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Torvalds: "People Who Start Writing Kernel Code Get Hired Really Quickly"
alphadogg writes Now more than ever, the development of the Linux kernel is a matter for the professionals, as unpaid volunteer contributions to the project reached their lowest recorded levels in the latest "Who Writes Linux" report, which was released today. According to the report, which is compiled by the Linux Foundation, just 11.8% of kernel development last year was done by unpaid volunteers – a 19% downturn from the 2012 figure of 14.6%. The foundation says that the downward trend in volunteer contributions has been present for years. According to Linus Torvalds, the shift towards paid developers hasn’t changed much about kernel development on its own. “I think one reason it hasn't changed things all that much is that it's not so much unpaid volunteers are going away as people who start writing kernel code get hired really quickly,” he said.
Linus comment is out of context, I hope.
Getting hired really quickly changes nothing. You are still an unpaid volunteer unless the new job pays you to contribute to the kernel. Lots of people contribute to open source projects on their own time while drawing income from other work. That does not make them paid developers in the context of the open source project.
If you can handle a LOT of abuse, you're welcome to join the OpenBSD developers.
Seriously, people whinging about abuse from Linus know nothing about abuse when compared to Theo.
--JLockard - "Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps." - Emo Phillips
> I'm was an H-1B and I came to the US for a salary that put me in the top tax bracket.
Great. But surely you must realize that your experience does not reflect the majority, right?
The top 10 h-1b employers, accounting for 50% of visas, are off-shorers.