Github names & avatars

[Jonathan M Davis via Digitalmars-d]

On Friday, May 13, 2016 19:53:18 bitwise via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> May be worth mentioning archiving sites like gmane that seem to
> love making your stupid questions/statements your #1 google
> search result. Excellent way to make an impression on future
> employers... ;)

Actually, the fact that I had fairly high reputation on stackoverflow helped
me get my current job, and I've had other companies looked favoribly on the
fact that I have activity on github. I'm even amazingly searchable given how
common all of my names are thanks primarily to this newsgroup. You'll
probably find me fairly quickly if you search for

Jonathan M Davis programming

and this in spite of the fact that Jonathan and Davis are both _very_ common
(and my middle name, Michael, is just as bad). I definitely think that
having a visible presence on sites like stackoverflow and github is good,
and if they have your real name (or something close to it) with your real
photo, it's a lot easier to show that it's really you.

Sure, some folks may want to stay more anonymous, and that's there
prerogative, but in my experience, having a visible presence online with
regards to programming is definitely an aid in getting employment. Potential
employers can actually see that you know something and that other
programmers think that you know something, whereas they can't if you do
everything online under a pseudonym and/or never contribute to projects
online or make any of your own code available online.

As to Walter's original point of recognizing folks, it's definitely nicer
when contributors use the same names in the newsgroup and on github (be they
their real names or not). Otherwise, it _can_ be a pain to figure out that
they're the same person. For frequent contributors, you tend to figure it
out and remember it, but even then, it's more work than when the names match
- and if the contributor is not a frequent contributor, then it's unlikely
that any connection is going to be made, and it's going to seem like they
came out of nowhere when they might actually be someone who posts in the
newsgroup semi-frequently.

- Jonathan M Davis