if one commits his or her time to an open source project, he or she may be inves
ID: 659620 • Letter: I
Question
if one commits his or her time to an open source project, he or she may be invest a substantial amount of time without getting paid. As much as altruism is appreciable, I wonder whether it "counts" as an activity which can be shown and is valued in job applications. If the company is worth your time and working power, which it should be in my honest opinion.
So I wonder whether there is something like a common practice in open source projects for this matters. Say, something like
Mr. Martin has been working on our project for five years and has contributed this and that,[...] I we wish him very best for his future.
Mr. ChiefofProject
I think this is a just concern. Do have experiences you can share?
Explanation / Answer
Being an active open source contributor is the best way to showcase experience that I know of. It pays off a LOT.
If you can prove being an influencer in the field that is connected to your day job, I cannot imagine better work references. And no, usually you do not receive a formal recommendation, as this is not why people contribute. Yet, you can showcase your open source activity in your resume and tell about it during F2G interviews.
And when you are a very active and well known contributor, than... well, you will not be looking for a job anymore. The job will come looking after you.
The best example of the company that endorses open source activities among their employees is Google. As a general practice, Google also requires that its engineers spend 20 percent of their time working on personal technology projects unrelated to their primary projects, many of them being open source.
BTW, this question is a duplicate
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.