How participation in professional IT communities affects a career
We know that it is extremely important for IT recruiters to close a vacancy as soon as possible in the least costly way. For this, recruiters have many tools and techniques: both for a direct search for the right specialist, and for a preliminary assessment of his professional qualities. They look at the candidate’s work experience, the skills indicated by them, and the feedback from colleagues. Including look at his activity in professional IT communities.
Therefore, a month ago we introduced on “My Circle” ratings for participation in IT communities. Now each applicant can show on his profile what contribution he made and what awards he received on Habré and Toaster , on StackOverflow and GitHub .
But what role do professional IT communities play in the lives of developers and in their careers? How important is the information about the applicant’s participation in these communities for the employer? Which communities are more important and which are less? Is it possible to somehow calculate, measure and evaluate all this?
We conducted a survey among users of My Circle on this topic, collected the responses of thousands of respondents and translated them into visual diagrams. In our opinion, a very curious and convincing picture was obtained.
Survey audience portrait
Let's see who participated in the survey. In principle, we see the same distribution by specialization and company type as in our previous surveys. This time we decided to clarify the position / qualification according to the generally accepted classification among developers. And once again they were convinced that at My Circle, lords and leads make up a significant part of the community (44%).
Participation in IT communities
The overwhelming majority of respondents follow Habrahabr (85%), almost every second also watches Giktimes, GitHub and StackOverflow, and every third follows “Toaster”. Half of the respondents do not participate in these communities as authors. Almost one in three contributes to GitHub, one in seven in StackOverflow, and one in eight in Habrahabr and Toaster.
Among other communities, for the most part, profile groups in social networks, messengers and forums were mentioned, a medium was mentioned, as well as such communities as Open Data Science, Web Standards and Reddit and others.
Most (60-75%) participate in IT communities for personal development: they follow trends, maintain their skills, and learn. Less (20-40%) participate for the sake of concrete practical benefits: for the development of their projects and expansion of contacts, a good portfolio and career. And even less (10-20%) participate to help others: train or develop other people's projects.
Developers regularly argue whether they need to advertise their participation in professional IT communities at work, because this is not a direct fulfillment of their duties. But it turns out that for the majority, two of the three specialists, the interest in participating in communities coincides with the current working interest, one helps the other and one flows from the other.
However, for one of the three, these interests coincide only half or do not coincide at all. We think that for such a dynamic industry as IT, where new technologies and specializations appear every year, specialists are forced to deal not only with their current responsibilities, but also look more broadly at related or new areas.
Job applicant perspective on IT communities
For two out of three specialists, it is important that the potential employer be aware of their participation in the IT communities. One of the three doesn’t care. What is curious, if we ask about the same thing, but in relation to the current employer, then only every second is important, and every second is indifferent.
That is, participation in IT communities is a little more important for creating new working relationships than for maintaining existing ones.
And now, one of the most, in our opinion, curious parts of the survey. We’ll find out how often IT communities in practice significantly affect their professional careers. It turns out that every fifth in his career had such cases!
The most influential community in this sense is GitHub. In half the cases, it is this community that plays a decisive role in getting a new job. In a third of cases, this role is played by Habrahabr. In every seventh case, StackOverflow.
Among other communities that have a direct impact on their careers, various thematic forums and mitaps were indicated.
Employer perspective on IT communities
Half of the respondents take part in the assessment of potential candidates. That is, even if they don’t even make independent decisions on hiring, they somehow influence those who make such decisions. Approximately every second person is interested in the participation of candidates in IT communities.
Three out of four employers are interested in the participation of a candidate on GitHub (75% are interested). Every second person is interested in participating in Habrahabr (48%). A little less interested in participating in StackOverflow (39%). One in ten - participation in "Toaster", "Giktayms", Behance, Dribbble.
Every fourth employer has had cases where the participation of a candidate in the IT community played a significant role in deciding whether to invite him to work.
The most influential community in this sense is again GitHub. In almost three cases out of four, this community has a decisive role in inviting a candidate to a vacancy. In a third of cases, this role is played by Habrahabr. In every fifth case, StackOverflow.
findings
We already knew that participation in IT communities plays a big role in the professional development and career of a specialist. But thanks to this survey, we were able to refine this knowledge and obtain quantitative ideas.
First, we clarified that every second person who evaluates potential candidates draws attention to their participation in IT communities. And every fourth of them notes cases when this information played a significant role in the decision on hiring.
Secondly, we found out that GitHub is the most influential hiring community: almost three out of four employers pay attention and make hiring decisions on the participation of a candidate in this community. The second place belongs to Habrahabr: every second looks at him, every third takes a decision on hiring for him. The third place belongs to StackOverflow: every third person watches, every fifth person makes key decisions.
Charts prepared using infogr.am service