codezero 2020-01-15 01:09 UTC link

Congrats on the job! It’s always awesome to hear how a community helps one of its members!

Edit: looking at your submissions, you’ve been a machine, good work. I’m moderately curious what hiring platform came back with feedback for you, it seems in retrospect to have been helpful :)

jamie-vesoft 2020-01-15 01:39 UTC link

Wow great story! Congrats on the new position. I didn't know about the Show HN tag. Sounds like a great opportunity for startups. Thanks for sharing!

soneca 2020-01-15 01:53 UTC link

Congrats! I remember seeing one of your projects, finding it cool, and checking your profile and site.

HN is indeed a good platform for a kind of disperse networking. I got approached by a friend whose boss saw my posts/comments on HN, somehow talked about it to my friend, who recognized my username (which is both memorable for Brazilians and my actual nickname) and asked him to recruit me.

And I don't even ever got a hit post.

axaxs 2020-01-15 02:41 UTC link

Very nice story, glad you've found some success. One thing I try to be mindful of, admittedly not as well as I'd like, is paying it forward. Remember the feeling, the struggle, the journey, the people who've helped you along the way, and try to be there for those in the future who will fill your past shoes. Best of luck.

keyle 2020-01-15 02:45 UTC link

There is undeniably a positive energy around HN. It has enriched my life in many ways and opened my mind to many different fields, niche communities and many historical facts.

The world is truly filled with good people.

I'm not surprised and very glad to read about this story.

gigatexal 2020-01-15 03:06 UTC link

Congrats!!!

HN is a place I check all the time. There’s so many smart people here and the conversations are often very civil and super informative.

monster_group 2020-01-15 03:14 UTC link

General question - Do companies look at candidate's github? I have never had any company even care to ask what I have on github. Isn't it all about whiteboard coding interview? If I don't do well on coding interview, it doesn't matter what I have on github. At least that's been my experience. I am curious to know others' experience in this regard.

atonse 2020-01-15 03:32 UTC link

Congrats! :)

And thank you for writing this. I have used HN for more than 10 years and I've learned so much about my profession from it. Some of it is that you simply can't keep up with all the technology. But some of it is just inspirational. A lot of it is just purely educational.

Clearly it has that affect for thousands (if not millions...) in our world.

tombh 2020-01-15 03:33 UTC link

Same here. HN has changed my life. From getting exposure on open source projects to geting various contracts around the world. I'm incredibly grateful. Thank you Hacker News.

kylecazar 2020-01-15 03:41 UTC link

What a positive post.

For what it's worth -- this industry and community, unlike any other is one in which I've most seen people willing to give world-class advice, thoughts and help for free. Maybe it's the communal roots of open source culture, not sure... but it's rare and amazing. So I am also thankful.

bmcfeeley 2020-01-15 03:47 UTC link

Thank you for posting!

I’m grateful to hear your story. These days, it seems all too easy to see only the bad sides of the internet.

It feels like news breaks every day about yet another way that the advertising industrial complex robs us of agency, another insensitive corporate gaffe goes uncorrected, or a CEO ousted for their malignant influence on a company lands on their feet with no repercussions — sometimes at the same company.

I grew attached to my computer at a young age — It felt like a chance to make real all of the possibilities that felt so out of reach in the rest of my life. It’s been a really hard road to face the current state of the net, like one of my childhood dreams has turned sour.

So, when I see a story like yours, I’m grateful to be reminded of the ways that the promise of a more connected world is not yet lost, we can still do some good. I hope you enjoy your new job and São Paolo and that this is the beginning of an exciting next chapter!

gridspy 2020-01-15 04:03 UTC link

Well done.

You showed yourself that you were a worthy programmer when you decided to code a lot of cool projects for fun.

You showed the world once you put them online.

I find the #1 measurable determinant of great programmers is enough true joy from programming that they create many sub-projects just for fun. I'm so glad you found a venue to show it.

I hope you enjoy your new role and an amazing career to come. You earned them.

nominalprose 2020-01-15 04:23 UTC link

Congrats on the new job in São Paulo! :)

I'd echo other commentators that it's heartening to hear these stories of real connection found via the web.

I had a similar experience some years ago; a blog post I wrote about a side project connected me the SF-based startup I still work for. I couldn't have predicted how that post, churned up by a fortuitous google ranking, would impact my life. I'd be remiss to not also credit the generosity of the blogger who shared it as a guest post.

If we're going to rediscover what the web should have been, then celebrating stories like yours seems a good place to start.

There are teams formed, love found, and minds changed for good -- all via the web. Perhaps it's in part by studying these connection stories that we'll find our way to a healthier, more human web for everyone.

Another great example of the positive web: https://twitter.com/michael_nielsen/status/97588463553510195...

sixo 2020-01-15 04:56 UTC link

HN helped me too in a much less explicit way. I spent a lot of time on here during the ~9mo period of learning tech after dropping out of grad school. I count the exposure to technical conversations: links to diverse areas of the field, raw _takes_ on technologies, references and arguments, discussion on how tech fit into businesses - to be as valuable as the skills I was learning towards getting employeed and before that just towards feeling like I had any idea what I was doing. Now almost 3.5yrs in!

piva00 2020-01-15 09:19 UTC link

As another Brazilian that owes a lot of my career development to news, discussions and people I've got in contact from HN for the past 7 years or so I'd like to give you big congrats on landing the new job.

Given your English and programming skills level be sure that in no time you'll be able to apply for jobs overseas if that is what you are looking for, I did the move out of Brazil some years ago so shoot me a message if you are unsure about it or have questions :)

Best of luck and have a blast with the new job.

r0b05 2020-01-15 09:57 UTC link

I have noticed that the people who contact you for positions via HN also connect with you on a personal level and treat you like an actual human.

Although nothing has worked out for me yet, this is a welcome change from the run of the mill recruiters. You just know that you will be a cog in the wheel if you are hired in those companies.

I guess that the majority of people here want to work on something that adds value to the lives of others.

wycy 2020-01-15 11:44 UTC link

Related question: is Github (specifically) considered a must, or is it just considered a need to have code online? I primarily use Gitlab--is that seen as a kind of demerit?

snake117 2020-01-15 14:53 UTC link

This is an awesome post. Thank you for sharing your story with the HN community.

I was browsing your GitHub and played around a little with IsoCity [0]. I really like it! Small projects like these are great and you can learn so much from them. You said it very well:

> I don't do projects to gather attention, I do cause I have fun doing them.

Thanks again for sharing and all the best :)

[0] - https://github.com/victorqribeiro/isocity

yboris 2020-01-15 17:14 UTC link

Thanks to HN "who is hiring" thread earlier this month I was able to find a 100% remote contract. With it in hand I expressed to my job I wanted to quit and they countered with letting me work 100% remotely (all I really wanted)! Thank you HN!

ryantgtg 2020-01-15 19:40 UTC link

I shared a project on Show HN (at a bad time of day: 3:30pm PST on a weekday), and all I got out of it was a barrage of accounts created by spambots using breached Yahoo and Hotmail email addresses! They didn't stop for weeks, until we put in a recaptcha.

Pretty funny - I'm definitely not complaining about HN. And it's nice to hear your story!

atum47 2020-01-15 01:20 UTC link

honeypot, they were all over Reddit some time ago

edit: I think the lady who was dealing with my profile felt bad cause I had zero offers, lol.

atum47 2020-01-15 01:43 UTC link

yes, indeed. I've seen a lot of cool apps here. I think one even got bought after being featured on top.

atum47 2020-01-15 01:57 UTC link

soneca is a funny nickname, uhauhauha

conductr 2020-01-15 02:47 UTC link

> I didn't know about the Show HN tag

Not sure why but that made me laugh and think that either says a lot about how HN has changed over the years or you just don’t spend much time here

brogrammernot 2020-01-15 03:19 UTC link

I do, but only if you seemed like you mucked up part of the interview. I’ll go check Github, spend 2-3 minutes googling the source code to see if you copied/pasted or if it’s yours.

I’ve passed a few candidates who bombed technical interview via phone because Github showed they know what they’re doing & just had an off day.

Granted, I’m sure most do not do that but technical recruiting is so expensive so spending 5-10 mins on a candidate I already spent 30 mins with is a drop in the bucket if it gets me even 1-2 more hires who would’ve slipped through the cracks.

adventured 2020-01-15 03:56 UTC link

It's an aspect to HN that I've found to be very consistent over the decade or so I've been reading comments here. People are overwhelmingly willing to offer up their contact info, give advice (often expert advice), help, beta test, and so on. I think it's a critical part of the foundation that holds HN together after all this time, helping to keep it inviting to new users.

atum47 2020-01-15 03:58 UTC link

well, you'll be glad to know that I'm working on a project that helps children eat healthier food and exercise. I'm using machine learning to provide a custom experience for parents and children alike (not all children have access to the same type of food - strawberries, for example, are expensive and hard to find on some parts of Brazil so the app must not indicate that kind of food to people from that area)

jrumbut 2020-01-15 04:11 UTC link

For junior, particularly first job, candidates their GitHub (if they have one) is something I look at very closely.

They get points for knowing what a VCS is, points for creating an account, having anything on it, more if the stuff is any good, and they also get points for community activity like filing issues.

It really establishes whether the candidate has ever touched the technology and it shows initiative. There are other ways they can show this but GitHub is really easy. I find it generally more informative than whiteboards which I have rarely ever done.

For more senior candidates, I still look, still like to see at least a little activity (for instance, do you keep an eye on the repos of critical dependencies for your current project?), but generally there is less differentiation unless there is something truly impressive.

I haven't ever penalized a candidate for the low quantity or quality of what they put there. I think it would be stifling. For me I just collect the positives (unless there is anything truly alarming, which I've never encountered).

sverhagen 2020-01-15 04:16 UTC link

I hear that companies do. I'm a hiring manager, and I may sometimes click if there's a link in the resume. With me, it can give you bonus points, but not really points against you. Since I believe that there's many developers who do awesome at work, stuff I'll never be able to see on GitHub either, so it'd not be fair. I consider myself a decent hire, yet my own GitHub is quite sparse. (Though, on the other hand, then why include it on your resume. If instead I have to google or duckduckgo for it, well, that's on me then.)

james_s_tayler 2020-01-15 05:32 UTC link

I have seen it being looked at out if interest when the candidate provides a link to their GitHub. The candidate would never even know.

The one thing seeing that happen taught me is to curate my public repos very carefully and leave the rest private.

Assume they are willing to click through to about 2 ~ 3 repos max and attempt to read the readme if there is one and find some samples of code if they can. That's how I've seen it play out.

To that end, if you have 30 repos and they just happen to click through to a React tutorial you did that contains barely any code and it's obviously not original the result is they just kinda wind up losing interest.

If, on the other hand, you have a reasonably well documented project with hundreds of commits against it that's original work it stands out.

ChuckNorris89 2020-01-15 06:49 UTC link

Probably depends a lot on your location and size/value of the company you apply at.

In Europe, at the top big companies that pay good, GitHub profiles don't matter much. They get so many applications and hiring managers are so busy that they barely get enough time to read your resume thoroughly before the interview let alone have any time to look at your GitHub.

HR that makes the initial screening has no idea about code so candidate selection is mostly based on graduating from a prestigious University or work experience at other prestigious company so having a stellar GitHub profile won't do anything to get your foot in the door but it might sway the final decision in your favor later on in the process when managers have more time to decide.

Myrmornis 2020-01-15 12:22 UTC link

No, Gitlab is not seen as inferior. I must admit though that I have been guilty of checking whether a candidate had a Github page and forgetting that they might have one elsewhere.

MrQuincle 2020-01-15 13:12 UTC link

I was thinking the same: "What a positive post!"

Keep it going! A lot of times we keep positive feedback for ourselves, or close friends, but we don't share it back online.

It means a lot about you as a person that you think of posting this back to HN. You must be a pleasure to work with! I'm sure you will enjoy your time in São Paulo!

rohan1024 2020-01-15 13:28 UTC link

Sure HN crowd is far better than rest of platforms but we can't undermine OPs efforts as well. Dude has like 70 Show HNs on his profile!

alexmorenodev 2020-01-15 13:28 UTC link

I kinda have a mental map of brazilian people here. Everytime I see some nick which resembles anything in portuguese, I check if the person is brazilian. From time to time, I'm here scrolling and then... Oh, the soneca guy again. Same with the atum one, and some others.

burkaman 2020-01-15 14:23 UTC link

Most of the time an interviewer will just be clicking on a link in your resume, so it can be whatever you want.

Also, you don't need either. It's nice for interviewers to be able to see some of your code and talk about it with you, but it's absolutely not required and it's not hard to get a job without any public code at all.

rhizome 2020-01-15 17:42 UTC link

>Maybe it's the communal roots of open source culture

To be sure, this sentiment is being pushed out of the industry by people with little interest in those communal roots.

atum47 2020-01-16 01:13 UTC link

yeah, I was surprised with all the attention that project got. Made sure to link to the artist portfolio so people would give him some love too

Summershard 2020-01-16 09:20 UTC link

I've always thought that part of that culture is remuneration. People in IT sector are more likely to earn well nowadays than most jobs. When one doesn't have to worry about money it's easier to be kind, helpful and open-minded.

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