IT managers advise job seekers to contribute to open-source projects to help them stand out from the crowd.
This is the view of a panel of industry experts, who believe working on such schemes allows developers to demonstrate coding skills, technology interests and collaboration abilities. Furthermore, it means hiring managers can offer better perspectives on soft skills and technical abilities than a reference alone.
John Nagro, director of engineering at HubSpot, commented that engaging in open-source projects would go a long way to give managers an opportunity to assess a prospective employee. This is because it gives a strong insight on work ethic and increases the types of technology the applicant will be exposed to.