I’ve been a software developer for just about twenty years at this point, and with each year that passes I feel better and better about never having gotten really involved in open source...

I’ve dipped a toe in those waters a handful of times. What did it get me? A vague sense of guilt for not having the time to maintain it properly, some frustrated emails to reinforce that, and the theoretical knowledge that I may have saved some people a handful of hours...

Everything I hear from people in The Open Source Community makes me think that if I’d found more time for it, and done more, I could have had... exactly the same thing, on a larger and more frustrating scale.

Anyway, this is not to put down anyone who does do open source and has a good experience with it, but, like...

If you’re a newer developer reading this, and you’re hearing the same messages I did when I was getting started — that open source or free software is Important For Your Career, or The Right Thing To Do, or The Only Way To Learn — just know that it’s not true...

You can do great work as a software developer, and still only do it when people pay you to — or if you do want to practice and learn more on your own time (I sure did!), you don’t owe anyone the code that comes out of that practice.