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As I've said in another reply, what if you write Ruby and Rails code, yet it's closed source or protected by an NDA? You could be a better programmer than most
by batasrki 17y ago
As I've said in another reply, what if you write Ruby and Rails code, yet it's closed source or protected by an NDA? You could be a better programmer than most of the open source guys, yet no one would ever know.
- mediaman 17y agoThen it's information asymmetry. It's tough to get around and sucks for the person on the losing end. Suppose you can buy one of two used cars. One is a nice Lexus and one is a nicer Ferrari. They both cost the same, but the Lexus has a detailed maintenance report and a clean Carfax. The Ferrari has no records (because it is under a mythical car NDA). It would be perfectly logical to buy the Lexus, even though the Ferrari on average would a better car for the same money, as long as we assume non risk neutral actors. Information risk goes up, value goes down. Arguably, it's a great reason to contribute to open source, if you're a programmer, to reduce the information asymmetry in future hiring processes and thereby increase your perceived value.