Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

VA on Upside

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the stuff-to-read dept.

wendell wrote in to send us an interesting little article about VA Linux Systems and how the Linux companies are hiring major free software developers.

1 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. The game of money by Jonas+�berg · · Score: 5
    While there's some similarities between whats happening in the free software community and the NBA (or whatever), there's also some things that just aren't the same at all. For example, you could look at the money involved in hiring someone. In the free software community in general, people pay more attention to the work itself and other benefits instead of to their paycheck.


    I know I've posted this before, but you really should check out ``Studies Find Reward Often No Motivator''.
    One of the conclusions of that article is that if money is seen as a reason for doing something, that task will suddenly become less interesting to do. I can't even remember the last time I did something for money; it's just too hard a struggle to become motivated to do something that doesn't interest you, even if the reward is money so you can live for another year.


    Thats not saying that you can NOT pay a hacker a good salary though; just that it's not the most important thing. When it comes to money, the importance is that you get enough money so that you can pay your rent, food and buy some interesting toys to play with on your spare time (if you have any). Once that goal is reached, the next issue is about what kind of tasks that the work would involve. I tend to think that hackers are more agressive in this area because many of them often have a very well laid out idea of what they want to do and they'd rather be unemployed than be forced to go out of their way to fit into the company.


    Hackers are an easy prey. If someone came to me and asked me if I'd like to for VA, I'm pretty sure I'd jump on that train. The reasons should be obvious; these companies create an athmosphere much like that of the Homebrew Computer Club and other similar organisations, such as all local Linux-based clubs. Being in such an athmosphere is in itself very motivating and interesting and I'd recommend it to anyone out there who gets the chance.