On the way back from Glasgow to the Netherlands, a 13 hour trip (after a technical problem
on the high-speed track between the Lille and Brussels even longer), I read
quite a bit. Adriaan got a copy of “Freakonomics”, a book by Steven D. Levitt and Stepen J.
Dubner, which I am now reading (he finished it while I was snoring 40m under the sea in the
Chunnel).
moms?”
The answer to this question is that most drug-dealers can hardly make a living from their
“earnings” and that their incentive to choose dealing crack as their profession is the
perspective of becoming a top-notch drug dealer (small chance) and then earning a lot of
money. Of course, the chance to die in the process is much higher than actually succeeding.
(The chance to die while dealing crack is even considerably higher than the chance to die
when you’re on death row in a texan prison.)
The reason for choosing crack-dealer instead of “some other well-paid profession” is that
succeeding in crack-dealing is quite visible in their environment, whereas famous writers
(for example) have close to no visibility — hence more choose to get into the drugs
business. Now you wonder what this has to do with Free Software? I think there’s an analogy that also
applies to
what we’re doing. Having students see that you can become successful (in whatever way)
by writing Free Software, so increasing the visibility of “Free Software developer” being
a profession, rather than a hobby and a good way to make a living should — following this
analogy — motivate folks to actually become Free Software developers. Combine this with the situation that there’s actually a lack of Free Software
developers (at least in the KDE ecosphere, I know quite some companies who are looking for
competent Free Software developers they could hire).
Working on KDE gives you a track record and shows that you’re actually able to write good
code, work in a team, have technical understanding and a sense for accomplishing something.
I even dare saying “If you’re working
on KDE and are able to contribute in a meaningful way, you’ll almost certainly get a good
job in this industry.”
For some of us it might be obvious, lots of people have interesting and well-paid jobs in
the Free Software industry. The key is communication. Communicating that actively solves
various problems
at once: new apprentices, a healthier job market and of course more people participating
in Free Software projects. This is by the way also what I’m actively communicating to our
CodeYard students.