Open Source Contributions

Who contributes to open source? To discover the answer to that we must dig into why people contribute to open source. Young software engineers are encouraged to participate in open source projects to improve their resumes; older software engineers are encouraged to participate in order to keep their skill sets up to date. There are some people that only want to code for their job and, sadly, the industry sees them as unsuccessful and unmotivated. Many other people have their own ideas of projects that they want to work on in their free time, and a lot of the industry sees them as leaders and heroes. So where do those that want to work on open source software fit in? Likely they fit somewhere in the middle. People that want to continually work on their skills and people that want to contribute to a community are likely to participate in open source software projects in their own free time. Some people may get paid to work in open source depending on their company’s needs, and that adds another factor to consider when attempting to study who contributes to open source and why.