# Why Do You Contribute to Open Source?

Source: https://www.yegor256.com/2017/05/30/why-contribute-to-open-source.html

You probably remember my half-a-year-old article:
[Why Don't You Contribute to Open Source?]({% pst 2015/dec/2015-12-22-why-dont-you-contribute-to-open-source %}).
I said there that if you don't have your own OSS projects
or don't give anything back to those you're using---something
is wrong with you. Now I'm talking to those who actually _do_ contribute
without demanding anything back---guys, you're doing it wrong!


{% jb_picture_body %}

Open source ~~almost~~ always means _free_, as in beer---nobody will
pay you anything for your pull requests. However, it doesn't mean
you're not allowed to make money.

Of course, you will not earn any cash directly by fixing a bug in
[docker/docker](https://github.com/docker/docker), but you _may_ earn
some intangible value, which will be converted to cash later.

Moreover, you _must_ earn it---this is my point. Otherwise, if you contribute
out of pure
[altruism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism),
you will lose the motivation very soon. Not because
you're greedy and
[only money]({% pst 2014/sep/2014-09-24-why-monetary-awards-dont-work %})
can motivate you, but because without
money you won't feel your efforts are being truly appreciated.

The intangible value I'm talking about is, of course, your
[resume]({% pst 2016/mar/2016-03-08-pimp-up-your-resume %}). If you
are an active contributor to [docker/docker](https://github.com/docker/docker),
your resume says so, and you're in the list of contributors---your
hourly rate or your salary will
[definitely]({% pst 2014/oct/2014-10-29-how-much-do-you-cost %}) be higher.

{% quote If you contribute out of pure altruism, you will lose the motivation very soon %}

I would recommend, before becoming a contributor, you ask yourself a question: How will
this affect my resume, my profile, and my reputation on the market? Will they
put me into the list of contributors? Will they promote me in exchange
for my pull requests? Will I be able to mention their name in my
next job interview?

Most projects won't do anything for you unless you _explicitly_ ask.
I'm a maintainer of over 40 GitHub repositories and at least six of them
have over 200 stars
([yegor256/tacit](https://github.com/yegor256/tacit),
[yegor256/takes](https://github.com/yegor256/takes),
[yegor256/rultor](https://github.com/yegor256/rultor),
[yegor256/eo](https://github.com/yegor256/eo),
[jcabi/jcabi-aspects](https://github.com/jcabi/jcabi-aspects),
[teamed/qulice](https://github.com/teamed/qulice)).
If you submit a pull request to any of them, I will
just review it, merge and forget your name.
I won't do anything else, simply because _you_ didn't ask.

However, if you ask me to put your name and a link to your blog
in the list of contributors, I will do it without any hesitation.
Moreover, if you do that right inside the pull request you are submitting,
I will merge it and your name will go right into the repo, into the very
place you find the most suitable.

Over the last six years of my active participation in open source
development I've never seen anyone asking me that. Why? I don't know.