I get what you mean, but I think this can be looked at in a more neutral way, especially if we distance ourselves from the exact Homebrew example. The expectat

I get what you mean, but I think this can be looked at in a more neutral way, especially if we distance ourselves from the exact Homebrew example. The expectation of a large engineering company is to hire someone who fits well into their way of doing things. Typically they want smart, humble team-players with predictable skills (AKA solid educational background and possibly industry experience). However an open source tool author has completely different self-imposed requirements and capabilities. If successful, they have proven that they can ship reliable software, basically on their own, which people want to use. Which is great, exceptional even. But typically not in terms of the metrics of a large engineering company, except they actually do use the tool/library, deem it important and the role of the programmer would involve developing/supporting it. This also poses the question of: "Why would open source author want to get hired by big company in the first place?" Wouldn't this mismatch of expectations and skill-sets be a hindrance/waste? Aren't there much better places for this exceptional open source author? Startups, other open source projects, self-employment/freelancing, SMEs etc.