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Ask HN: How to get interviews/introductions through work on GitHub

9 points by gajomi ↗ HN
I am interested in finding out about stories (both of success and failure) of trying to get an introduction and/or interview by way of making modest contributions (features, bugfixes, performance improvements) on social coding sites like github.

My purpose in asking about this is two-fold. (1) It is well known that resume based screens for candidates can be a huge pain for both companies and prospective employees, partly because of the small signal to noise ratio, but also partly because resumes simply don't efficiently communicate the kind of information employers might like to know. (2) This frustration is compounded for the employer by the fact that, even when a candidate passes an initial screening, they might subsequently fail a fizzbuzz type test or otherwise not meet some kind of minimal criterion for moving forward in the process.

It seems reasonable to me that companies with a significant open source presence might be interested to find out that a contributor to one of there projects was looking for work as (1) if they are already aware of and helping develop projects in the company that is a strong signal for potential skill and cultural fit and (2) if their contributions were accepted into the project that would seem like a reasonable minimal criterion for moving forward in an interview process (i.e. they have some technical skills and a few current employees know their work). This process is roughly analogous to a `project based` interview that many companies do, but it is a signal much earlier in the process and probably less time consuming.

So that's the idea in theory, but I want to hear evidence for against/this strategy. There are some details particular to my situation that I'll leave in a comment.

7 comments

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gajomi
As promised, I wanted to give some details about my specific situation without polluting the main post. I am currently looking for a permanent position in the data science / data analysis area. I have specific expertise in time series analysis and by way of interest and skillsets cluster with the so called "type A" data scientists (https://medium.com/@rchang/my-two-year-journey-as-a-data-sci...). My search also represents an effort to transition out of academia (short postdoc after PhD) and into industry.

There are a handful of companies that I am very excited about (some of them with employees lurking here on HN). I have had a few rejections at the resume screening stage from companies advertising positions for which I had imagined there would be a strong fit. Of course, it is easy for me to imagine things that might be hard to HR staff to see in a resume. So it occurred to me that if I could establish some kind of basic social rapport with someone at one of the companies I am interested, that could potentially lead to the right set of eyes being cast on my resume in particular, but also, incidentally and perhaps more importantly my contributions to the companies project.

Finally as a side note, I feel compelled to say that I don't have an especially active or extensive github profile (as I mentioned before I am mostly a type A data scientist, and spend much more time doing exploratory data analysis and the like then writing code), but I don;t think this would be a negative signal for most of the companies I am interested in.

A suggestions about how to attack this problem in my specific case would be greatly appreciated.

rahimnathwani
"There are a handful of companies that I am very excited about (some of them with employees lurking here on HN)."

Why not reach out directly to employees of those companies (whether future peers or hiring managers) and ask them to have a coffee with you? Most people I meet are happy to share information and advice with people who are genuinely interested in their work/field/company.

If you're shy and not sure what to write, there are many examples online. Just search for 'how to ask for an informational interview in an email'.

gajomi
Thanks for the tip! Its A good idea and actually also part of my plan. There is one extra barrier that makes me a bit uneasy about this, however, which is that I am in every case at least hundreds, if not thousands of miles away from these people. I am not shy at all if meeting someone in person, but making these kinds of cold contacts with the extra barrier of physical distance is a new for me, and part of why I started cooking up schemes involving github.
rahimnathwani
Just email them. Many people work with remote colleagues, and are used to initiating contact over email, and having meetings on Hangouts or Skype.
jstewartmobile
Sounds plausible, but I've never come across a recruiter or HR person who even knows what GitHub is.
gajomi
Indeed. Part of what I was imagining in this scenario, was that the primary point of contact would be someone outside of HR (within product development, business intelligence, IT), since they would be the ones reviewing any pull requests. So part of my presumption was that it would be possible to make a pitch directly to someone internal to a team who could advocate for the consideration of my application at a "post-screening" level. Of course, there is plenty of room to commit a faux pas in trying to market yourself in this way, which is why I was hoping HN could share their experiences.
juhq
I get 1-3 emails per month with "I came across your profile on GitHub and you seem like a match" and then they are talking about position using technologies which I've never used nor which I don't have on my GitHub profile.