I’ve been asked: Why dedicate your free time to open source, especially after having children?
Frankly, open source is more than a hobby for me; it’s a long-term investment in value.
While direct financial returns are minimal, the rewards it brings far outweigh monetary gains.
Today, I want to share three of them: these aren’t just for open-source contributors; every developer, and even every professional, can benefit from them.
1. Making Your Work Truly Visible#
In a company, our achievements are usually only known to colleagues or superiors.
Open-source projects are different; they showcase your abilities and accomplishments to a wider technical community.
This “visibility” is often more persuasive in career development than a few lines on a resume.
👉 Key takeaway: Even without open source, you can create visibility by blogging, producing technical documentation, and sharing your work in communities. This is an intangible asset.
2. Connecting with Exceptional People and Projects#
Writing CRUD code in isolation might lead to career stagnation by age 35. Open source has exposed me to trends, best practices, and exceptional developers worldwide.
For example, I regularly watch the CPython repository, learning how they write PRs, propose PEPs, and implement CI/CD.
Learning these processes alone has been invaluable. Participating in the English-speaking community has also improved my English.
👉 Key takeaway: Even without contributing to open source, you can benefit by following excellent projects or large-company engineering practices and applying their lessons to your daily work.
3. Long-Term Value Accumulation#
Over the past four years, I’ve created several GitHub organizations and over ten projects, accumulating tens of thousands of users and hundreds of stars.
These accomplishments are the result of gradual accumulation during my free time.
While there’s no direct financial return, this is a form of long-term asset.
My open-source experience and perspective help me grow faster at work, and my work experience, in turn, feeds back into my open-source contributions.
More importantly, it keeps me in a state of continuous learning and exploration.
👉 Key takeaway: Whether it’s open source, writing articles, or side hustles, these can be seen as long-term investments. They may not immediately generate income, but they build reputation, skills, and opportunities.
My Open Source Story (Short Version)#
In 2021, I took my first step into open source with cpp-linter-action. I was surprised when someone proactively offered contributions in an Issue; that moment ignited my open-source journey.
Later, I collaborated with Brendan (2bndy5) on several projects, learning a great deal from him.
We also created cpp-linter, which has become one of the leading C/C++ linter projects on GitHub.
I later developed commit-check and conventional-branch, gaining a significant user base.
In 2024, AI tools exploded. I initially worried about their potential to displace developers, but quickly realized that AI can rapidly generate runnable code, but is insufficient for building large, maintainable projects.
For example, when developing Jenkins Explain Error Plugin, AI helped me create a basic version quickly, but getting the project into the official Jenkins ecosystem required reviewer feedback and manual refinement.
This reinforced my belief that AI is a powerful tool, but ultimate value still comes from human thought and judgment.
Conclusion#
Open source has:
- Increased my visibility;
- Connected me with exceptional people and best practices;
- Kept me learning and growing.
Even without direct financial rewards, I believe it’s a worthwhile endeavor.
As for whether AI will replace us? Perhaps someday.
But for now, it’s far from time to “lie flat.”
Continuous learning and adaptation are key to maintaining value and competitiveness in this rapidly changing world.