Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Do F/OSS Contributions Make You More Marketable?

Posted by Cliff on from the looks-good-on-the-resume dept.

Bucking for a Raise asks: "Assuming that Free/Open Source contributions qualify as 'experience' in a professional sense, it would seem to follow that contributing would make one more marketable as an employee or contractor. Personally, I feel that I've gained invaluable experience from my contributions. However, I'm curious to know what other Slashdot readers have experienced: do potential employers/clients feel that it increases your worth? Does it depend on the visibility or perceived value of the project to which you contribute? Do the employers/clients you've seen place any value in, or even know about, F/OSS?"

6 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. I think... by Anonymous+Cumshot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    it would definitely make you more marketable since it shows potential employers that you code for the sake of coding and not for the monetary profit gained by coding. In other words it shows that you love what you do.

    --
    Best regards, A.C.
    1. Re:I think... by ottothecow · · Score: 4, Insightful
      At the University of Chicago, they have a Free Software Practicum class in their CS division where you essentially pick a strong OSS project and work on it by yourself or with a team. Obviously this ranges from working on a few bugzilla entries for a project to working on adding features to something like Sunbird (PDA Sync anybody?). Part of the class requires that your work gets accepted into the projects codebase before you get credit.

      I think that the classes requirements essentially show what would look the best on your resume. If you can point to something that YOU did in a decently major project (as in something they will have heard of), it will probobly help you and differentiate you from the tons of other applicants who spent their time coding "Bob's freeware XP launch bar". Think of what would happen if your resume is read by someone who uses thunderbird or sunbird in the future and you can say that you played an integral part in implementing PDA syncing.

      --
      Bottles.
  2. Re:Depends by Incongruity · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think sfjoe's in the right track -- it'll be a bit of a fit-test for you and your prospective employer. If you firmly believe in F/OSS and value the time that you (and others) give to such projects, then you're serving yourself well by including it in your resume and finding an employer who values it in you. When you enjoy your job and the environment that you work it, it'll be worth it.

  3. It can by SunFan · · Score: 2, Insightful


    Actually getting code into a non-trivial project means you were able to navigate unresponsive mailing lists and over-booked bug tracking systems to actually get something done. That's not a small feat, IMO.

    --
    -- Microsoft is the most expensive commodity operating system and office suite vendor in the marketplace.
  4. Re:Depends on the quality and the employer by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Gah. You did it wrong then.

    Tell them you have worked on software code to properly control Macintosh motherboard chipsets all the way to plugins to Instant messengers to increase functionality.

    Leave out all semi-ethical or romhacking stuff, unless it's Zsnes or older system emulators. Better yet, say that you've worked on real-time assembly code-translations between 2 very different systems. And List the processors used. R65000, X86, Mips, Z80, et cetera.

    --
  5. Of course it matters. by Telastyn · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If a developer has gone through and say... written network card drivers used by thousands of users, that's pretty damned impressive! It doesn't matter if they make tons of money [by doing it for 3com or whomever] from it or not [by doing it for a free OS].

    Cool stuff is universal.