[gregjor]

If you have to do a coding test you probably didn't get the interview through contacts who can vouch for you.

Lots of developers don't have public projects on GitHub because their work is proprietary and private. I can't show any of my code without getting permission from my customer because they own the work. A lot of public GitHub projects can communicate "newbie" or "hobbyist" just as much as it might communicate "experienced" because actual work product you got paid to write probably can't get published for the world to see on GitHub.