Gaining reputation by contributing to a public good seems OK in some situations. It's unfortunate that we need reputation to find work, but I'd rather answer SO

Gaining reputation by contributing to a public good seems OK in some situations. It's unfortunate that we need reputation to find work, but I'd rather answer SO questions or contribute to open source then many other ways of doing it. Both of those can often be of real benefit to others at the same time as building a reputation.