[danpalmer]

I've been given the "not looking for a portfolio" one before, but it was explained in more detail to me as - to put work up online opens yourself up to criticism, and given the sexism in our industry, this criticism can more easily become abuse when targeted at women, and therefore there are a not-insignificant group of women who do not publish code on GitHub because of abuse - this issue affects men less, therefore, a 'portfolio' is a biased metric.

I think it's still a useful metric, but would now not take a lack of portfolio as an outright negative, without other factors considered.

[yarper]

I agree that makes more sense than the childcare argument. I'd still wonder though - what are this person's interests in tech? What do they do in pursuing those interests?

I think these are legitimate questions, since one of the best metrics for success in software is the level of interest you hold in it.

[acctjustforyou]

>I think these are legitimate questions

They are, and the fact that you even have to defend asking them is a non-trivial indicator of how bat-shit crazy the thinking has gotten on this topic.