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This is an interesting question, because I'm in the process of looking to hire an engineer to work full time on contributing to WordPress. The twist is I'm loo

by dotBen 13y ago

This is an interesting question, because I'm in the process of looking to hire an engineer to work full time on contributing to WordPress. The twist is I'm looking for someone who is currently not part of the WordPress Community, which has made the search interesting. I know WordPress has a mixed view here on HN, but that's kind of the point - we're (http://wpengine.com http://wpengine.com) looking to bring some "outside blood" with experienced with best-practice lower-level, heavy-lifting PHP experience that we can help inject into the WordPress Core project. Interestingly, a lot of engineers I've spoken to don't want to quit a full time job at a company to work on Open Source. So, my reverse question is where would you go to find folks who want to work on Open Source.

vdaniuk 13y ago
Could you offer some insights why many engineers dont want to work full time on open source?
- dotBen 13y ago
  Sure, these are the kind of concerns engineers raise when you talk to engineers who are right for the job but not worked on OSS before: * Perceived job security, especially developers with mortgages, families, etc. Going from a core-function role within a company to working on OS apparently feels like less job-security. * Don't want to move from working in office environment to (probably) working from home. * Project politics and different working relationships of "peers" - not aligned colleagues for same employer. * Not considered the most financially lucrative engineering positions in terms of performance bonus or career progression
icelancer 13y ago
>The twist is I'm looking for someone who is currently not part of the WordPress Community, which has made the search interesting. Can you elaborate on this point?
logn 13y ago
> So, my reverse question is where would you go to find folks who want to work on Open Source. I could do it for you. But I'm not a PHP programmer and don't live in Austin. That's probably why you're having trouble finding people. I could also get together a remote team and manage or work with them for you. It's what I did for my last client (actually, an Austin company as well).

by dotBen 13y ago

vdaniuk 13y ago

Could you offer some insights why many engineers dont want to work full time on open source?

dotBen 13y ago
Sure, these are the kind of concerns engineers raise when you talk to engineers who are right for the job but not worked on OSS before: * Perceived job security, especially developers with mortgages, families, etc. Going from a core-function role within a company to working on OS apparently feels like less job-security. * Don't want to move from working in office environment to (probably) working from home. * Project politics and different working relationships of "peers" - not aligned colleagues for same employer. * Not considered the most financially lucrative engineering positions in terms of performance bonus or career progression

icelancer 13y ago

>The twist is I'm looking for someone who is currently not part of the WordPress Community, which has made the search interesting. Can you elaborate on this point?

logn 13y ago

> So, my reverse question is where would you go to find folks who want to work on Open Source. I could do it for you. But I'm not a PHP programmer and don't live in Austin. That's probably why you're having trouble finding people. I could also get together a remote team and manage or work with them for you. It's what I did for my last client (actually, an Austin company as well).