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This is bad advice for someone who has only been coding for 3 years (according to OP). People who can make $500k/year through connections they make contributin

This is bad advice for someone who has only been coding for 3 years (according to OP). People who can make $500k/year through connections they make contributing to open source projects could most likely just apply to a FAANG company directly. It is way more common to see brilliant developers make $0 from open source projects.

JumpCrisscross 6y ago
> People who can make $500k/year through connections they make contributing to opensource projects could most likely just apply to a FAANG company directly This vastly overestimates the efficiency of FAANG hiring channels.
- myth_drannon 6y ago
  Yes, like the Brew guy interview at Google.
  - cpascal 6y ago
    For context: https://twitter.com/mxcl/status/608682016205344768 https://twitter.com/mxcl/status/608682016205344768
    - lukeramsden 6y ago
      The tweet from Brian Acton[0] that someone replied with is truly legendary. I want to frame that and put it in the lobby if I ever found a successful business. [0] https://twitter.com/brianacton/status/3109544383 https://twitter.com/brianacton/status/3109544383
  - yCombLinks 6y ago
    Maybe he's a douchebag and was efficiently filtered out.
  - NateEag 6y ago
    People seem to assume Google was wrong not to hire him. Is Google in the business of building open source package managers? If not, why should his experience there mean he should have gotten the job?
    - garmaine 6y ago
      Because he develops a tool that other google developers use daily. If hiring him and directing his efforts leads to even a 0.1% productivity improvement in those developers, it would be Worth it.
      - mcharezinski 6y ago
        Google devs dont use homebrew.
        garmaine 6y ago
        The author of homebrew seems to think they do. I was quoting him.
        Google234 6y ago
        They don’t
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
        Wowfunhappy 6y ago
        Interesting! Did you work there? Do they have an internal package manager of some kind? (in a meek voice) ...do they use MacPorts?
        vikinghckr 6y ago
        Not OP, but Googler here. We use an internal Linux distro for all our development. It's very similar to Ubuntu (so the default package manager is apt). People who have a Macbook use it as a thin client to ssh into their Linux desktops. So OS X package manager isn't really needed or used.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- cutemonster 6y ago
  Or underestimates how many others they compete with What if among x00 ppl actually talented enough to work there, maybe faang only needs to hire x ppl That's no problem for faang but could be for those who applied
3pt14159 6y ago
Not true. One of the people I'm referring to was under 25 when he landed a $500k USD remote job at a FAANG company. I'd share more, but too many people would figure out who it is. He didn't get that offer by applying directly. The point is not that OP is going to make $500k a year. The point is to be smart about the language and project that you pick and to be reliable, professional, and open to learning quickly and delivering. He's asking for such a paltry amount that even if he only gets an $80k offer it's still leagues better than what he's asking for. Or he could grind it out on Upwork and land a $30k offer after finally hitting a client that likes him and has long term work.
- levesque 6y ago
  > I'd share more, but too many people would figure out who it is. Feels like your example is very specific and would not generalize to the average programmer.
  - john-radio 6y ago
    3pt14159 did not say "Any programmer can make $500K by doing open-source full-time for a while," though.
    - pc86 6y ago
      But the statement is in response to "this is bad advice for brand new developers." If the advice is so specific you end up doxing the single person in the world who's ever done it, then it sounds like that's a perfectly fair criticism.
      - wongarsu 6y ago
        I think the point is more "this general strategy works for most people; but not everyone is going to get a $500k job from it". It's a reliable strategy to get noticed and make a good impression. How much money you manage to make from that opportunity obviously depends on many more factors.
bryanlarsen 6y ago
3pt14159 isn't saying that noddly should try and make money doing open source. Noddly should gain the respect of an open source maintainer. These maintainers receive lots of requests for job openings and contract positions. Most of it is just recruiter spam, but some of it is real and the maintainer would be happy to forward them on to someone they respect, along with a recommendation. It's that recommendation that's worth its weight in gold.
- rvp-x 6y ago
  I had very few job offers originate from FOSS (maybe 2 in 4 years?). I suspect there's a narrow field where people recruit using FOSS/GitHub and I'm not involved in it. JavaScript based projects seem to be doing much better from an outsider perspective. I got more out of having a decent looking LinkedIn account.
  - kchr 6y ago
    I read it more like "get involved in FOSS projects to gain experience and trust, and base your CV (+ references) on that when applying for the jobs you want".
  - Carpetsmoker 6y ago
    I've had quite a few job offers from my weblog over the years, most of them actually pretty decent from HN readers and such (rather different from LinkedIn and recruiter spam). Never from open source thus far.
  - tracker1 6y ago
    In my opinion... LinkedIn gets you in the door, your Github profile can get you hired. I'm not sure how many job intros happen via Github to be honest... just from my own experience, I get a ton of calls from LinkedIn... and on the interview side, some higher profile contributions to open-source can help a lot. For where I work now, our code challenge includes putting the solution on github/gitlab mostly to ensure they at least know git, but as a secondary to their gh profile, which leads to their dev and contributions. It's not a hard requirement to me. I've known a lot of people in banking and secdef development that cannot participate in open-source, so there are definitely all types.
karaterobot 6y ago
The inference I made from that statement is that if OP demonstrated skill and professionalism on an open source project, they might be able to ask the other maintainers for a job introduction. This is perfectly reasonable advice: earning people's respect is a great way to network, and networking is a great way to get job recommendations. I don't think they were saying that most people who contribute to open source projects make half a million dollars a year as a direct result.
dheera 6y ago
> could most likely just apply to a FAANG company directly Honestly most of those companies don't look at their resumes. Back when I was in college I submitted my resume to one of those companies no less than about 10 times. And then suddenly out of the blue some PM at that company reached out to me saying they came across my website and saw a couple cool projects and asked if I would be interested in sending them a resume. (Yes, I did, and I got the offer, but ended up later declining it since I wanted to do a PhD.) But that shows that clearly the previous 10 times my resume went nowhere. In most tech companies any employee reasonably high up on the ladder can more or less whisk you into the interview process if they know you or your work and it's strong. Whether or not you get the job depends on the interview, but you'll at least almost surely get the interview. Multiple merged PRs on an open source project by that company is a near 100% ticket to the interview. Don't underestimate the power of knowing people, even if you are an amazing coder.
- jagannathtech 6y ago
  what were those projects?
Aeolun 6y ago
> Could most likely just apply to a FAANG company directly. And dissapear into a black hole. Even contacting FAANG recruiters directly (after they asked for it on LinkedIn) leads to zero response. I have no idea how these companies are hiring.

JumpCrisscross 6y ago

> People who can make $500k/year through connections they make contributing to opensource projects could most likely just apply to a FAANG company directly This vastly overestimates the efficiency of FAANG hiring channels.

myth_drannon 6y ago
Yes, like the Brew guy interview at Google.
- cpascal 6y ago
  For context: https://twitter.com/mxcl/status/608682016205344768 https://twitter.com/mxcl/status/608682016205344768
  - lukeramsden 6y ago
    The tweet from Brian Acton[0] that someone replied with is truly legendary. I want to frame that and put it in the lobby if I ever found a successful business. [0] https://twitter.com/brianacton/status/3109544383 https://twitter.com/brianacton/status/3109544383
- yCombLinks 6y ago
  Maybe he's a douchebag and was efficiently filtered out.
- NateEag 6y ago
  People seem to assume Google was wrong not to hire him. Is Google in the business of building open source package managers? If not, why should his experience there mean he should have gotten the job?
  - garmaine 6y ago
    Because he develops a tool that other google developers use daily. If hiring him and directing his efforts leads to even a 0.1% productivity improvement in those developers, it would be Worth it.
    - mcharezinski 6y ago
      Google devs dont use homebrew.
      - garmaine 6y ago
        The author of homebrew seems to think they do. I was quoting him.
        Google234 6y ago
        They don’t
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
        Wowfunhappy 6y ago
        Interesting! Did you work there? Do they have an internal package manager of some kind? (in a meek voice) ...do they use MacPorts?
        vikinghckr 6y ago
        Not OP, but Googler here. We use an internal Linux distro for all our development. It's very similar to Ubuntu (so the default package manager is apt). People who have a Macbook use it as a thin client to ssh into their Linux desktops. So OS X package manager isn't really needed or used.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
cutemonster 6y ago
Or underestimates how many others they compete with What if among x00 ppl actually talented enough to work there, maybe faang only needs to hire x ppl That's no problem for faang but could be for those who applied

3pt14159 6y ago

Not true. One of the people I'm referring to was under 25 when he landed a $500k USD remote job at a FAANG company. I'd share more, but too many people would figure out who it is. He didn't get that offer by applying directly. The point is not that OP is going to make $500k a year. The point is to be smart about the language and project that you pick and to be reliable, professional, and open to learning quickly and delivering. He's asking for such a paltry amount that even if he only gets an $80k offer it's still leagues better than what he's asking for. Or he could grind it out on Upwork and land a $30k offer after finally hitting a client that likes him and has long term work.

levesque 6y ago
> I'd share more, but too many people would figure out who it is. Feels like your example is very specific and would not generalize to the average programmer.
- john-radio 6y ago
  3pt14159 did not say "Any programmer can make $500K by doing open-source full-time for a while," though.
  - pc86 6y ago
    But the statement is in response to "this is bad advice for brand new developers." If the advice is so specific you end up doxing the single person in the world who's ever done it, then it sounds like that's a perfectly fair criticism.
    - wongarsu 6y ago
      I think the point is more "this general strategy works for most people; but not everyone is going to get a $500k job from it". It's a reliable strategy to get noticed and make a good impression. How much money you manage to make from that opportunity obviously depends on many more factors.

bryanlarsen 6y ago

3pt14159 isn't saying that noddly should try and make money doing open source. Noddly should gain the respect of an open source maintainer. These maintainers receive lots of requests for job openings and contract positions. Most of it is just recruiter spam, but some of it is real and the maintainer would be happy to forward them on to someone they respect, along with a recommendation. It's that recommendation that's worth its weight in gold.

rvp-x 6y ago
I had very few job offers originate from FOSS (maybe 2 in 4 years?). I suspect there's a narrow field where people recruit using FOSS/GitHub and I'm not involved in it. JavaScript based projects seem to be doing much better from an outsider perspective. I got more out of having a decent looking LinkedIn account.
- kchr 6y ago
  I read it more like "get involved in FOSS projects to gain experience and trust, and base your CV (+ references) on that when applying for the jobs you want".
- Carpetsmoker 6y ago
  I've had quite a few job offers from my weblog over the years, most of them actually pretty decent from HN readers and such (rather different from LinkedIn and recruiter spam). Never from open source thus far.
- tracker1 6y ago
  In my opinion... LinkedIn gets you in the door, your Github profile can get you hired. I'm not sure how many job intros happen via Github to be honest... just from my own experience, I get a ton of calls from LinkedIn... and on the interview side, some higher profile contributions to open-source can help a lot. For where I work now, our code challenge includes putting the solution on github/gitlab mostly to ensure they at least know git, but as a secondary to their gh profile, which leads to their dev and contributions. It's not a hard requirement to me. I've known a lot of people in banking and secdef development that cannot participate in open-source, so there are definitely all types.

karaterobot 6y ago

The inference I made from that statement is that if OP demonstrated skill and professionalism on an open source project, they might be able to ask the other maintainers for a job introduction. This is perfectly reasonable advice: earning people's respect is a great way to network, and networking is a great way to get job recommendations. I don't think they were saying that most people who contribute to open source projects make half a million dollars a year as a direct result.

dheera 6y ago

> could most likely just apply to a FAANG company directly Honestly most of those companies don't look at their resumes. Back when I was in college I submitted my resume to one of those companies no less than about 10 times. And then suddenly out of the blue some PM at that company reached out to me saying they came across my website and saw a couple cool projects and asked if I would be interested in sending them a resume. (Yes, I did, and I got the offer, but ended up later declining it since I wanted to do a PhD.) But that shows that clearly the previous 10 times my resume went nowhere. In most tech companies any employee reasonably high up on the ladder can more or less whisk you into the interview process if they know you or your work and it's strong. Whether or not you get the job depends on the interview, but you'll at least almost surely get the interview. Multiple merged PRs on an open source project by that company is a near 100% ticket to the interview. Don't underestimate the power of knowing people, even if you are an amazing coder.

jagannathtech 6y ago
what were those projects?

Aeolun 6y ago

> Could most likely just apply to a FAANG company directly. And dissapear into a black hole. Even contacting FAANG recruiters directly (after they asked for it on LinkedIn) leads to zero response. I have no idea how these companies are hiring.