Open Source is run by superstars, not by the masses. The level of many of these top % contributors should be thought more of as professional athletes. Their abilities are so far ahead of everyone else that it’s not even fair. Even the worst NBA player would crush just about anyone. I believe that to also be the case with OSS contributors.

The misconception that open source is all kumbaya is wrong. Almost all open source software is written by serial coders. When I hear 10x, 100x, 100000000x engineer, you’re most likely to find these kinds of people when they work on OSS. I’m not saying that superstars don’t exist outside of OSS, but I think any experienced person can agree that the talents and abilities of popular OSS contributors are much higher than the median in the field.

Look at Comma AI and OpenPilot. Their teams are tiny, yet they are able to deliver an amazing piece of software AND hardware. Building in public / building OSS is a really easy way to see who that 10x engineer is. Comma AI hires only out of open source contributors. This is pretty extreme, however we all know that this filters out a lot of sloppy candidates. Even if they get far fewer candidates, it is probably better that they hired someone competent instead of not.

What should you get out of this?
If you want to be ‘cracked’ you should probably start contributing to OSS or start building in public to some extent. While I’m sure many people do lots of good work in private, you will probably learn a lot more building in the light. I’m not saying to embarrass yourself, but you could probably push yourself a lot harder and learn a lot more when other people have their eyes on you.

Inspired by DHH