Facebook post — 11 April 2014

facebook 11 April 2014

Millions of engineers graduate every year in India and other countries. They desperately look for internships and jobs. More often than not they just sit at home.

On the other hand, serious bugs like Heartbleed persist due to a lack of serious eyeballing of open source code. Linus says every bug is shallow in front of a multitude of eyeballs. But clearly that multitude is spending time on the wrong sites - monster.com etc.

Is the bug hard to find? No. Would finding the bug make you famous for life? Yes. Do you need anything beyond a laptop to find and fix such bugs? No. Is there a dearth of such bugs? HELL NO.

Fresh grads. Quit wasting your time applying to thousands of companies. Stand out from the crowd. Commit some FLOSS code. Find some bugs.

On a different note, someone recently asked me if C and computer architecture are still relevant. Suck on this! The online world exists because of C, not python, java or node.js.

I'm sure such bugs exist in every web stack.

12 comments

Joydeep Sen Sarmai hope some fresh grad heeds your call beyond that - it's not easy to find these bugs. your promise of fame is a lottery with low odds - i certainly wouldn't partake in it. there's more fame in creating new OSS software - security flaws mattering is sign of success - ha! Hide
Saurabh JI've influenced a few folks in one on ones. And given some talks in colleges in the subject. Most people need a one day lab session where you get them started. They have a hitch in sending their first patch. Potential embarrassment, language issues, etc. If we could do workshops and kickstart involvement, it would go a long way.
Saurabh JJoydeep it isn't just finding serious flaws. Any open source code has some dumb errors. And most projects even accept patches for simple typos and comments. Even documentation is a good place to start
Joydeep Sen SarmaSaurabh - yes i have always thought that a course designed around a spectrum of open source projects - just going ahead and doing minor features and bug-fixes in a bunch of projects would be an awesome idea. the thing is - i am not sure that the motivation would last beyond the course. (which is precisely why i think monetary and ego greasing (via a certification) is required around the whole process to kick-start and incentivize) Hide
Saurabh JJoydeep correct. Certification is easy. A hiring program open only for candidates with a certain number of lines of code committed to selected OSS projects might make sense. We need to study efforts like Google SoC and tweak then for Indian ground realities. I'm not against a scholarship with a minimum participation metric. Let those like us who feed off OSS without proportionally contributing in kind, contribute in cash.
Sheetal Jharia Baruwell said Saurabh ! Hide
Joydeep Sen SarmaJoydeep Sen Sarma · 12yi hope some fresh grad heeds your call beyond that - it's not easy to find these bugs. your promise of fame is a lottery with low odds - i certainly wouldn't partake in it. there's more fame in creating new OSS software - security flaws mattering is sign of success - ha!LikeHideEdited
Saurabh JSaurabh J · 12yI've influenced a few folks in one on ones. And given some talks in colleges in the subject. Most people need a one day lab session where you get them started. They have a hitch in sending their first patch. Potential embarrassment, language issues, etc. If we could do workshops and kickstart involvement, it would go a long way.LikeEdited
Saurabh JSaurabh J · 12yJoydeep it isn't just finding serious flaws. Any open source code has some dumb errors. And most projects even accept patches for simple typos and comments. Even documentation is a good place to startLike
Joydeep Sen SarmaJoydeep Sen Sarma · 12y · by authorSaurabh - yes i have always thought that a course designed around a spectrum of open source projects - just going ahead and doing minor features and bug-fixes in a bunch of projects would be an awesome idea.the thing is - i am not sure that the motivation would last beyond the course. (which is precisely why i think monetary and ego greasing (via a certification) is required around the whole process to kick-start and incentivize)LikeHide
Saurabh JSaurabh J · 12yJoydeep correct. Certification is easy. A hiring program open only for candidates with a certain number of lines of code committed to selected OSS projects might make sense. We need to study efforts like Google SoC and tweak then for Indian ground realities. I'm not against a scholarship with a minimum participation metric. Let those like us who feed off OSS without proportionally contributing in kind, contribute in cash.Like
Sheetal Jharia BaruSheetal Jharia Baru · 12ywell said Saurabh !LikeHide