I talked about how participating in an open-source project is a very valuable substitute for work experience. Updated 9/09.

1. How to Get a
Soft ware Job w/o
Experience
Charles Anderson
andersc@wou.edu
cander@westernskiesweb.com

2. About Me
25 years experience in industry -
mostly smaller companies
including 4 startups
Open source user since the mid-80s -
some minor contributions

3. Catch-22
To get a job, you need
experience
To get experience, you
need a job

4. Solution
Join an open-source
soft ware project
Works even if you want to
work at a closed-source
company
Source: New Yorker Magazine

5. Examples from Python
Brian Rosner - “new forms admin”
project lead for Django
Eric Holscher - screencasts and blog
entries about testing Django apps
Georg Brandl - Werkzeug and pocoo.org

6. Mad Skilz 4 The Man
Real world tools for real world problems
Know how to work on a (dist.) team
Tools: SCM, build, testing, mailing lists
Code and documentation been reviewed
Have real examples to point to
Can take criticism - peer reviews

7. How to Participate
Participate in mailing list discussions
Use/test code and report bugs
Write documentation
Find a bug or feature and implement it
Start your own (sub)project

8. How to Find a Project
A tool you’re already using - any
language or platform
A tool you wish you had
Directories: Fresh Meat, Source Forge,
Google Code, Java.net
FLOSS Weekly & Java Posse podcasts

9. Rock Star
Student
Google Summer of Code:
Google pays students to
work on open-source
projects

10. Conclusion
Working on an open-source project
provides “real world” experience
Demonstrates motivation, self-
startitude
Do it now - better than video games
Put it on your resume, but you might not
ever need a resume

11. Resume Example
http://www.linkedin.com/in/shemnon

12. More Info
Producing Open Source
Soft ware
Karl Fogel
Free at http://
producingoss.com