[x1798DE]

I think this is mostly accurate in terms of using github as a way to determine someone's ability to do quality coding (though if someone didn't do well at "whiteboard" coding but had a long history of contributing quality code on github, I'd probably weigh the github code higher), but it seems to me that the benefit of github contributions is more on getting your foot in the door and establishing a reputation.

If you are a solid contributor to well-known projects, it can be very helpful in networking and it's useful in separating you from the pack in the early "resume review" stages.

I don't really know if the expected value of building a reputation in an open source software community is higher than the opportunity cost of other things you could do to help your career, of course. I'm just not sure if "I really don't make hiring decisions based on the code on a github account" is the right metric in this case.

[eikenberry]

> [..] it can be very helpful in networking [..]

This is a very important point mostly missed. My first job out of school was due to networking related to a free software project I was helping out on. Networking is the best thing you can do to help your career and working on free software projects can be a big help.

Though this is a bit off topic from the original post about having a github portfolio. I do think a portfolio can be helpful and is worth spending some time on, but I don't think it is necessary.