How to Get a Software Job w/o

ExperienceCharles Andersonandersc@wou.edu

cander@westernskiesweb.com

About Me

25 years experience in industry - mostly smaller companies

including 4 startups

Open source user since the mid-80s - some minor contributions

Catch-22

To get a job, you need experience

To get experience, you need a job

SolutionJoin an open-source

software project

Works even if you want to work at a closed-source

companySource: New Yorker Magazine

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

Mad Skilz 4 The ManReal world tools for real world problems

Know how to work on a (dist.) team

Tools: SCM, build, testing, mailing lists

Code and documentation been reviewedHave real examples to point to

Can take criticism - peer reviews

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

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

Rock Star Student

Google Summer of Code: Google pays students to

work on open-source projects

ConclusionWorking 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

Resume Examplehttp://www.linkedin.com/in/shemnon

More Info

Producing Open Source Software

Karl Fogel

Free at http://producingoss.com