8 Ways to Showcase Your Open Source Skills and Get Hired
by Sam Dean - Aug. 14, 2008Comments (4)- Related Blog Posts
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As many researchers and writers have been reporting lately, the typical skills that college graduates in computer science have are so common now that differentiation from the typical skill set may make a lot of sense. "Their skills are so easily outsourced that they’re heading for near-term obsolescence," writes James Maguire. The good news is that open source skills can be huge differentiators, and graduates may be very well served by pursuing jobs directly inside the open source community. So how can graduates develop and showcase open source skills that could make a difference for them? Here are eight ways.
With record funding numbers, and bright prospects, many people looking to become differentiated from the pack may want to approach open source companies for either paid or volunteer work (volunteering and internships can lead to getting hired).
If you're interested in volunteering and getting a good open source notch on your resume, check out SourceForge's Project Help Wanted board. The positions available are sorted by categories, and there are always many of them open.
For jobs, volunteer positions, and internships that can showcase your open source skills, check into AgoraCart. It offers a broad array of open source-focused positions you can look into no matter where you are.
Are you familiar with oDesk? OStatic has worked in partnership with oDesk before. It's a global staffing marketplace and management platform that hooks application developers and remote workers up with job providers, as we discussed here. Our sister blog WebWorkerDaily also has a good discussion. This is a great way to get your open source skills showcased, and hook up with employers.
Several of the prominent open source software foundations can also help open sourcers find work. You might start by looking into the Apache Software Foundation and the Drupal Foundation's list of available jobs.
Don't forget about the ongoing jobs available at prominent open source companies, as well as companies that make extensive use of open source. Red Hat always has many jobs available, but you can even find many open source-focused positions at big Internet companies such as Yahoo. Yahoo makes extensive use of open source technologies such as Hadoop (which underlies its search technology), and usually has positions available for serving these efforts.
Finally, consider showcasing your skills here at OStatic. You can do this by creating a profile on the site, describing your skills, and interacting with others on the site. You can also click the I Use This button on our project pages to let others know what you're experienced with. You can see this in action on the Drupal page here.
Open source is very much a growth technology category. Whether you're just starting out in a tech career, or you've been around, it makes sense to explore your opportunities in this arena.
