[lux]

Agreed! It's amazing how many applicants you get that have only ever written code for school assignments or other jobs. Contribute to OS, start a project, just do something visible! It also shows you actually like what you do, which startups are definitely looking for.

[deepster]

Contributing to OSS would definitely make a candidate stand out in my eyes. Not to mention that you can also review his/her code. Few things in life are more annoying than interviewing a candidate who's fancies himself a programmer b/c he read a "Program ____ in 24 hours".