So my facebook experiment didn’t work out exactly as planned

Posted: June 1st, 2012 | Author: Stephen | Filed under: Insights, social networks | 1 Comment »

Shortly after closing my facebook account due to privacy concerns, I got emails from a number of friends who told me they didn’t really use email anymore, or that they were having a party and it was a pain to contact me separately from everyone else.

I decided to remove my tinfoil hat and examine my reasons for leaving facebook more introspectively. While facebook surely shares, uses, stores and transmits our data for their own financial gain there is definitely a benefit to sharing the information.

Don’t get me wrong, I am still leery about what I post to the site and cringe when I see some of the personal information my friends are willing to post for everyone to see. I decided to open a new account to keep in touch with my friends and family; I guess this makes me a hypocrite. Oh well, I better stop thinking about it, I feel a draft on my head and this tinfoil hat could be back in place any minute.

Does open source attract new talent?

Posted: February 18th, 2010 | Author: Stephen | Filed under: Insights | No Comments »

I know of a few people who will be graduating this year or who are currently looking for new software development jobs. Most of them are trying to find jobs that will allow them to continue contributing to open source projects during normal work hours. When I asked why this is such an important factor in the offer they accept I was told more than once that belonging to well-known open source communities really strengthens a developer’s resume, helps them build a strong global network and allows them to continually improve their development and (more importantly) leadership skills.

If the top-talent is looking for jobs that involve open source development, are the hiring companies delivering? To be honest I don’t know the answer but I can say that there are a lot more companies contributing to open source than in the past. If there is truly a demand by employees to contribute to open source projects, this could lead to a real explosion of corporate-championed open source.

What are your observations on the subject?