Open-source software (OSS) is a rapidly growing industry that provides many benefits to the individuals and businesses who use it, as well as to its programmers.
For developers, contributing to OSS means that they not only practice their programming skills, but that they also learn and gain feedback from more accomplished programmers. This jumping-in-the-deep-end style of learning provides aspiring programmers with real-life, first-hand experience and greatly accelerates their learning curve.
Contributing to OSS allows developers to become better at reading code produced by others, finding and fixing bugs, and adding their code into the main repository. These are all activities developers experience working in a tech company.
Most people who are passionate about something strive to be recognized for the quality work they produce, and for some, developing software is a huge passion. Recognition from members from the OSS community not only encourages and motivates a developer to improve his or her skills, it can also create a number of opportunities, such as job offers and invitations to attend conferences and events, etc.
Another important aspect of this point is self-recognition and personal achievement. Many developers are extremely determined to become the best developer they can be to meet certain personal goals, and having your code accepted by a big OSS project is a considered a massive achievement.
The fact that OSS is visible to the public means that prospective employers can inspect your code and assess your skills as a developer based on the code you have written. In contrast, commercial (proprietary) software doesn’t provide you with the same proof of your abilities, and overall it is much harder to gain experience in this realm.
A lot of the time, developers first come across OSS as users. In this case, the desire to contribute to this particular piece of OSS stems from wanting to improve it for their own use – either by improving certain areas or by developing new features and functionalities. The beauty of OSS compared to proprietary software is that this is all possible. Even if a user isn’t a programmer, he or she can still suggest new features and functionalities to the software’s owner or core team.
This desire to contribute can also resonate on a business level. If a business owner or company is using a piece of open-source software and would like to make some changes or add new features to meet a certain business need, then this is also a real possibility. The result is a win-win situation, as the business gets a new feature (either by developing it themselves or suggesting it to the core team) and the software also receives a new feature that can often be utilized by other users.
Although the above points center around a developer’s motivations for contributing to OSS, the same points can also apply to other individuals. Within every open-source project, the requirements for non-programming skills and contributions are just as necessary. Language translators, designers, and many other professionals can apply their skills and experience to improve OSS. This global and constant collaboration is increasing open-source software’s popularity and is making the software that we use on a daily basis a whole lot better.