How To Hire Great Open Source Developers?

An anonymous reader writes "This is the first article I've ever read specifically about hiring open source developers, and how to judge their ability not just to code but to work with others. It's reprinted over at ITMJ [part of OSDN, as this site is] from a book by Martin Fink, the General Manager for HP's Linux Systems Division. Brings up a lot of good points, including how you need to make sure your open source people are developing things (on company time) that do the company some good, not just scratching their own itches. Fun quote: 'Discover what pseudonyms your candidate uses online. Look at the archives at SlashDot and other online locales. Does your candidate hide behind secret pseudonyms to trash other individuals? Is there passion without condemnation?'"

Easy.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Entice them with prostitutes!

Search Slashdot for their posting behavior?

[ObviousGuy]

Oh shit.

Re:Search Slashdot for their posting behavior?

[ObviousGuy]

Maybe you should have posted that AC.

Idiot.

job offers for all!

[SinaSa]

It's articles like these that make me want to hop onto Seek [seek.com.au] and put up a job offer for OSS developers everywhere!

And then I remember I don't run a business :(.

What not to do

[tankdilla]

How to not get hired for an open source project:

Boss: What's your Slashdot screen name?
Employee: Anonymous Coward.

Doomed!!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Discover what pseudonyms your candidate uses online. Look at the archives at SlashDot and other online locales. Does your candidate hide behind secret pseudonyms to trash other individuals? Is there passion without condemnation?"

Oh bugger that's me screwed then, he knows I always post anonymously on Slashdot!!!

Animal Psychology

[beware1000]

Culturally, your engineers will struggle between their loyalty to the community and their loyalty to the company.

haha! they make them sounds like confused pets or something.

"Don't be too quick to introduce your Engineer to it's new environment, Engineers are not well known for adapting quickly to change!"

...not just scratching their own itches.

[burgburgburg]

you need to make sure your open source people are developing things (on company time) that do the company some good, not just scratching their own itches.

And after I've paid so much money for DVDs of women primarily scratching ...,uh, now that I think about it, that's in a slightly different context. Never mind.

thank-god for...

[ylikone]

the option of posting as anonymous coward!

Re:Search Slashdot for their posting behavior?

[kj0rn]

It's OK, I simply told them my nick is CleverNickName [slashdot.org]

we're due to start filming next week :-)

Re:Of course

[CaptainBaz]

Thank you, Captain Obvious!

+1 Insightful? Wow...

Slashdot

[Zog The Undeniable]

Does your candidate hide behind secret pseudonyms to trash other individuals?

Only when I get mod points, duh. ;-)

Re:Good article, but one thing irritates me

[Chip Salzenberg]

You're mistaken. Lots of open source people did have that expectation, back in the day. Of course they were usually disappointed.

PS: potential employers, check out the low uid. :-)

Re:Animal Psychology

[Anonymous Coward]

You have no idea how long it took to get well house-trained coders. We stepped down our requirements from "civilized" to "doesn't spray their scent around the server room TOO often" and I think we've reached a happy medium.

Re:Good article, but one thing irritates me

[Anonymous Coward]

A low UID, but only 49 replies? Get writing if you want the job.

Re:Search Slashdot for their posting behavior?

[no longer myself]

I've told people at work what my user name is:

"Hey, do you ever post comments on Slashdot?"

"Why yes, I'm 'no longer myself'."

And fortunately no one ever seems to figure it out... ;-)
Obviously, my coworkers think I'm weird...
But they like me anyway. :-)

Re:Good article, but one thing irritates me

[bsartist]

Being an open source developer is not a religion.

You must be new here...

Re:Open Source projects as a career stepping-stone

[4of12]

His current employers saw his work and hired him on the spot...

Uh, am I the only one that found this statement funny?

[Reminds me of the old joke, boss commenting to another boss, "Yes, Bob's retired. The only problem is he forgot to tell us about it."]

Re:What not to do

[The Famous Brett Wat]

How to not get hired for an open source project:

Boss: What's your Slashdot screen name?
Employee: The correct Slashdot term is "nickname", you ignorant AOLer!

Re:Personal Time

[The Famous Brett Wat]

I am not employee #3877643 away from the office...

Right on! Away from the office you are Slashdot user #323026, and post comments like #8461887. Or... hang on... are you posting from work? Now I'm confused.

Re:Good article, but one thing irritates me

[OhHellWithIt]

> Being an open source developer is not a religion.
Anything can be a religion. Just because you have a life doesn't mean everyone does.

No need to be employed

[Maljin Jolt]

Became a landlord of flathouse. Then your tenants will keep you living while you work on open source. At least, it works for me. Actually, I spent more time on playing games than on coding for past eight years, in-between fixing kitchen sinks and replacing light bulbs. The best effect is I got free 512k internet connection throught one of my tenant, just by allowing them to place a microwave antenna on the roof "for free".
And how to become a landlord? Get an excellent karma in real world first.

Re:Personal Time

[mccalli]

Right on! Away from the office you are Slashdot user #323026, and post comments like #8461887. Or... hang on... are you posting from work? Now I'm confused.

Want to be more confused? I'm posting from home. Via an SSH connection from work... :-)

Cheers,
Ian

Re:What not to do

[Anonymous Coward]

Prospective employer:

"What are your Slashdot nicknames?"

Answers:

"Stupid Idiot (4693344)."
"Arab Terrorist (6382712)."
"Major BodyOdor (3858443)."
"Lick Bush in 2004 (7482844)."


Choose your nickname carefully. What seems funny now may not seem funny later.

Re:Research me!

[110010001000]

From your web page:

"I want to shoot whoever designed them."
Prone to violence.

"He (and I highly doubt it's a "she") seems to be under the impression that the job of a phone ring is to force you to pay attention to the phone."

Sexist!

"Just now as I write, I looked and the phone doesn't even have a "Do Not Disturb" button that would force the call into voice mail"

Anti-social.

Also a Python programmer.

Recommendation: No hire. :-))

Re:What not to do

[Marijuana al-Shehi]

You're right about that! After I registered this nick I found out that the TSA was recruiting air marshals with a starting salary of something like $80K/year. Looking back on the situation I should have applied anyway, if for nothing but the challenge of convincing humorless bureacrats to let me board large jetliners while carrying a gummint-issued pistol despite my nick being a takeoff on the name of a 9/11 pilot. Shee-it, I live for irony anyway. They wouldn't even have to pay me!

Re:Research me!

[110010001000]

I was just joking. Except for the part about not hiring you because you program in Python.

HP's way to do this

[RomulusNR]

Being that the document is written by someone at HP, I expect the first steps go something like this:

1. Build an office building in India.
2. Hire an Indian.

(Yes, I'm bitter. I need a good hit to my karma once in a while... [No pun intended.])

First fire the mediocre and bad ones

[Anonymous Coward]

Then hire me.

Dumb shits.