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Here's a possibly novel take – the modern interview process for software developers is causing more and more projects to move to these non-FOSS licensing terms.

Here's a possibly novel take – the modern interview process for software developers is causing more and more projects to move to these non-FOSS licensing terms. "Wait, what? What could convoluted interview processes possibly have to do with licensing?" Well, developers need to make money somehow. In the past, releasing your software as FOSS allowed you to display your skills for software development and feature planning out in the open. Often, you'd be hired on the basis of those demonstrable skills at a paying job even if you didn't make money on the product itself. Multiple engineers I know went through very abbreviated hiring processes, being pretty quickly waved through if they had worked on FOSS in any significant capacity. Today, that's not the case at all, and any interview process for a high-paying job seems to have 5-6 rounds of arduous interviews, no exceptions. I have conducted around fifty or so interview processes for dev positions at a non-FAANG company, and "look at the candidate's FOSS experience" isn't on a single one of them. I don't think I could get any major FOSS contributor exempted from a single interview process at my company on the basis of their experience. The case of the Homebrew creator and Google is reasonably well-known [1]. Well, the natural response is going to be for them to work on their own product, and not open up the source code unless they get paid for it. Which is what software devs are doing these days, in increasing numbers. ---------------------------------------- [1] https://twitter.com/mxcl/status/608682016205344768 https://twitter.com/mxcl/status/608682016205344768

abeyer 5y ago
Sounds plausible, but I dunno how prevalent that really is, though. Do that many people write OSS code just to get hired? I've never once made a contribution or started a project primarily because I thought it would get me a job or other professional recognition. I contribute to projects I think are worthwhile, to those that I benefit from and want to give back to, and to things that "scratch an itch" either personally or professionally.
- quadrifoliate 5y ago
  > Do that many people write OSS code just to get hired? No, I meant that in the past, it was a significant incentive to release code that you were already working on for a company or product as FOSS, i.e. "Even if this company or job doesn't work out, the open-sourced code is a good way to demonstrate my technical capability". I am talking real, commercially capable tools. I would say that not too many people wrote OSS code to get hired, but a high number of people might have open-sourced existing code on the basis that it might help them get hired some day. If you haven't tried to build a company or product based on your code, then this wouldn't apply to you (unlike the Kreya devs).
- bogwog 5y ago
  I think it’s extremely common. Just look at all of the LinkedIn profiles with links to Github. Schools tell their students to do this because it will help them get hired, even though that’s probably wrong in the vast majority of cases. If you’re looking for a job, don’t have a network/personal connections, don’t have an amazing resume, etc then what can you do? Either spend months grinding leetcode so you can get an entry level job working on ads, or contribute/build something (open source or not) to get your name out there and pad your resume.
  - abeyer 5y ago
    From what I've seen the vast majority of that just produces lots of copies of tutorial projects repeated over and over again, as that's far easier than actually coming up with a new project that's of use to other people, or getting involved, learning the process, and becoming a contributor on an existing one. I've seen that advice everywhere, but _never_ actually seen someone become an ongoing OSS contributor as a result. I'm sure it happens, but I question how often and how much of an impact it actually is.

abeyer 5y ago

Sounds plausible, but I dunno how prevalent that really is, though. Do that many people write OSS code just to get hired? I've never once made a contribution or started a project primarily because I thought it would get me a job or other professional recognition. I contribute to projects I think are worthwhile, to those that I benefit from and want to give back to, and to things that "scratch an itch" either personally or professionally.

quadrifoliate 5y ago
> Do that many people write OSS code just to get hired? No, I meant that in the past, it was a significant incentive to release code that you were already working on for a company or product as FOSS, i.e. "Even if this company or job doesn't work out, the open-sourced code is a good way to demonstrate my technical capability". I am talking real, commercially capable tools. I would say that not too many people wrote OSS code to get hired, but a high number of people might have open-sourced existing code on the basis that it might help them get hired some day. If you haven't tried to build a company or product based on your code, then this wouldn't apply to you (unlike the Kreya devs).
bogwog 5y ago
I think it’s extremely common. Just look at all of the LinkedIn profiles with links to Github. Schools tell their students to do this because it will help them get hired, even though that’s probably wrong in the vast majority of cases. If you’re looking for a job, don’t have a network/personal connections, don’t have an amazing resume, etc then what can you do? Either spend months grinding leetcode so you can get an entry level job working on ads, or contribute/build something (open source or not) to get your name out there and pad your resume.
- abeyer 5y ago
  From what I've seen the vast majority of that just produces lots of copies of tutorial projects repeated over and over again, as that's far easier than actually coming up with a new project that's of use to other people, or getting involved, learning the process, and becoming a contributor on an existing one. I've seen that advice everywhere, but _never_ actually seen someone become an ongoing OSS contributor as a result. I'm sure it happens, but I question how often and how much of an impact it actually is.