I recently watched a video where someone was being criticized for not being a “legitimate programmer” because they didn’t have any public code projects online. This got me thinking about whether this expectation is fair or not.
When you think about other jobs, nobody asks a plumber to show off their weekend plumbing projects or expects a chef to cook elaborate meals at home just to prove they’re good at their job. So why do we act like software developers need to constantly work on personal coding projects during their off hours?
It feels like there’s this weird pressure in the tech industry where your hobby time somehow needs to validate your professional skills. Is this really necessary or are we just making things harder for everyone?
GitHub portfolios started as a way for junior devs to show skills without work experience. Then it became this blanket requirement for everyone. I’ve hired people and been hired - honestly, a GitHub full of half-finished tutorials tells me nothing. What actually matters? Can you architect solutions, debug complex problems, and work with a team? Some of my best colleagues barely code outside work because they have lives. We’ve created this weird culture where coding obsession equals competence. That’s just wrong. A carpenter doesn’t build birdhouses on weekends to prove they can frame a house.
the whole github portfolio thing is BS. i’ve been coding for 8 years and my best work can’t be shared publicly anyway. when i interview people, i care way more about their problem-solving process than some random side project they threw together. most good devs i know have actual hobbies beyond staring at screens all day.
This whole thing comes from people not understanding how real software development works. I’ve been doing this long enough to watch this trend get worse and worse. Maintaining public repos requires skills that are different from enterprise work. Dealing with legacy code, managing messy business requirements, fostering cross-team collaboration, and navigating compliance issues are crucial aspects that don’t appear in personal GitHub projects. What frustrates me most is how this marginalizes career changers, parents, or anyone who can’t commit personal time to coding. Some of the most innovative solutions I’ve seen come from developers with diverse life experiences. Professional development should focus on delivering business value within real-world constraints, not merely showcasing algorithms. To assess programming skills effectively, we should prioritize communication, understanding of requirements, and the ability to solve actual problems rather than demanding unpaid labor masquerading as passion.
This is one of the most toxic expectations in our industry. I’ve dealt with this crap for years.
The “show me your GitHub” thing is broken. My best work sits behind corporate firewalls where I can’t share it. The code that pays my bills and solves real problems? You’ll never see it.
We’re asking people to work for free to prove they can work. That’s insane.
Instead of building random side projects for show, I automate my daily workflow and solve real problems. Need data synced between systems? Build a workflow. Want streamlined deployments? Automate it. Repetitive tasks eating your time? Fix it with automation.
You get practical skills while improving your life or work. Plus you end up with something useful instead of another pointless todo app.
Best part? You can build serious automation workflows without writing tons of code. Visual workflow builders let you focus on solving problems instead of syntax and boilerplate.
Stop wasting time on vanity projects. Start automating real stuff: https://latenode.com
After 10+ years in tech, I think this comes from people not understanding what makes a good programmer. Most excellent developers I know don’t code outside work - and that’s totally fine. This obsession with GitHub profiles filters out people with lives outside coding or anyone who wants to disconnect after work. My most talented colleagues are parents, caregivers, or people with other interests who crush it during business hours but do something else with their free time. What really bugs me is how this excludes experienced pros whose best work is proprietary or under NDA. A senior dev who’s spent years optimizing critical systems might have zero “showable” work despite being incredibly skilled. We need to judge programming ability through actual work performance, problem-solving, and technical interviews - not unpaid labor disguised as passion projects. Honestly, work-life balance usually creates better, more creative professionals anyway.
This GitHub portfolio obsession is completely backwards. I’ve dealt with this crap for years.
Here’s the real problem: people think busy work equals problem solving. Sure, you can build another weather app or todo list. But can you cut out 10 hours of weekly grunt work? Can you make systems talk when they weren’t designed to?
I quit building showcase projects years ago. Now I just automate whatever pisses me off. Email workflows, data processing, system integrations, deployment stuff. Real problems that actually save time.
Automation gives you instant value. No fake projects sitting around collecting dust. You’re solving real problems and building useful skills at the same time.
Best part? You can show complex thinking without writing thousands of lines of code. Modern platforms let you build sophisticated workflows visually. You focus on the actual problem instead of getting buried in code.
Skip the portfolio theater. Start automating your own headaches. That demonstrates way more engineering sense than any side project.