What attracts people to work on F/OSS projects? (undergrad research)

[osanthropologist]

Hello all. I am an undergraduate anthropology student conducting research for my dissertation into the F/OSS community. In this thread I would like to hear people's impressions of why programmers choose to dedicate their time to working on these projects. The most common answers I have encountered thus far are that it is excellent training and a place to share skills and that it carries a certain level of prestige and increases job prospects. Is this a fair assessment, or is it there more to people's decision to design software in this way? All contributions are welcome, personal accounts especially so.

Jack Kavanagh
undergraduate Anthropology
University of East London

Note: I will not use as data anything you say, either on the forums or in private correspondence, without your explicit consent.

[jayd512]

Welcome to LinuxForums!

The most common answers I have encountered thus far are that it is excellent training and a place to share skills and that it carries a certain level of prestige and increases job prospects.

The prestige aspect might be a little overblown. But the rest of it seems right on the money.

I'm not a coder by any means... aside from a few shell scripts for my own boxes, programming is way out of my league!
But I've had a few times where I had a hand in an alpha or beta release gone wrong... and I made them work for me. I can move some files around to get things to work.
Had my name posted a few times on a main page for thanks.

I helped the dev team, and the Linux community.
I learned a few things in the process.
I did, indeed, get a job offer for having Linux knowledge.

We just like to make our systems better... and we do that by helping each other in whatever capacity that we can.

[Lakshmipathi]

why programmers choose to dedicate their time to working on these projects. The most common answers I have encountered thus far are that it is excellent training and a place to share skills and that it carries a certain level of prestige and increases job prospects. Is this a fair assessment, or is it there more to people's decision to design software in this way?

I agree with the points "Increases job prospects" and "place to share skills".
Initially,I wrote FOSS project to increase job prospects. After getting the job (which doesn't related to FOSS) I continued with FOSS projects,because that brings "inner" satisfaction - Yes,I'm doing something which justifies my degree and education. I don't like do a job of school boy after completing master degree. And also its fun,you will interact/work with lot of people (99.5% of them you will never see face to face) around the world you will realize -"People are good ,no matter where they are from" . And also most importantly it gives Self-Confidence - If no one is going to give you a job, you can create a project and work on it and sell it.You don't need to depend on some one / some company.

[Freston]

Couple of reasons I can think off:

Achievement. There's so much more you can do with a couple of people as opposed to working alone. It is also a good motivator to work together.
Experience. Always good on the job market.
The fun of working together with people from all over the world.
Perception. When you're playing with your computer in moms basement then you're a sad little nerd. But when you're an active developer/maintainer of an international project then all of a sudden people think you're cool
Challenge. Nuff said.

On the meta side of communications. You /where/ steering the answers by stating in which line you expect the answers. That's a quite risky technique for a student at a University

[osanthropologist]

That's great guys, thanks for taking the time to reply. So what I'm sort of seeing as a common theme between your various posts is that the main thing that attracts people to F/OSS projects are the social elements. For me that means the fact that it's easier to work in a group, that it gives you a chance to share your skills and knowledge and also there seems to be a definite sense of satisfaction from what you might call the altruistic, or "giving element". Flintlock made reference to "helping each other in whatever capacity that we can", Lakshmipathi asserted that "People are good ,no matter where they are from" and Freston's very apt observation that "When you're playing with your computer in moms basement then you're a sad little nerd. But when you're an active developer/maintainer of an international project then all of a sudden people think you're cool". Is that fair to say, identifying that as a common thread?
Also, Freston, I think you are right but I've been trying to negotiate the balance between proper research and not appearing to be ignorant of my topic, which I've found amongst hackers to be an instant source of criticism. Maybe I'm not getting it yet, but thanks for the input, it helps alot.

[Lakshmipathi]

the main thing that attracts people to F/OSS projects are the social elements. For me that means the fact that it's easier to work in a group, that it gives you a chance to share your skills and knowledge and also there seems to be a definite sense of satisfaction from what you might call the altruistic, or "giving element".

But not completely social, I by myself spent more time on this forum rather than using Facebook/Twitter/Orkut. For example,Personally I hate a person named X. I don't want to talk with X or see his/her face again in my life time. But X needs some help on FOSS (like installing something) , I'm damn sure to go and help him/her out. That doesn't mean I forgave him/her and became friend again. My relationship with X nothing do with my attraction/dedication/love/relationship towards FOSS.

[Freston]

Freston's very apt observation that "When you're playing with your computer in moms basement then you're a sad little nerd. But when you're an active developer/maintainer of an international project then all of a sudden people think you're cool". Is that fair to say, identifying that as a common thread?

Sing along: it's not what you do, it's the way that you do it...
Nobody really cares what the 'sad geek' is actually doing in moms basement. Once he starts talking about sendmail configurations or distributed systems, he's lost his audience. Geeks are not alone in this, when the bookkeepers of my company ("we're not bookkeepers, we're accountants") start talking about their work it's equally impossible to feign interest.

On the anecdotal side, I was in the coffee corner at the 'wrong' time and found myself between the accountants. One said that to his surprise his E19 bounced. And they all laughed and laughed. I asked what was funny. The response? Because of some regulation, you have to have your E19 bounce before you can [verb I had never heard before or since]. I guess we all have our problems

Also, Freston, I think you are right but I've been trying to negotiate the balance between proper research and not appearing to be ignorant of my topic, which I've found amongst hackers to be an instant source of criticism. Maybe I'm not getting it yet, but thanks for the input, it helps alot.

Hahaha, I guess you're right. Just, I have a background in the soft sciences. And I distinctly (and unfondly) remember having to write and rewrite and rewrite my research questions again and again to make the phrasing neutral and open.

As for hacker culture, I guess that's a difficult subculture to get into. Here on this board though, they tend to be more open and friendly towards newcomers. As for myself, I am not a hacker, just a technician. Still, I think, if you're genuinely interested in the question that you have you should do all right even without in-depth knowledge of the subject.

[jayd512]

When you're playing with your computer in moms basement then you're a sad little nerd.

What about us nerds that are quite happy with it? (not the basement... I'm a little beyond that.)

[Freston]

What about us nerds that are quite happy with it? (not the basement... I'm a little beyond that.)

Hihi, of course, by all means. As you said yourself, it's quite beneficial to be a nerd, you get satisfaction, better system and a job out of it There's nothing 'sad' about that. Quite the opposite, if you ask me

[Bemk]

My personal project is a kernel. The whole reason for doing it: fun / learning / more fun.

Maybe there is a very tiny bit involved about reputation, but that for me isn't reason enough to start such a project.

I also like to communicate with people from wherever they are on the globe and get to know people, be it in a technical setting.

As for neutrality in the open source world. Probably the only way to reach that is to be completely ignorant, because when you decided to investigate this specific topic you probably did it because you had an opinion before you started.

Disclaimer:
Note: I said probably. No flaming intentions here.