"You just started collaborating with [insert your open-source choice] engineers on some piece of technology that they were working on in the open, then when it

"You just started collaborating with [insert your open-source choice] engineers on some piece of technology that they were working on in the open, then when it was clear that you were making a valuable contribution and were a great person to work with, you would apply for a job. Or they would hit you up" Clear to whom and to what degree or how exactly? Then even getting over this stratagem, they might ...or not! Maybe not, most likely. I understand that this might hurt some feelings or dispel some fantasies, but this is exactly the way you (as workforce asset) are encouraged to think, and not in your best interest, really. The reality, more likely than not, is that a business has to be run and the people responsible for it have to cover the business model's needs with some X number of engineers. If the business is doing well and the men with the ropes see real benefits in hiring more, than there you go -- green light for the lucky department for getting a new pal along. The circle of developers in that area already know the contributors and just open the gate for one(s) they like. That, of course, has nothing to do with absolute quality of the contributions. It's not necessarily the best of open-source contributors that get hired, it's not even the best contributors of some specific open-source commercial project like Red Hat, it's just the best (read "convenient") in the area they need at the moment. Realizing that we're talking about an entity living under business laws of survival, you also have to assume it has to employ some of the same prosaic principles in order to survive, just like anyone else. The rest is propaganda. Be assured that your position as free contributor suits the recipients a great deal already and they won't change anything about it just because. That being said, I agree that the exposed work works very well for engineering, just as for any other portfolio-based enrollment.