When people asked James Carr what he thought the road to career success was his answer was that there are at least three things which help a person increase their marketable capital or what I call Hirability Capital:
- Contributing to Open Source
- Writing
- Presentations
In regards to the item that gives you the biggest ROI (Return On Investment), he thought contributing to Open Source was the biggest deal because it makes you go out and seek others who have the answers you need in order to contribute to an open source project. He reminds us that small contributions can be made if you don't have time to do big ones.
The large and varied software community allows you to pick a niche and potentially make big waves in that domain. For instance, only a few people might be known in the overall Java programming community, but making a name in the Spring MVC Templating area isn't so difficult. As always the key is identifying pain points and removing them. Experience in multiple software cultures helps here, because one group may have solved a problem that still plaugues another
All people seemed to agree that personal fulfillment is important. Being well known and marketable, but feeling empty is not a great way to live. Staying marketable and contributing to a great cause is wonderful!
