[thomas-b]

Being in an SME, we don't have dedicated HR and the screening/interviewing is distributed between a part of the executives (all with technical background). We always look (and even ask for in the job ads) for active github / blog...

What we will look for in those depends on the job obviously, but we will look. It's the same for my close network of people holding those responsibilities in similar companies (Europe, Asia, UAE).

Also in my experience IT staffing agencies most likely won't look/care.

On a side note, you say: >> I'd very much prefer to only get judged by things I produce. Is that even possible?

isn't it exactly that: >> (or have to do code interview)

[hemling]

I usually do well in a general code interview. But it's certainly not the same, as mentioned many times on HN, lots of devs have problems with code interviews and personally I find their value doubtful. Solving some puzzle is not the same as writing a technical blog or building a side projects over months or years.

[nicbou]

My biggest gripe with them is that lots of people can write code that gets the job done, but people who write maintainable code are much rarer.