How Should Companies Grant Recognition To Developers?

Ken Broadfoot asks: "I work for a major computer chip manufacturer and we are recieving input (patches and code) for some new Linux device drivers (network cards). How would you, as an open source developer, like recognition for the valuable work you are doing? My suggestion to the Powers That Be was to offer credit on the web, some network interface cards, and perhaps a credit file along with the source code for the driver, however there may be other ways to thank developers that we haven't thought of, and were looking for readers thoughts on the matter." It's always nice to see large corporations willing to take the time to thank individuals for making their products better.

Comments

Hardware

[hirschma]

Give 'em hardware - the latest stuff, put them on hardware beta tests, etc. Don't worry if they'll agree upfront to do anything with it - my guess is that if they've done it before, they'll do it again. Low risk, high reward investment.

That's a tough one

[OlympicSponsor]

If only there were some kind of symbolic object the corporation could give the developer to indicate their appreciation. But not some dead trophy-style object--something dynamic and useful. Something where they could keep the value even if they lost the physical medium (via the use of trades, say). In fact, we could expand this usage from corp to developer until everyone could trade these objects to each other in exchange for goods and services. But what'll we call it?
--
MailOne

About box

[www.sorehands.com]

Putting names in the about box is nice.

There are some problems with that.....
1. If someone is not happy with the tech support weenie (meaning their response is format and re-install), they get your name from the about box and call you.
2. If you leave the company and the product turns to garbage, do you want your name associated with it?

Simple idea..

[abelsson]

Why not ask 'em? Say something along the lines of "You're really helping the company with your work. We really like it. Is there anything we can do for you?"

-henrik

Publish specs

[SurfsUp]

How would you, as an open source developer, like recognition for the valuable work you are doing?

Credit in the code is worth more than credit on a web page. That just needs a one liner - what, who, email, date. (That line will probably already be in the patch) Hardware is good - especially new hardware that nobody has yet. A 'come see me at XXX trade show, I'll buy you a beer' is worth more than you can imagine. Best of all has nothing to do with giving credit - just make sure the full specs of the hardware are published on the web. Thats the best thanks of all.
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You've already taken the biggest step =:-)

[drenehtsral]

I think that you've already taken the biggest step: Acknowledging that open source developers are making useful and valuable contributions. For the most part, open source developers (or at least all the ones i know) are always happy to work/play (often it's the same) in an environment of good will and openness. I think that is the most important thing. For instance, if a hardware company doesn't produce a linux driver for their XYZ widget, it would be nice if they made hardware specs and possibly the code for their windows driver available so that people could work with it, and soon enough the XYZ widget would be supported under linux and BeOS and probably some other OSs nobody's ever even heard of...

Call their parents

[drivers]

Call their parents and tell them "I am calling from [a large computer hardware company], and just wanted to tell you what a helpful and intelligent programmer your [son/daughter] is. Don't be too concerned if they'd rather play on the computer than watch TV like everyone else."

I think I'm just kidding, but you never know.

Does it have to translate to $$?

[dmorin]

Some things that have worked for me in the past, in varying degrees:

• Hearing the president of the company mention me, by name, during his state-of-the-company speech.
• Letting me get published. Many companies don't the engineers do things like this, but it's a great way to be recognized in your industry.
• Letting me speak at conferences. Another big recognition factor.
• Letting my name show up in the press. The most hated PHB in my company right now is the guy who, while he was here, instituted the "My name and my name only shows up in the press releases" rule. He once even referred to me as "The Wiz" in an interview rather than say my name. UG.
• Random bonuses. It's always nice to just get a big wad of cash, especially when it's not on a fixed company schedule. It says "You're so appreciated that we're breaking the rules."
• On that same note, anything that feels like "Well yes, we have rules, but we're breaking them for you."

Things that don't work:

• Embarrassing displays. At the christmas party don't have an awards ceremony and make your best engineers stand up in front of all their coworkers. No better way to say "Hey, you people sitting down, you're not doing a very good job!" It was one thing for the president to mention my name -- most of the hundreds of people listening probably don't even know me -- but if he'd called me up on stage or something that would have sucked.
• Anything that blatantly mucks with team morale. While walking over to a team outing and crossing the street, a VP once yelled "Ok, everybody form a circle around Duane in case a car comes!" That's charming -- telling people that they have value as human shields. Not too funny. I don't know if any of the other guys cared, but it made me feel lousy.
• Non-perk perks. "Have a PalmV with Omnisky!" doesn't really work if it's just a loaner, and worse if you have to sign up for the service yourself and then request a reimbursement check every month.

Duane

Re:What about stock?

[technos]

Heh.. I don't think they'd have any monetary value, really.. If I were to receive, say a nicely lithographed Intel stock cert, it would go in a frame. Serve as a reminder saying 'Hey, people really appreciated me fixing that timeout problem on the new Intel Pro II 10/100. That feels good.'

Plus it would have great geek value. "Hey, Jim. Why do you have a single share of IBM stock hanging in your cube?" "Fixed a really gnarly bug in the virtual network drivers for the 390."

Reward developers by having good policies

[Bruce Perens]

Most manufacturers don't even take the first step to help developers, which is document their hardware. That way, the developers can achieve their primary goal, which is to get hardware working with their system.

Secondary to that, I and other developers would feel rewarded if the company's policies were in general supportive of free software - for example, their patent policy - do they use patents abusively? Are they willing to blanket-license their patents for use in GPL code? That's more important than my personal credit.

Regarding personal credit, most developers are satisfied to have their name attached to code where the other developers can see it. A "credits" file is nice, and it makes sense for large projects like the Linux kernel where there would otherwise be a different name every two lines of code. For smaller projects, it's nice to have a credits file on your web site and distributed with your software in its documentation directory, but it's optional.

If your developer liason is able to seed effective developers with new hardware versions, they'll appreciate that and you will get more help for your efforts.

Thanks

Bruce

Recommendations

[goliard]

In addition to many of the things already suggested, my recommendation is: recommendations.

When one of those coders needs a new job or is applying to a school, they should be able to get a letter of recommendation from a contact they worked with in your corp, or be able to list that contact as a professional reference.

Since they might not even think to ask (since you are neither employer nor teacher), take the initiative of offering this service to them.

And if the coder says "Gee, thanks, but I don't plan on needing any recommendations in the next 6mos", say "OK, we'll write something up, for you to hold on to for when you do need it."

Telling someone you think he's a great coder is nice. Telling potential employers/professors he's a great coder, now that's worth something!