Do F/OSS Contributions Make You More Marketable?

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?"

Comments

I think...

[Anonymous Cumshot]

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.

Re:I think...

[ottothecow]

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.

Valuable volunteer experience.

[atomic-penguin]

Volunteer experience is valuable for a resume. Does it necessarily qualify as professional experience, not exactly. The value of it depends on a few factors...

1. The importance or size of the project.
2. The party who is considering it.

For example, a bigger, more notable project will look more impressive. Also, it really depends on how familiar the hiring parties are with OSS. I have been turned down for jobs recently due to 'lack of experience', because potential employers failed to recognise volunteer experience as 'professional experience'.

Sure

[TheTomcat]

I'm a web developer (PHP, primarily). Web developers get hobs based on their portfolios. However, I don't particularly like working in an environment that is condusive to building a nice portfolio (flashy, public sites).

I work in a closed environment. On intranet and back-end systems. I can't put these in my portfolio. So, I spend a decent amount of time supporting my language, and I work on various php.net related projects. This lets any future employers see what I'm capable of doing, even though they might not be able to see the work I'm currently doing, professionally.

Having an @php.net address (although quite easy to get if done right) is instant credibility (at least for anyone I'd want to work for).

I know of several key PHP contributors that have been offered (and have taken) positions as a direct result of their contributions.

So, in short: yes. (-:

S

Anything that sets you apart.

[hey!]

Well, it'd probably get me to scrutinize your resume a bit more closely, which is a huge advantage for you.

If you had code in a release of a well known project Apache or the Linux kernel, it would probably almost guarantee you a phone call back and probably an interview. Howewver if you were bullshitting, it would be a very short interview.

PHB says...

[wonkavader]

I'm a pointy haired boss. Or rather, I'm in the hiring process for all our tech hires.

Open Source projects are an INSTANT door opener. You have work on one in on your resume, you get an interview. Period.

That's not because this is some corporate give-away, but because we're techies, here. We want to talk to you, to find out how that went, what you did, etc. We're curious. And that means you get the interview. Most of the resumes we see don't get an interview, so you're already in the running for the job, unlike the guy with similar resume who didn't get called.

Plus the drive to do this sort of thing means you're not a slug. We get a lot of slugs with VERY good resumes. They waste our time. I've never had a slug come in who had OSS authorship.

Re:More marketable?

[QuantumG]

Basically it's a modification of this document.

Another reason not to be an ass on the lists...

[ajayrockrock]

Back in the day, I helped out bring PHPSlash out of a funk and cobble up a couple of releases for the team. I eventually became one of the project leaders for a few years and was nice to most of the people on the lists.

Then I was laid off, got depressed, and lost all my drive to code. After about a year of no work the first break I got was from a guy who I helped install phpslash on the phpslash-users list years prior.

--Ajay

Yes

[Flying Purple Wombat]

I'm a programmer with 21 years experience, was a manager for 3 years (didn't like the PHB gig), currently a lead programmer. I filter the stacks of resumes that HR sends to my managers (clueless PHBs). I choose who will be interviewed.

If you list F/OSS projects on your resume, I will be more interested. You are more likely to get an interview.

Anything that makes your resume stand out from the rest is good. You probably wouldn't want to work for anyone that counts F/OSS as a negative.