Online Presence with Wikipedia

Question

I am currently a senior in college in the job hunting phase. I have a rather significant online presence with an upcoming website, LinkedIn profile, StackOverflow Careers profile, etc... I also have an (shameless plug) impressive resume which almost always attracts attention whenever I distribute it.

However, in an effort to always improve, is writing a Wikipedia article on myself a good idea, should someone look up my name? Would that be a good place to elaborate on details, awards, background, etc... which I would not normally put on a resume? Since Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia, basically, people would more likely go there to actually read about me. This is not quite the same on a resume where real estate is precious, and on a profile website where less words and more pictures are what people expect.

I understand the wiki-style editing of any entry on Wikipedia is open for anyone to edit, so that is something to consider.

Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

Wikipedia is open for anyone to edit. That does not mean that it is "anything goes" as far as writing about anything at all.

If you are a college senior hunting for a job, I absolutely 100% guarantee you that any article you create about yourself will be deleted for being a non-notable subject.

Have a read of Wikipedia:Notability. In particular, section 1, the General Notability Guideline.

"If a topic has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, it is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article or list."

What this means is, basically, once you start getting books or articles in major publications written about you, then you're notable enough for a Wikipedia article. I'm guessing that probably hasn't happened yet.

Also, read Wikipedia:Autobiography (thanks sharth for point this one out). The takeaway there is:

"Writing an autobiography on Wikipedia is strongly discouraged, unless your writing has been approved by other editors in the community. Editing a biography about yourself should only be done in clear-cut cases."

Furthermore, have a look at Wikipedia:Conflict of Interest. The brief summary there is..

"when advancing outside interests is more important to an editor than advancing the aims of Wikipedia, that editor stands in a conflict of interest."

Translation: if you're writing an article for reasons of self-promotion, not because you think the world would benefit from having this article in a free online encyclopedia, then expect to have people take a dim view of it.

But, after all this.. if you do have significant enough achievements to justify a Wikipedia article, then yes, it will be extremely impressive to potential employers! You'll be in the same league as the few hundred people in, for instance, Category:American computer programmers!