I didn't put a link to it, but I did mention that I participate on SO and added a link to my blog that contains the SO "flair" on the About page.

  At that point I had about 3000 rep.

Edit: to clarify, I wouldn't try to leverage rep, but I would leverage intelligent participation. If you act like a moron on SO and draw attention to it, that's obviously a bad move. But if you say "hey, I participate on this dedicated Q&A site" and you have been giving good answers and asking smart questions, it can work in your favour as it shows passion for your work and fellow developers.

It Depends

When I was looking for a job a month ago, I didn't put a link to SO on my resume, but I did mention that I participate on SO and added a link to my blog that contains the SO "flair" on the About page. At that point I had about 3000 rep.

I wouldn't try to leverage rep, but I would leverage intelligent participation. If you act like a moron on SO and draw attention to it, that's obviously a bad move. But if you say "hey, I participate on this dedicated Q&A site" and you have been giving good answers and asking smart questions, it can work in your favour as it shows passion for your work and fellow developers.

I didn't put a link to it, but I did mention that I participate on SO and added a link to my blog that contains the SO "flair" on the About page.

At that point I had about 3000 rep.

I didn't put a link to it, but I did mention that I participate on SO and added a link to my blog that contains the SO "flair" on the About page.

At that point I had about 3000 rep.

Edit: to clarify, I wouldn't try to leverage rep, but I would leverage intelligent participation. If you act like a moron on SO and draw attention to it, that's obviously a bad move. But if you say "hey, I participate on this dedicated Q&A site" and you have been giving good answers and asking smart questions, it can work in your favour as it shows passion for your work and fellow developers.