[dkersten]

The way I see it is that its about exposure.

If you contribute to open source, your name and work are out there. People can find out about you and see some of your work.

There are other ways than contributing to open source too. For example, I've got a number of offers because I run a local programming language meetup.

Basically anything that puts your name out there will help get offers. If nobody knows you exist, they can't offer you jobs. That, I think, is where open source can help a lot.