Ask HN: Should being a public personae be an engineering job requisite?

20+ years ago I was an active phreaker/hacker and avid member of the community until the scene became more about young male aggression than exploring and breaking the rules.

SJWs are a great analogue to the hacker scene. Imagine if on top of public attacks, they sent SWAT teams to your house, made accusations to your employers, ruined your credit,, and much worse.

Seeing this brutal lottery of acceptance has lead me to maintain a low profile. I use throwaway accounts on mailing lists, forums, irc, github, and slack.II refuse to allow a bio or photos to be posted on my employers' websites, and keep LinkedIN locked down. I don't do social.

As an extrovert and diligent networker this hasn't hindered my career. Lately, however, job listings have trended towards candidates who enjoy the limelight, seeking proof of community involvement, public code discussions, publications, and speaking at conferences.

I see these as valid tools for promoting a company's in a highly competitive hiring market, proving to upper management that you can attract recognized subject matter experts, and in assessing technical and team-work abilities through code samples and community involvement.

All of these are valid tools for employers, but can also lead to discriminatory hiring practices and assessments of your value based on factors other than the merits of your work.

How do you feel about this? Has a tendency towards privacy (or publicity) negatively affected your career? Outside of community management/evangelist oriented roles, do you feel this is a valid elimination reason for eliminating a candidate? Do you measure a candidate/co-worker/employee on their social media presence, or lack thereof?