What Is an Open Source Developer and How to Become One

By ZipRecruiter Marketplace Research Team

As an open source developer, you work with open source code, tweaking, improving, and building upon it to create new software for an organization. Your duties vary depending on the position, but they can include using your knowledge of various open source coding systems and software to code new programs and applications, troubleshooting and debugging software, and tracking and reporting issues. Your responsibilities also include researching and learning about current and new standards for the coding languages with which you work. Most open source developers have skills and expertise in multiple programming languages, but many organizations are willing to train quick learners on each project.

Open source developers work with customizable software to create business solutions. As an open source developer, you may program special add-ons and plugins, tweak code to suit company needs, or fix bugs. To become an open source developer, you need coding skills and experience with software development frameworks and programming languages. You can gain this experience by registering with an open source repository like GitHub and finding a project with which you would like to get involved. Working on open source projects helps develop and demonstrate your software engineering skills, which you can leverage into career opportunities.