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Open Source is Not a Career Path
codermarc writes ""If you're getting into open source because you see it as a career path, you're doing something wrong." It's not that Linux creator Linus Torvalds thinks open-source programmers should work for peanuts (he doesn't), but rather that they should be properly motivated. Call it software with a soul, if you like. Only the truly passionate need apply."
I know several people who've got good jobs specifically because they had experience on OSS projects.
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Open Source is Not a Career Path
"If you're getting into open source because you see it as a career path, you're doing something wrong." It's not that Linux creator Linus Torvalds thinks open-source programmers should work for peanuts (he doesn't), but rather that they should be properly motivated. Call it software with a soul, if you like. Only the truly passionate need apply.
That's the message Torvalds and several other open-source luminaries have for the next generation of programmers. "A career path is not a motivation," Torvalds said during Tuesday's Open Source Development Lab's enterprise Linux summit. A reluctant visionary, (he blushed a shade of bright red during an intro that mentioned his inclusion in Time Magazine's list of most influential people) Torvalds is nonetheless passionate about his life's work, an open-source operating system that has blossomed into a major force in the technology world.
The future of open-source software depends upon bright, motivated programmers filled with ideas and initiative rather than programmers promoting their own, or their employer's, self interests. It's a concept that has been embraced by many but is nonetheless counterintuitive to an entire generation of programmers conditioned to view code (rather than the code's problem-solving capabilities) as a competitive advantage.
Times are changing, and the developer community needs to get with the times, said Brian Behlendorf, who shared Tuesday's OSDL keynote with Torvalds, Mitch Kapor, founder and chair of the Open Source Applications Foundation, lead Linux kernel maintainer Andrew Morton, and OSDL CEO Stuart Cohen. Behlendorf, chief technology officer of CollabNet Inc. and a founder of the Apache open source project, pointed out that the traits that make for a successful open source developer are different from what makes for a successful proprietary developer.
"In open source, you have to be a better communicator and to be able to defend yourself," Behlendorf said. He added that a thick skin also is a requirement when laying bare one's work for all the world to see and criticize. "There's not a lot of room for prima donnas."
StrayByte.Net
a) dumb, not funny
b) not true anyway
c) FOAD
When I went to uni there were a lot of people who were taking the IT degree to "learn how to program" so they could "make big bucks". Much the way law students take up law to join a law firm. Well sorry, software development isn't a summer training course. You need to actually feel some passion for the subject. I knew I wanted to be a computer programmer when I was 7 years old. I learnt to program in assembler when I was 9. That's the kind of drive you should have for your work, otherwise go do an MBA and become a manager.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Especially since the U stands for Uniform.
I can't email you directly so I'm going anon because its off topic. In your statement you made all the wrong assumptions, and for no valid reason, so I'm going to correct you.
:)"
"Buddy this is exactly what research and if you ask any pretty seasoned researcher you would see that you are wrong."
This was stated as an opinion about research trends and not a current state. As I work with seasoned researchers/professors I can tell you they are all starting to publish code to accompany papers. Its just a trend and my opinion on it.
"I am not sure what you mean buy doing OSS research for the academic community but I take it you work in an university of some sort."
Yes.
"Now that said your job most deffinitelly does not qualify as a career in Open Source (not according to Linus Torvald and not according to anybody else)."
Anybody else? I'll go talk to my boss. I spose the fact that I develop software, its open source, and that I get paid, must mean I'm the tooth fairy.
"I find hard to believe that your salary is paid by grants rather than the educational institution"
Entirely grant funded, no institutional funding except for normal benefits stuff (i.e. not my salary).
" and if you are still a student then you still don't have any career."
I've completely my formal education and took this job instead of a job in industry. I had the option of doing either, but I liked this job better. I even have a sketchy retirement plan (see: state of the union). At the end of this job, I wont' be getting any pieces of paper adding initials to my name. I have enough already.
"Also knowing how *well* the US educational system works I doubt that you are even close be being a professional but that is only my personal oppinion and not a fact (don't take in the wrong way, there are a lot of ways to eccel in a US college but they all depend on self motivation and self training and students rarely do that)."
I'm not in the educational environment at all. Pure research, no classes are taught, no students. I just develop high quality software.
"So give it about 10 more years and then you might have something to talk about
An arbitrary assignment of years.. Well I'll take your advice and try to "eccel" in my job...
I write code for pay, and my code is directly criticised by the public and my coworkers. Most software developers get away with writing code that undergoes no review. You have an obvious bias against universities. Maybe I should take from your stellar english and perfect analysis of my situation that you are indeed a child prodigy with 10 diplomas, 20 years of work experience and a super model wife.
Oh wait, that would be making inane conclusions without any facts.
A dramatic oversimplification. Even in IT there are interesting and dare I say "geeky" jobs to be had. If you step into a room full of people talking about computers, it doesn't take long to understand from their verbage which ones really enjoy doing systems engineering (figuring out the best and most efficient way to assemble systems and systems of systems, be it hardware or software), and which are the MCSE's (not that there's anything objectively wrong with having an MCSE if you truely do know what you're talking about in the first place) that got the cert so they could "cash in".
Now, if you wanted to be a software engineer, and end up in IT, that sucks, but it's not necessarily a "step down".
But what can we expect from an AC.
A URL (Uniform Resource Location) is a specific type of URI (Uniform Resource Identifier). Two other types of URIs are URNs (Uniform Resource Names), and URCs (Uniform Resource Citations). More information at this URI.