Had a talk with my old manager Dave last week that completely flipped how I see side projects on resumes

He told me he actively skips candidates who list a half dozen unfinished GitHub repos because it screams they can't commit, not that they're ambitious, and now I'm wondering if I should just delete 3 of my dead projects instead of polishing them.

2 comments

2 Comments

olivia_bailey1d ago

So he really skips people just for having unfinished repos?

logan7051d ago

Honestly, I think that's a bit much. One hiring manager's pet peeve doesn't mean every recruiter feels that way. People start side projects all the time to learn something new, not just to ship a finished product. It's pretty normal to have a few dead repos on your profile if you're just messing around with code or trying out ideas. I'd say it only matters if those projects are all you've got and they're all clearly abandoned. Otherwise, I bet most people don't even scroll that deep to care.