We just got 4 spam interactions in the Vite (generic comments, approvals) from someone looking for an all-green GitHub yearly graph. These tricks won't help you get a job, it is easy to spot them. Focus on quality and building relationships, and not quantity or show-off metrics.
If you ask me here the problem is not ChatGPT but GitHub metrics that shouldn't exist at all: no matter how they are implemented, some people are going to abuse them. #NoGamification
@post I tend to agree witht this. A sane amount of gamification is helpful though, but it is dangerous tool that as you said ends up quickly getting abused.
I'd say metrics are useful but the moment they become a personal score that's what I'd call gamification.
Now that I think about it, the gamification on Discourse instances is not bad at all and people don't try to hack them because they have not much interest in appearing as the most active or helpful member of a particular community.
So I think GitHub centralizing development is playing a role here: if people used more dedicated instances of ForgeJo, GitLab, Gitea etc probably they won't try to hack the metrics.
Instead GitHub being so important for the industry in general no matter the project leads people to turn it into a LinkedIn for developers.
Also recruiters should stop asking applicants their GitHub accounts in job interviews. And all applicants should start replying "I have not a GitHub account" and stop this attempt to turn FOSS development into a portfolio.
If I was a recruiter I'd value a lot a maintainer of a FOSS project with a good reputation, the problem arises when the industry try to fool people into developing FOSS with *permissive licenses* with expectations about their careers but de facto they are producing software for free for companies while competing with other people in a feedback loop to their own detriment (Marx docet).
I am convinced that if it was common for personal projects to use *GPL licenses the above wouldn't happen. I envision a world where developing FOSS with permissive licenses is seen as bad as working overtime or selling off your work in general (OK, maybe we are not even at the point where these are seen as bad as they should, sigh).
@post I think involvement is OS projects is interesting for job interviews, but the focus should be on quality and not quantity. And not something that is used as a filter either. Just one more interesting data point on personal experience. The issue is that there are some folks helping in OS where quantity may be a good metric... there are amazing triagers for example, that would help filter and improve a huge amount of inbound issues and that is also a very valuable skill. Reducing things to a number in a DB is the problem. And automated filtering of applicants is going to make things way worse in the future.