I have several thoughts on this "open-source" software contribution mania:-
1)Will you not hire a "salesperson" if they don't make sales calls in their free time, or a baseball team won't pick a player if they don't play in their free-time?
2)IMHO hiring should be a "selection" process and not a "rejection" process. Your application at this point looks like a "rejection" system.
3)Having github/open-source contributions is based on a lot of factors such as availability of free-time(being a good engineer dosen't necessarily mean one has to write code in their free-time), passion for a particular project/domain etc. Too much of anything causes burn-out.
4)Just because a lot of companies have this criteria, it does not make it a valid one. There's a lot of "herd" mentality in technology recruiting.
5)As a business decision I would think you should make open-source contributions optional and let the employers decide if they want it or not.
I agree with all of your points, and indeed Github authentication is optional for the jobs posted on the site. I admit I did initially have it turned on by default (because I really liked the feature) but now it's off by default given the general feedback I've received. And I'm glad to see that companies who do care about it are using it when posting their ads.
1)Will you not hire a "salesperson" if they don't make sales calls in their free time, or a baseball team won't pick a player if they don't play in their free-time?
2)IMHO hiring should be a "selection" process and not a "rejection" process. Your application at this point looks like a "rejection" system.
3)Having github/open-source contributions is based on a lot of factors such as availability of free-time(being a good engineer dosen't necessarily mean one has to write code in their free-time), passion for a particular project/domain etc. Too much of anything causes burn-out.
4)Just because a lot of companies have this criteria, it does not make it a valid one. There's a lot of "herd" mentality in technology recruiting.
5)As a business decision I would think you should make open-source contributions optional and let the employers decide if they want it or not.