What open source Ruby OR Rails project would increase your appeal to a potential employer?

Question

Now that I know how to find a Ruby open source project, how do I judge which ones are most likely to help my career prospects. I've never worked in the Ruby world and need something that might show off my potential to be a good hire. Or is any project as good as anything else as long it's something you're interested in? Also, would it make a difference to how you are judged by an employer if the project is your own or someone else's? Or is it a pipe dream to think that someone is going to hire me for a Ruby/Rails job on the basis of my open source contributions?

I would really like to work in the Ruby world but not sure how to break in, given the scarcity of positions (contract and full time) in the NY region at the moment.

Answer 1

Pick a project that needs a lot of help and have a large impact on its success. That's what I would like to see in a potential hire.

Answer 2

When I interview potential candidates, I'm more concerned that they HAVE a "play" project which they do on their own time than what said project is, or even what language it is written in.

The point is that someone is invested enough in designing/building/testing/writing/etc code and software that they're willing, and wanting, to do it on their own free time.

It's more important that you have the will and the drive needed to learn about, design and build the software, or even contribute to software products, than it is that you're building the Newfangled Ruby Widget 5.0.

I can teach you (or pay to have you taught) a language. Languages are easy. That drive to learn, the ability to create working code, and the sheer desire to design and build software, I can't teach that.

Answer 3

There are a lot of employers that would consider work on an open source project to be a huge advantage as it demonstrates an ability, and to a greater extent, an interest for development work. There may be a few that don't consider it in their evaluation of you, but I doubt anyone would consider it a minus (and if they do, you probably don't want to work there anyway).

As for which project, I'd recommend first finding something you really enjoy and are interested in. It's a bonus if it's in the same field as the work your prospective employers, but that shouldn't be your primary reason for choosing a project at this point. After all, if you find that you really love working in a field, you can always switch your career to that area.

Answer 4

I wouldn't say I'm necessarily 'in tune' with what any given Ruby/Rails employer would want. However, just in terms of hiring for any general programming position, I'd say that any thing you do is going to have a positive impact on your appeal to a potential employer.

The most important thing, to me anyways, is that a potential hire shows initiative, has a passion for their work, and has a desire to improve themselves. These are all things that you'll exemplify by working on any given open source project. Of course, these characteristics are also shown by working on your own closed source project (because open source isn't the only thing out there).

If the project you're working on has a lot of visibility (Mozilla, Apache, any of the big names), then you'll get a bigger reaction out of a potential employer, just as having a big name (Microsoft, Google, etc) on your resume would. However, don't underestimate the value of just having done SOMETHING.

Answer 5

The holy grail of Rails development is to have some of your code accepted into core. So you could start monitoring the Rails bug tracker to see if there is a patch you can submit.

If you haven't done a Rails app before, though, it might be hard to figure out what's going on. Maybe start by writing a few Rails apps, and then look for pieces you can pull out and release as plugins or gems.

As others have said, having any sort of personal project is generally a plus. The Ruby community is big into open source, though, so if you had it on your resume but it wasn't on github, it would be a little odd.

Answer 6

This might be of help.

http://www.rubyinside.com/how-to-get-a-job-at-a-top-ruby-shop-1618.html

Also, keep putting stuff on Github. Fork other projects and play with them. At some point someone might notice you.