A collection of articles about jobs and careers in open source.
I have been working in the computer business for over 40 years, but the best years have been the last 17 or so working with Linux and open source software. I got into the computer business unintentionally and kind of sideways, but that is a whole other story. I'll tell you about how I got into open source and Linux semi-intentionally and also kind of sideways.
I got started in computers in 1969 when I convinced the company I was working for to purchase an Olivetti Programma 101—one of the first programmable desktop calculators—to assist me with my calculation-intensive job. Soon after that, I spent 21 years with IBM, first as a Customer Engineer (CE) fixing hardware. I then spent some time in Boca Raton, Florida where I wrote the training course for CEs on how to fix the first IBM PC. Later, I spent time as the lead support person for IBM's OS/2 operating system.
After leaving IBM I had my own consulting company helping customers with OS/2. It was enjoyable but I could see by the mid 90's that IBM was going to let OS/2 die. I really liked working at the operating system level but did not want to go the Windows route. One day a friend who worked for a large international company here in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina called me looking for someone to help them with their OS/2 systems. To make a long story short, I eventually took a full time job working for that company on the condition that I be allowed to learn Unix, which they also used to a great extent.
Source:
http://opensource.com/business/15/1/how-i-landed-job-open-source
