[IANAD]

What would be more impressive to me and practical would be spending time contributing to the Linux kernel. That is something that companies would more likely be interested in.

[mywittyname]

This is kind of dismissive, mean, and misses the point. It's like watching a person make 100 free throws in a row, then saying you'd be more impressed if he go into the NBA.

It's an order of magnitude more difficult to make a meaningful contribution to the Linux kernel, so of course it would be more impressive.

[IANAD]

> It's an order of magnitude more difficult to make a meaningful contribution to the Linux kernel

Any contribution that is kept is meaningful.

He could start by taking the Eudyptula Challenge: https://www.linux.com/blog/learn-how-contribute-linux-kernel...

Or he could read one of the many other resources out there about how to get started: https://www.linux.com/news/three-ways-beginners-contribute-l... https://kernelnewbies.org/ https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-way-to-start-contribu... https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/development-process... https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/SubmittingPatches http://helenfornazier.blogspot.com/2015/06/linux-kernel-how-... http://ozlabs.org/~rusty/Stupidity.html http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4576332/i-want-to-contrib... ...