in the field outside of your day-to-day work. I can't think of any circumstance where it would have a negative impact.
Association says something about interests and character, I believe.
The question is really, do you want potential employers to read the comments you've made on this site?
Nothing I post here I'm really embarrassed about, but nothing I'm really proud of.
If you were to include your username in the "interests" section of your resume, I think it would do no harm if your comments are reasonable and could possibly help depending on the personality of the person who reads your resume.
GitHub or SO would be interesting, though.