Paid Work Programming Free Software?

[MaybeAProgrammer]

I need to earn some $, and I'm wondering if there's paid work programming free software? As an Ubuntu user, I'm enjoying the products many programmers have produced for no $, and I don't mean to be greedy, but I really need to earn some $; and I'd rather develop software in the linux environment, for linux users, than any alternatives.

I've programmed professionally in the past, in C, C++, and assembler. I've also done my own projects in Java, and can pick up new languages/technologies quickly. I have specialized experience with audio- and midi-programming. B.S. degree from a good university.

This is the first place I'm asking. Any leads would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Lord Illidan]

I can't really tell if there's a job for you, but I know that quite a few companies, like IBM, Novell or Google do employ people to work on free software.

[Dark Star]

Yep there are lots of multination and small companies which pay guys for working on free s.w :)

[christhemonkey]

Several projects have bounty systems, where the stray developer (you!) can develop something for them that they dont want to do in house for a small price.

See:
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bounties
and also:
http://sourceforge.net/people/ (although these are for non-paying positions)

just google for bounties on a project you are interested in.

[Wolki]

Apart from bounties which usually are rather small, there are people that hire or contract people fpr free software development. Usually, they take people who already have made contributions to free software projects, as that is both a sign of technical competence and ability to teamwork in the climate of free software. Read the various projects' planets (blog aggregations), If people are needed for hiring or projects, pointers are often posted there.

[az]

I need to earn some $, and I'm wondering if there's paid work programming free software? As an Ubuntu user, I'm enjoying the products many programmers have produced for no $, and I don't mean to be greedy, but I really need to earn some $; and I'd rather develop software in the linux environment, for linux users, than any alternatives.

I've programmed professionally in the past, in C, C++, and assembler. I've also done my own projects in Java, and can pick up new languages/technologies quickly. I have specialized experience with audio- and midi-programming. B.S. degree from a good university.

This is the first place I'm asking. Any leads would be appreciated. Thanks.

I reckon you would have better success picking a particular field or type of software and seeing if there is a need for applications development there. Get a knowledge of what FLOSS can bring to that field and then create the need from your future employers.

I think it would be harder to try to find someone who has a specific project in mind and is looking for a developer; Instead, you should be able to present how you can satisfy their needs. This broadens your field to anyone in that market, and not just FLOSS projects (projects which already use FLOSS).

[timcredible]

great thing about linux is you can work from anywhere and be on any team. try contacting the distro makers - redhat, canonical, novell, etc., they make money off of linux by selling maintenance and have paid positions. since there's a couple hundred distros, you should be able to find something. if not, there's a few companies that make cross-platform pay-for-it software. and then there's hardware manufacturers that provide free software/drivers for their products that run on windows/mac/linux that require programmers. you should be able to find something. and if not, write something people need and ask for donations - that probably won't garner you a lot of money, but it may be enough to get by until you get a better, full-time position, and it may put a little experience on your resume.

[tgalati4]

I made $4k setting up a gps-tracking announcement system for parking lot trams. I'm using Via embedded computers running DSL with a server running Dapper. Completely open-source. I will be posting my changes to gpsdrive as open-source as well.

Take a problem and find a neat Linux solution to fill it. The jobs are created by you finding new ways to use Linux.

Build and create--don't wait around for someone to hand you an open-source programming job--it doesn't work that way.

Q: How do you get music to a beer tent in the middle of a paved fairground?

A: Icecast server streaming music and announcements from a central location and using a wireless embedded computer running xmms dialed into the icecast stream. A simpler solution would be to fix the park's AM radio station, but when you work with an IT department, everything has to have an RJ-45 connector.


Many IT departments are windows-based and leary of Linux, but when you put it in an embedded application, then it's somehow OK.