<i>&quot;Some companies I work for write the contract that all code written while employed belongs to the company.&quot;</i><p>That&#x27;s why - because it shows evidence of code you produce, are interested in coding on a personal level (as opposed to doing it purely for the paycheck), how you solve problems, how you document code, how well you communicate with others etc.<p>It does feel like having an active Github is almost a requirement these days - but there are plenty of people who feel this is unfair, see for example -&gt; <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ashedryden.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;the-ethics-of-unpaid-labor-and-the-oss-community" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ashedryden.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;the-ethics-of-unpaid-labor-an...</a>