Nice to Meet You: The Role of Communicative Signaling in GitHub Profile Biographies

Description

Abstract (English)

Coding platforms such as GitHub have introduced a social aspect to collaboration, in what is termed “social coding”. As an enhancement over traditional version-control systems, such as ‘stock’ Git, any GitHub user – ranging from developers to maintainers to casual contributors – has a social profile in addition to their contributed artifacts in a repository. However, there is limited work on studying how these social profiles signal competence, ability, and other social cues exhibited by GitHub users. To address this gap, we collected 45,017 GitHub profiles, 446,531 pull requests, and 432,498 pull request reviews and then conducted a user survey of 7 recruiters to evaluate 210 profile bios. Specifically, we examine what are the common themes, tone, and language use employed in GitHub profile biographies, and how do these characteristics influence perceivers’ impressions of a user’s technical competence and expertise? We also explore whether linguistic properties such as self-presentation strategies, humor, and emotional expression play a significant role in getting pull requests (PRs) accepted by others, and what specific features are most important for successful PR acceptance. Furthermore, we examine how GitHub profile biographies influence recruitment outcomes, such as whether a user is considered for a project or invited to collaborate on an open-source initiative. Our findings indicate that the content and tone of bios on GitHub can have a significant impact on various stakeholders, including developers, recruiters, and researchers. Specifically, our results show that bios written in English are more common, with younger generations tending to write more personal bios. Additionally, we found that the psychometric properties of bios are correlated with PR acceptance rates, with bios emphasizing personal motivation and a willingness to contribute being more likely associated with PR acceptance. By understanding how GitHub profiles convey social cues, developers can optimize their online presence to attract collaborators, mentors, and even potential employers.