Raible Designs

Firefox and the lack of a developer community

Joe points to some interesting news about Firefox. The part that struck a cord with me is Mike Griffin's post about free products and burn-out.

As a co-author of a free product myself I know the kind of burn-out issues these folks are going through. Most folks working on free products need real jobs to pay the bills. This means they work on these free products late into the evenings and on weekends if it's a product of any real worth.

At first the thrill of a new project and the recognition that goes with it carries you through those tiresome evenings. You are creating something new and there are no bean-counters around to mess everything up. However, as time goes on, as with most things, the thrill begins to wax and wane, and after months of getting no more than 4 hours of sleep per night it begins to affect your health. You get sick more often than you used to, and you're main goal quickly becomes to merely get through each day. And then there's the guilt of spending too much time on it, when the basement needs painting, things need fixed around the house, and you're not spending enough quality time with your kids (and when you do you're the walking dead so it doesn't count). Finally, and much to your surprise, the project doesn't really turn out to be the big career booster you thought it was going to be. In fact, perspective employers are hesitant to hire you when they find out you have a mistress on the side pulling at your time and resources.

In the end, it's a matter of commitment. You've created something folks have come to rely on and they need you, you cannot walk away from it. You realize how foolish you were thinking that it was all going to be good times and not tough times (like at work) and then you hunker down for the long haul. There are ups and there are downs, in the end you a providing a free product and you have to pace yourself. There isn't a day that goes by that I didn't wish my free product was my real and only job, but it isn't, and I knew that when we started it.

I couldn't have said it better myself. I've definitely experienced the "affects your health" part, but I can't agree with the career booster part. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I believe my extra-curriculars continue to help my career.

That being said, I'm burned out on both AppFuse and Spring Live at the moment. Luckily, I'm committed and will be able to find motivation for both of these projects in the near future. There are sooo many nights when I work on these projects and I'd much rather just go to bed or weekends when I wish I could goof off and play with the kids. The nice thing is that I can choose to do this stuff. Users may scream and readers may complain, but sanity and family must have a higher priority.

I've only stayed up late once in the last two weeks and I didn't touch the computer for more than 5 minutes this last weekend. With this week being a 1-day work-week (the rest being spent at Microsoft and on vacation), I should be rejuvenated and enthusiastic about working for free again soon.

Brian McCallister hits the nail on the head with his comment. For an open-source project to remain successful long-term, it needs a strong developer community. "A project with a truck number of two is in deep trouble." Seems like recruiting new developers might be more important than new releases. Something to think about...