Introducing the Developer Story
Tags: developer, css, html
Published: 2020-01-11 16:12:27

Who is the Developer Story for?
Stack Overflow is the place where developers come to build and share knowledge, and as a result, build reputation for those contributions. It's also a place where you can help write Documentation, join a Team that you contribute to, or even look for a job. Now, with the new developer story, we're making it about who you are and what you do, and that's available to everyone regardless of how you use the site.

everybody gets one

We've designed this to be a better way for developers to share what they've built and done, regardless of whether or not they're job-hunting now. We know that ~40% of developers who sign up are interested in hearing about job opportunities, but for the rest of you, it may just be a way to show off to your peers.

If you're looking for the job you deserve, this is an upgrade to our old "Careers CV". It's designed to emphasize what you've built and technology you've used, and remove the useless stuff that traditional resumes contained
Got a job you love? Share your accomplishments in a way that wasn't possible until now. Your story is all about your journey as a developer.
Whether you are purely a Q&A user or you are using your Stack Overflow profile to show potential employers, the story gives everyone a way to show off how awesome they are as a developer.

We already have a profile, why do we need a Developer Story?
The profile isn't going anywhere. Every user gets one when they signup for Stack Overflow; it is a blend of your biography, your tags, and, if you provided one, your job title and where you work. Many of our users have a completed profile, but it doesn't provide a full picture of who you are, and we're trying to fix that.

The developer story goes much further by giving you the ability to provide more details of your history as a developer. We want developers to tell their story, their way, by highlighting:

Your current role and prior roles
The technologies that you use, and the tags that you participate in on Stack Overflow
Public artifacts like open source projects, applications & software, books or blogs you've written
We know that when developers talk about what they do, they'll share: What they build? Where they build it? And what tech was used? The answers to these questions don't fit in the current profile, but they have a place in your story. The new story gives a bigger picture of who you are and what you are proud of. Whether it's the school you are attending or have attended, your GitHub activity, your open source projects or apps; you'll be able to have everything you’ve done or are doing in a single place for the others to see.

Most of your story will be visible to people viewing your profile. But if you are someone who wants to keep your Stack Overflow activity separate from your career activity, don't worry: there will be privacy options to help you control who can see what.

FAQ
What problem does this solve?

It gives you a way to showcase your skills, and maybe one day find a job
It replaces the existing, traditionally-structured CV with something that you can use even if you aren’t currently looking for a job
It does a better job of showing what matters to developers and employers than traditional CVs by focusing on what you’ve done and not just where you’ve worked or studied
What happens to existing CVs just brought in from Careers?

Developer Stories are designed to replace CVs. We’ll have more details on this in the future, but all existing CVs will be carried over into this system, and we’ll preserve all existing privacy settings, so if your profile is private the Developer Story will also be.

Is Stack Overflow becoming a social network?

No. There will be no friends, lists, or other social connections, except indirectly through companies you have worked together at. This is just an expansion of the profile.

What if I want to keep it private?

Privacy will not be an issue: just like with existing CVs you can make it completely private, or hidden on the site but searchable to employers.

What if I don’t want one?

If you don’t want to share your history, then you don’t have to. Filling out the developer story is completely optional.

Will I still be able to export to PDF?

Yes, this feature will continue to work with the new developer story.

How will this work with my activity on other Stack Exchange network sites?

For now, the Developer Story page will only exist on Stack Overflow, but it will allow you to feature top answers from other network sites.

What's Next?
We think we've found a better way to display your history and what you've done, but we need your help to figure out what might be missing.

What else do you want to show off as a developer? Either to the developer community or to employers?
What are you proud of that you'd want to showcase?
This won't be rolled out for 6-8 weeks but, in the meantime, let us know what you think!