7 tips for junior software engineers to get noticed on Github
Applying for a junior or graduate role and having no success? Here are some of my top Github tips to get noticed:
✅ Think of a project that means something to you - a hobby, a cause, or a utility that you find useful. If you've got passion for it, you can show that passion in your screening calls and interviews.
❌ Don't build a TODO list
✅ Find collaborators - this shows you're ready to work as a team.
❌ "I built the frontend and the backend and the iOS app all by myself" - as impressive as that might sound, it's unrealistic to expect that sort of role in the real world. If you want to be a jack of all trades, you at least need to be a master of one.
✅ Document how you work - use Github's issues and discussions features to collaborate with other contributors. Even if you can't find any collaborators, you'll still find it useful to keep track of everything you need to do.
❌ "I just kind of came up with the idea and did it"
✅ Learn how to write high quality tests first before worrying about what CSS-in-JS framework or database to use.
❌ "I'll add tests in later"
✅ Commit early and often, we want to see what you learned along the way.
❌ git commit -m "Initial commit" && git push
✅ Write a good README. Tell me what it's for, who made it, how I can get it running, how I can contribute, and what your future plans are.
❌ Don't just have a title and 1 sentence about what it is
✅ Time to stitch it all together! Have some sort of minimal CI/CD pipeline - there's hundreds of free Github actions out there that do all the heavy lifting to get your project tested, built, and deployed.
❌ "I usually deploy it from my machine when I need to update it"
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