diff --git a/hack/verify_boilerplate.py b/hack/verify_boilerplate.py
index ec727d66c..d16c1f3af 100755
--- a/hack/verify_boilerplate.py
+++ b/hack/verify_boilerplate.py
@@ -116,7 +116,8 @@ def file_extension(filename):
 
 SKIPPED_DIRS = [
     'Godeps', 'third_party', '_gopath', '_output',
-    '.git', 'vendor', '__init__.py', 'node_modules',
+    'external', '.git', 'vendor', '__init__.py',
+    'node_modules',
 ]
 
 # even when generated by bazel we will complain about some generated files