How to turn Open Source into a Job with Nick Taylor [Podcast #181]
387On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Nick Taylor. He's a software engineer from Montreal and a prolific open source contributor.
We talk about:
Why trying to build your own tooling will ultimately limit your app development
Tips for getting started contributing to open source
AI and the changing nature of working in tech
Tips for leveraging libraries and tools as a dev
Support for this podcast comes from a grant from Wix Studio. Wix Studio provides developers tools to rapidly build websites with everything out-of-the-box, then extend, replace, and break boundaries with code. Learn more at https://wixstudio.com/.
Support also comes from the 11,384 kind folks who support freeCodeCamp through a monthly donation. You can join these chill human beings and help our charity's mission by going to https://donate.freecodecamp.org/
Links we talk about during our conversation:
https://www.nickyt.co/
Contents
00:00 Introduction
00:36 The "Roll Your Own" Debate in Software Development
03:32 The Evolution of Libraries and Frameworks like jQuery
04:19 Balancing Dependencies, Security, and Performance
05:27 Tech Stack for Building a Netflix Clone
08:58 Sponsor Message
09:29 Nick's Developer Origin Story
15:58 The Importance of Genuine Networking vs. Transactional Interactions
17:17 The Cyclical Nature of the Developer Job Market
23:24 Mindset for Dealing with Career Uncertainty
25:39 The "Grind" and Putting in the Work
30:40 How Nick Got Four Jobs Through Open Source Contributions
38:35 Getting Hired at Dev.to Through Contributions
44:09 Landing a Role at Netlify
47:20 Joining OpenSauce
51:30 Landing a Job at Pomerium and the Power of Your Network
57:22 Recap: Planting Seeds, Your Network, and Job Application Strategy
1:04:02 The Need for Self-Marketing and Continuous Learning
1:11:45 Using AI Tools Effectively as a Developer
1:20:44 When to Use AI vs. Off-the-Shelf Tools
1:24:09 Advice to His Younger Self
1:25:07 Outro