Github: How to create a good profile?

In this article, I will give you five concrete tips that you can use to spice up your GitHub profile. Three tips are quick and easy, two are a bit more involved. But before we dive into the tips, I think it’s good to give a brief explanation about Github and why a good profile is important.

What is Github?

A short explanation

If you search for the phrase “What is GitHub?”, Google gives you 615 million responses to that query, so there are a lot of people who want to know what exactly Github is.

Let me start with the official explanation of Github:

GitHub is a developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage and share their code. It uses Git software, providing the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continuous integration, and wikis for every project. 

So, in my own words, GitHub is one of the most popular resources for developers (and Data Scientists) to share their code, and where they work on projects together. It’s free and easy to use.

Github itself has made a very clear and concise video about what Github exactly is.

[presto_player id=12330]

So GitHub allows software developers and engineers to create remote, public-facing repositories on the cloud for free. A repository, or “repo” for short, is a coding project’s files and the revision history for each file. Once you’ve set up a repository on GitHub, you can copy it to your device, add and modify files locally, then “push” your changes back to the repository where your changes display for the public.

That’s it for the explanation about Github, if there is a need for a tutorial on how to use Github, please let me know.

Github as a resume

The new Linkedin

Nowadays, when applying for a job as a developer/engineer/scientist, a Github profile is increasingly requested. And that is not so strange. A profile with public repositories is very instructive for a potential employer.

• It shows how active you are and whether you are coding a lot
• It shows what projects you are working on/have worked on
• It shows what your code looks like and therefore how you work
• It shows how you think and approach problems
• It shows how you fix bugs

Let’s say you’re applying for a job where the explicit question is whether you have experience with APIs. Then it’s very useful to show this on your Github profile. Saying you have it without being able to prove it is not strong.

On the other hand, Github can work to your advantage. For example, you may have little work experience in Machine Learning, but you are very busy with it in your free time and it shows on your Github, then that is of course a big plus.

Employees are more interested in the simple question of can you build. They want clear and concrete proof from your resume from your Github profile that you know how to build things with code and that could be all sorts of things. But keep in mind that it is your job tailoring your resume to make it as easy as possible for the employer to see the things they want proof of.

Okay, the importance of Github has been underlined here. Now let’s move on to how to update your profile.

Tip 1: Keep your profile active

Show that you dream in code

Ok, I am going to start off with a super quick and easy tip. This may be relevant to you or it may not be, but one thing that I see when I look at people’s profiles is if they’re active or not. If you look at my profile right now it looks like I’m basically doing nothing as far as code goes, but there’s a good reason for that and that’s because most of the work that I do happens in private repositories.

But there’s a quick and easy way to show that you’re active and you’re working on these private repositories without revealing any sensitive data.

So what you can do is you can click on your profile icon in the top right corner once you’re signed in click on settings go down to contribution and activity and then there’s this button you can toggle include private contributions on my profile and as you can see this will add your activity there without revealing any repository or organization information.

Tip 2: Pin interesting repositories

Proud code

Tip number two is also quick and easy and that is to make usage of pins on your profile. So often times I feel like you may have worked on 10 plus projects on Github but only have one or two that you really want to show off, or only 2 repositories are in the career direction you want to go.

By default Github kind of selects what repositories to show it. Sometimes arranged by popularity, but more often by recent updates. Fortunately, you can now indicate which repositories deserve the most attention.

Tip 3: Create a profile repository

Make an introduction

The third tip this is probably the most important tip – if not the second most important tip – and that is to add a profile readme repository to your Github profile. This is a great way to stand out right away, but also to show who you are and what your passion is. (And if you are a frontend developer, for example, you can also show your creative skills.)

If you want this too, here’s what you need to do. (It’s actually really simple.)
You need to create a new PUBLIC repository with the exact same name as your Github username. (In my case, that’s thijswillemmoens)

In this repository, create a readme.md file and that’s what will be displayed. You can keep it really simple, but you can also put anything you want in there. Below this articles you’ll find a couple of links to inspiring Github profiles for your inspiration.

Tip 4: Fill in your profile

Show who you are

This tip is very obvious, but it is therefore good to hear. Fill in your profile as much as possible. This row on the left is where people often look and where you can give a lot of information in a short time.

• So make sure you have a good, clear and recent photo.
• Tell where you work
• Place relevant links
• Your email address so that people can contact you directly

Tip 5: Have clear and informative documentation

Let other people read about your repositories

This tip is more about your repositories than your profile. Or rather about good documentation of your repositories. I know from my own experience and from working with many developers and engineers that documenting is not the most favorite activity.

But good documentation is very important to give interested parties (customers, clients, employers, etc.) an idea of ​​what you have done in a repository and where your qualities and skills lie. Especially if you make it dummy proof, you have a better chance that others understand it and can assess your work at its true value.