<p>My effort here is not on my resume, nor do I envision any very likely situation in which I would include it. It's possible that I might in the right circumstance, but it would require a situation (or a potential employer) that doesn't presently apply.</p>

<p>The basic issue is that I don't anticipate that an organization I would be likely to work for would be likely to care very much about it ... but perhaps one might come up at some point. </p>

<p>I think some of my activities here have added (at least a bit) to particular aspects of my communication skills, such as they are, and I've certainly learned some things I wouldn't have learned otherwise - those things are positives an employer would care about. But those would be skills which if I really had them, I could demonstrate in other ways.</p>

<p>If in an interview, we came to a discussion of my hobbies, I might mention my activities here among them; I don't list my hobbies on my resume, though. </p>

<p>If (as in one of your links) that mention somehow led to a question about what my reputation was, that would make me concerned about their priorities (what would that indicate, on its own? It's easy to accumulate <strike>fake internet points</strike> reputation without being particularly insightful - there are many better statisticians here with lower reputation than I have). </p>

<p>On the other hand, if they asked about say reputation per answer, that would say more (though it's at least somewhat confounded with/distorted by several other things). If they asked me to show them three of my answers I thought were good, that might provide something to go on -- but even then I think it would only be particularly relevant to certain kinds of jobs. </p>

<p>Imagine (so I don't have to talk about myself) I were someone with whuber's reputation. Would I show that reputation score to an employer? Probably not. But if I were someone with some of his <em>answers</em>? Yes, it's certainly possible I'd show some of those in the right situation - many of them are wonderful. The quality of those sort of activities might say a lot. [But I doubt whuber needs to, since he has so many other achievements he could point to in their stead. Similar comments would apply to many of the other high reputation users - they have some wonderful answers that might be worth a mention in the right situation, but probably don't need to.]</p>

<hr>

<p>You quote me talking about doing research in my activities here - one problem I'd note is that a lot of the research I do to answer questions doesn't end up anywhere but in my head. I spent a couple of hours researching an answer in the last day ... but by the time I was confident I could provide a good answer backed up with a suitable reference, someone had already written one. There was (as is often the case) nothing to do but upvote it and move on. Where's the <em>evidence</em> I did that research and learned something worthwhile? Nowhere. </p>

<p>[I might read an article, do some algebra and perform a simulation study. Where does all that go if there's already a decent answer in the meantime with all the essentials? Nowhere. Even when I do give an answer, a lot of that effort may end up as a parenthetical comment in a single sentence, or if I am lucky, appear as a single image. On the other hand, some of that learning definitely shows up - if less directly - in the course of my work. I know a few more things, and am more practiced at explaining them concisely. I am aware of references I otherwise wouldn't be. Stuff like that.]</p>

<hr>

<p>I'd agree with whuber that active participation exposes one to many varied problems, and that serves as excellent preparation for consulting - but I spent years doing consulting already, both in an academic capacity (consulting to research students in a variety of areas) and in several different application areas (in 'industry' as they say). I don't even include all my actual paid consulting on my resume. </p>

<p>I'd also agree with him that involvement in as many topics as possible "exposes one to a wider range of solutions and thereby, over time, can considerably augment one's skills and tools". Indeed, that's one of the major attractions of the site to me. </p>
