[rikroots]

> The problem is that a lot of people are doing OSS to get work, or to get better work. Almost all of them really, lately.

This is exactly why I started my canvas library back in 2013. Hundreds of job applications were generating near zero interview invites. Then a recruiter told me that I was failing because I didn't have a portfolio of code to show prospective employers. I was so desperate (mid-40s looking to break into the tech industry) that I grabbed something I had been fooling around with (trying to make pretty animations in a canvas which I could share on a web page), slapped it on GitHub and started learning about PRs and stuff ... all to impress prospective employers.

It took over a year, and hundreds more applications, before I finally got a job offer.

> If you're not one of those people, and it's just a hobby and a charity thing for you, that's wonderful and ideal, bless you.

I still work on the canvas library. I'd like to think its a hobby/charity thing. The reality is that I go through bouts of obsessive computing that can take over my life for weeks at a time - I lost last Christmas to building a better text layout engine for the library.

The one thing I'm grateful for is the library's unpopularity. No issues or PRs for me to triage/manage; no users making demands etc. It's just me making stupid demands on my energy and time, which I do my best to control.

[dolmen]

If you lost last Christmas, you are already burned out. Have a break, and don't lose the incoming one.