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Re: Free Software Job Advice

Actually, I did get some replies, privately to me, that's why you didn't
see them.

1. I missed GSoC this time. I didn't have enough time to contribute to
projects and find ideas. And until next year there's a lot of time...
I'll try in 2014 :)

2. Freelancing requires knowledge. I tried it, but I can't find anything
for which I don't need to learn many new things. Too many job require
web technologies and many things I don't know.

3. Putting a website and maintaining it is a lot of work, and I don't
know much about web and server tools. The best I can do with my little
spare time is start a simple website using an easy CMS, and even then, I
don't have any visible products to show off.
I do work as fast as I can to complete the first version of my project,
which will fully build and run with a minimal set of features.

4. My code is fine, the problem is that it's not worth much because you
can't build and run it yet.

5. I already work in the university. But I teach math and physics, I
don't work on software. And until yesterday I didn't even know what a
sysadmin is.

You see, there are lots of part-time jobs for students, but they all are
related to websites: sysadmin, PHP/Javascript/HTML/CSS, stuff like that.

I'm not a geek. I don't know THAT much. I know C++ and I can write all
kinds of desktop apps using it. The problem is that all the C++ jobs
require you to be an engineer with +3 years experience. Nobody's giving
students a C++ coding job... unfortunately.

But thanks for the ideas :)



The biggest problem, for all of us actually, is that we need to do what
people pay us for, not what we really want to do.

For example, I'm very interested in Semantic Desktop. The plan for my
app involves both task and project management like no other
free-software app dies currently, and unique semantic-desktop
capabilities. It's all very interesting and I'm excited about it, but
who's gonna pay me for working on it? I don't need the millions paid to
engineers, I just want to work on what I enjoy and succeed at.

But those rare packages related, such as Tracker and Zeitgeist - who
develops them? WHRERE are they developed? Somewhere in Europe, far far
away from where I live. RedHat happens to have a sub-company here in
Israel, but they work on virtualization and Cloud tech and other things
I don't care about (and I hate the concept of Cloud computing, which is
an excuse to store user data online and abuse it).




I'll try to contribute to free software and get more experience, but
ironically, it will give me less time to work on my own project, less
time for studying... and the worst part, I won't get paid.

Don't get me wrong, I do want to contribute and I have lots of ideas and
plans, and lots of projects I'll happily participate in (Gnome,
Trisquel...), but who's gonna pay for my food and rent while I do that?

Enough with that, there's lots of work to do! :)



On ב', 2013-05-06 at 12:27 +0530, Sindhu S wrote:

Hello,


This is not the forum to discuss career help and am surprised why
nobody has replied to this ask for help yet. That said, I genuinely
feel for you and want you to read the following (in case you haven't
considered them already):


1. Participating in GSoC (Google Summer of Code) will give a
substantial amount of experience you would need for a job as well it
pays over the summer (very handsomely enough to cover your student
loans and some extent of living too). Am sorry at the point of writing
this the deadline for this year's GSoC but do approach your interested
organization to see if they can make an exception.It's not impossible.
I'd say go for it!


2. Have you considered freelancing? There are plenty of freelancing
jobs out there which pay by the hour I think. You could start at
http://www.rent-acoder.com/


3. The beauty of computer applications field is that unlike others one
doesn't really need a degree certificate to prove one's skills. Your
code and projects should speak for you. Have you considered putting up
a website of your own where you have displayed your previous and
current work (even if in progress)? You should also mention you are
available for hire. You could try Github.com for code hosting.


4. Advertise the code you have written, either complete it quickly by
giving it a command line interface or a GUI one and put it up! tell
everyone (via twitter) and ask for advice on how to better it. Also
look for jobs on hasgeek.com 


5. See if you can work part time at your university, you'd likely get
a sys admin's job but that's good right?


Is there anything I missed? :) Let me know and I hope this helps!


Good luck!


-Sindhu

http://live.gnome.org/sindhus



On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 11:14 PM, אנטולי קרסנר <tombackton gmail com>
wrote:
        Hello everybody,
        
        I'm looking for advice on making a living from working on Free
        Software.
        
        I already read articles, send my CV to various companies, but
        I found
        nothing. So I decided to ask here, hoping this question isn't
        too
        inappropriate for this list.
        
        I'm a software engineering student in first year (out of 4),
        from
        Israel.
        I've been coding in C++ using GNU and Gnome technologies, and
        I'm
        familiar with the GTK/gtkmm, libxml++, etc. I do need to
        refresh my
        knowledge of GObject, but certainly I can write code and
        contribute to
        existing projects (or work on my own project, which I've been
        doing for
        the past 9 months).
        
        The problem is that I need to make a living somehow. Not just
        as a
        student, but also later, as an engineer. I don't need much,
        just make a
        living and do what I believe in: work on free software and
        promote
        software freedom.
        
        In Israel nobody cares about free software (they call it open
        source,
        and it's just a way to save money), so after failing to find
        such a job
        here, I sent CV to companies in Europe. I realize I'm a
        student, I have
        no formal coding education, I have no proven experience (none
        of my code
        has reached the stage an initial version can compile, yet) but
        source
        files themselves... but I do want to contribute. The only
        reason I don't
        work on Gnome projects is that my free time is spent working
        on my own
        project, which will hopefully be a useful desktop app when
        it's ready
        (probably until the end of the summer).
        
        I realize all that, but I don't want to give up and accept the
        fact I
        can't do anything for free software. I do have skills, I do
        have
        knowledge. My current project has 7000 lines of code (not much
        for a
        serious project, I know, but it's a lot for me as a student
        working
        alone) written by myself from scratch, using GNU Build System,
        gtkmm,
        libxml++, libsigc++.
        
        Isn't there a way I can make a living with the skills I do
        have? I do
        want to help, and I don't need much in return, I just want to
        make a
        living. To pay my rent, to pay for my food... I'm sure my
        skills can be
        useful to someone. With a free software project.
        
        If you can help me or give advice, I'll be thankful.
        
        - AAnatoly Krasner
        
        _______________________________________________
        gtk-list mailing list
        gtk-list gnome org
        https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gtk-list
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