I have to agree that it does help a lot with career if your open source project succeeds. That said, it's very hard to start a successful project that people mi

I have to agree that it does help a lot with career if your open source project succeeds. That said, it's very hard to start a successful project that people might actually remember you for. Note that working on open source will cost you money personally (in terms of missed opportunities). If you spend 20 hours per week on your project for over 4 years, that's over 4000 hours... If you assume that your time is worth just $50 USD per hour, then you're missing out on at least $200k of income over those 4 years. You could have bought a small house/apartment for that money... Most open source developers will feel the pinch after a few years have passed. You will probably be skilled in a specific area but also exhausted and poor (a difficult combination). So starting an open source project is like making a huge, very risky investment in yourself and in the hypothetical community which might form around your project. Your future career path will depend mostly on your community's success and how much of an impact your project has on them.