Should You Be Doing Open Source?

Recently, I was re-reading the classic Getting Real by 37Signals and I ran across this quote:

When it comes to programmers, we only hire people we know through open source. We think doing anything else is irresponsible. We hired Jamis because we followed his releases and participation in the Ruby community. He excelled in all the areas mentioned above. It wasn’t necessary to rely on secondary factors since we could judge him based on what really matters: the quality of his work

Did you catch that? They only hire people that they know through open source.

In my head, I always wondered why anyone would want to work on open source and give away a product that they typically make their living on (ie – their programming skills). Doesn’t that devalue the craft? If I’m programming, don’t I want to billing for it?

I’m beginning to realize that there’s a flaw in this thinking. It assumes that money is the most important end-goal. But aren’t there other reasons that we work? Don’t even lawyers do pro-bono work for the right reasons?

Because while money is important, you can get a lot back from contributing to an open source project beyond the financial gain of closed source. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits:

• Connections: As the 37Signals quote indicates, you meet a lot of interesting people doing open source. These people are usually passionate about what they do and very technically competent. It’s almost like getting an MBA where the people you meet can be important (or more important) to your future career than the material you produce.
• Recognition: Would anyone have heard of DHH if it wasn’t for what he did with rails? What about RLS What about Linus Torvalds? Sometimes the way to make a name for yourself is to write great code and give it away to the world.
• Skills: If you want to learn a new technology, the best way is to code something real with it. And what do you do if your employer is not using that technology? Find an open source project that is! That project will also most likely have highly skilled peers to learn from.
• Contribution: Sometimes you look at your life and say, I’ve made money but what have I really added to the world? Open source gives you the opportunity to make that contribution to something you believe in.

Now, before anyone thinks I’m going to burn my copy of Atlas Shrugged, don’t worry I still plan to continue being a card-carrying capitalist and billable consultant. But I see no reason why a person can’t do both?

I plan to keep my eyes open for the right open source project. How about you?