SO profiles are, like Github profiles, a fantastic resource to put on a CV. In a vacuum, it doesn't give much, but it's a great skill amplifier. It also gives visibility from SO itself.
GitHub isn't a CV, but it serves as a portfolio or set of work samples.
This has traditionally been important in hiring people for creative work, though prior to GitHub and similar sites there wasn't necessarily a single particularly good/common way for this to be done in the software development field.
To be fair the days when Github was a strong signal are long over. When interviewing it is rarely worth the interviewers time to look and figure out if it is original code or just forks. Whether the CV is well formatted and free of spelling mistakes is actually a much stronger signal than whether it has a Github link on or not.
While I agree that having a github is great for a number of reasons, I do not think it's a Resume/CV "replacement" when looking for "any" software job.
> A cv is useless for conveying who you are and what value you bring relative to all the other thousands of people out there. A paper is a paper is a paper.
True. Therefore if you're looking at integrating a Startup, it is great because educated developers might have the time to meticulously review every application. But when you're looking for a job, any job, especially in a more established company it doesn't work the same way.
Of course, if your github projects are "famous", say you created Redis (the 1% case), then it can act as a CV replacement. A replacement NOT because someone will dig into the actual code, but rather because they'll know you created this known thing called Redis (or they'll read about it on Wikipedia and realize it's a big deal)... so it's in a way your CV. But if your github only has random projects (which is the 99% case), it's actually quite hard and time consuming to jump into the code to evaluate an applicant's skill.
To better explain my point that a resume/CV actually makes the difference, let's look at it the other way around. Imagine you are a recruiter, you have 100 applicants, and you need to filter the list because you can't interview all 100 of them. Are you going to look into at everyone's repo?! No. Instead you will give a quick look at the CV to identify 'potentially' good candidates. Having a link to your github on the CV is a big plus at this point (independently of what it has), because it's different from most of the other ones (aka: you're special, more passionate about technology). Once the filtering is done, only then will you usually have the occasion to be heard through an interview. And it's at this point that you actually need to show you're real value.
Now I do agree that this system is flawed, but it's the game. If you want to maximize your chances, which you most likely do considering you have no options, you should play the game and get a solid cv/resume. Having said that, if you lack experience or content for your CV, personal projects (on github) are a good filler ;)
I really like it when someone takes the time to package up their experience into a form that is easy to understand. A github profile as a resume could feel like that person hasn't taken the time to show why we need them. When there is only one job vacant the best pitch wins.
We found a great remote developer using Github. For a while I had been keeping track of high quality repos which mentioned that the author was for hire. When we finally needed to hire a developer, I reached out to the first guy on the list, and he's been working with us for more than a year now. I think a good open source track record is the best resume.
A resume or CV is a piece of paper to get your name on someone's desk, then you get hired by passing the interview. Github is just another way of getting (or keeping) your name on someone's desk.
+1 for this. I used to be a recruiter, and knew hiring managers looked at GitHub profiles. When I started, I used to to stress out over pushing crappy code to my GitHub account. At some point I realized that anyone judging me for stuff I put into GitHub was simply not someone I would ever want to please. My GitHub is mostly a graveyard for experiments, learning, and goofing off, and that is exactly what I want it to be :)
If you have something really notable in your GitHub account, maybe it should probably be on your CV/resume, too!
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