For developers, a GitHub link is the one resume line that can be independently verified in ten seconds. That cuts both ways: a live profile with real work beats any bullet you could write, and a dead one quietly contradicts everything above it.
In short: put your GitHub URL in the header, next to email and LinkedIn — as a clean clickable link (`github.com/username`, no `https://`). Link it only if the profile supports your pitch: pinned repos with READMEs, some commit activity in the last year, code you'd defend in an interview. An abandoned profile with two forked tutorials hurts more than omitting the link — reviewers who click and find nothing update their read of the whole resume.
Where exactly
```
ALEX RIVERA
alex.rivera@email.com · github.com/alexrivera · linkedin.com/in/alexrivera · Austin, TX
```
That's it for placement. Two reinforcements elsewhere when they're true:
- In a project bullet: "Built an open-source log parser (400+ GitHub stars) — github.com/alexrivera/logparse." A specific repo link in a bullet is stronger than the profile link, because it aims the click.
- In a projects section: each project lists its repo. This is where career changers and bootcamp grads win — shipped code is evidence that doesn't require an employer's permission; the career change into IT guide leans on exactly this.
What reviewers actually open
The honest answer from how screening works: most recruiters never click; the engineers who interview you often do. When they do, they look at pinned repositories (curate all six — your best work, each with a README that says what it does and how to run it), recent activity (any consistent signal beats a great 2022), and code in the repos you claim as yours. They don't count your contribution-graph green squares — but a graph that's been fully dark for two years does get noticed.
Fifteen minutes of curation — pin the right six, write two READMEs, archive the junk — is the highest-leverage resume work a developer can do this week.
When to leave GitHub off
- Your real work is private. Ten years of closed-source employment with an empty public profile is normal — skip the link, let your experience bullets carry it, and say "happy to walk through code in a technical interview."
- The profile is a tutorial graveyard. Forked bootcamp repos with no original work: leave it off until you've shipped one real thing.
- You're not applying to technical roles. A PM or designer with a genuinely relevant repo can link it in a bullet; everyone else doesn't need one.
FAQ
GitHub or portfolio site? Both if you have both; the portfolio shows outcomes, GitHub shows the work. For pure engineering roles GitHub matters more.
Does an ATS read the link? Parsers extract it fine from the header as plain text. Don't bury it in an image or icon — decorative headers are where links go to die.
GitLab or Bitbucket instead? Same rules, same placement. Link where your best public work lives.
What about the rest of the header? The modern format guide covers it, and our resume builder formats contact rows — GitHub included — ATS-safely by default.