No, "you" can't wing them in any generalizable manner (why isn't everyone doing it, then?). For high paying gigs (not merely well-paid ones), you need a reputat

No, "you" can't wing them in any generalizable manner (why isn't everyone doing it, then?). For high paying gigs (not merely well-paid ones), you need a reputation. There are several ways to build a reputation, and contributing to a popular OSS project is one such way. An interesting, tangential point is that OSS is probably the most pure meritocratic way to build a reputation -- it does not rely on gaining access to a powerful network (which relies on gaining access to a slightly less powerful network, which relies on ...) or other variations of more-or-less controlled luck.