| > I have a feeling that there's a silent majority of developers such as myself, that do enjoy programming and have a "passion" for it, but do not let this passion dissuade them from family time, or having more varied down time. I think you're absolutely right. For me (he said, ironically, whilst responding to a post on Hacker News) it's just not that healthy to spend even more time sat in front of a computer programming away than I did at work. As it happens nowadays I don't spend that much time at work programming so this does tend to make me more inclined to do so outside of work. But everything has to be in balance: I have family, I have friends, I have other interests. I need to spend time with family, with friends, and pursuing those other interests, otherwise I start to go nuts. So no: I do not have a plethora of OSS contributions, nor will I ever have. My side projects aren't OSS and, at present, I have no intent to make them OSS. I'd need a motivation that I simply don't have in order to do that. Moreover my side projects are things that I find fun, that probably aren't very generally applicable, and that some would see as frivolous - but I deal with enough serious business at work. In any case the thought of entitled internet randos getting in touch to demand free support because I've written an OSS library, module, or tool that's accidentally become somewhat popular and is now included in other modules and is used by corporations around the world who make tons of money in some tiny part off the back of using it is deeply unappealing. Not that if you want to spend your free time on OSS there's anything wrong with it - far from it. If you love doing it then have at it and more power to you. But we need to dispense with the idea that this is for everyone any more than photography or collecting vinyl is for everyone. |