[vezzy-fnord]

Github profile: How many repo's do they have? How active are they? Do they contribute to open source projects? And then, of course, the obvious code quality questions.

I thought most people came to the conclusion that this is a horrible metric by which to gauge competence?

Then again...

Now us Python developers, Ruby developers, Java developers, PHP developers, and (God help you) Perl developers, let us put aside our meaningless and largely annoying quibbles to unite under a single banner. For once, let's say who cares whether Django or Rails is the superior framework and just join our voices to call for an end to the modern technical interview.

The final paragraph shows what demographic the OP belongs to, so it's hardly a surprise they think that way.

[FLUX-YOU]

I've tailored my learning and goals around the fact that projects are one way to get my foot in the door without a degree or experience. Otherwise, they just have to take my good word and burn time interviewing me. I thought this would be true regardless of development sector.

Once you're dealing with someone who has verifiable experience, then repo activity should be weighed much less (unless it's something really awesome, then chances are you're dealing with an awesome developer).

If you're critical of someone lacking github repos but they have experience, then I think it becomes a symptom of "everyone trying to stand out"-itis. It's probably best to have different solutions for different skill/experience levels.