Saturday, December 16, 2006

Open Source - What is in it for Developers?

In previous post we discussed What is Available in terms of tools and technologies which is open source. Also we discussed Where the World is Heading in terms of Open Source.

But then the question comes is what does it provide to the developer community? What is in store for developers?

1. An Opportunity to Harness their Skills. This gives a chance for a developer to utilize the skill they learnt in past. This is one of the best way to keep updated with the skill set we are not using full-time.

2. An Opportunity to be part of World Class Product / Software Team. Being an Open Source developer one an submit changes / bug fixes to an already established software like My SQL, Eclipse etc. After few successful commits (submission) they do get chance to work as part of the team, which is very difficult otherwise.

3. An Opportunity to Learn new Skills. Most of the developers take up Open Source projects as a way to learn new tools, technologies etc. This way they get chance to do some live project in the new skill-set rather than doing some dummy project.

4. An Opportunity to Do Something for the World rather than for living. Most of the Open Source developers do it outside their working hours. They don't get paid for this work and they do it just because they want to do it. Its something they do as a matter of their commitment and dedication towards the developer community not driven by the salary or any other thing.

In a nutshell, Working on Open source is a passion. We developers do it not for living but for our own satisfaction. It is purely driven by our zest to do something different.

Until Next Time.. :)

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