How Developers Acquire FLOSS Skills

Barcomb A, Grottke M, Stauffert JP, Riehle D (2015)


Publication Type: Conference contribution, Original article

Publication year: 2015

Journal

Publisher: Springer Verlag

Edited Volumes: IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

City/Town: Germany

Book Volume: 451

Pages Range: 23-32

Conference Proceedings Title: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Open Source Systems (OSS 2015).

Event location: Florence, Italy IT

ISBN: 9783319178363

URI: http://dirkriehle.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/oss-2015.pdf

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-17837-0_3

Abstract

With the increasing prominence of open collaboration as found in free/libre/open source software projects and other joint production communities, potential participants need to acquire skills. How these skills are learned has received little research attention. This article presents a large-scale survey (5,309 valid responses) in which users and developers of the beta release of a popular file download application were asked which learning styles were used to acquire technical and social skills. We find that the extent to which a person acquired the relevant skills through informal methods tends to be higher if the person is a free/libre/open source code contributor, while being a professional software developer does not have this effect. Additionally, younger participants proved more likely to make use of formal methods of learning. These insights will help individuals, commercial companies, educational institutions, governments and open collaborative projects decide how they promote learning.

Authors with CRIS profile

How to cite

APA:

Barcomb, A., Grottke, M., Stauffert, J.-P., & Riehle, D. (2015). How Developers Acquire FLOSS Skills. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Open Source Systems (OSS 2015). (pp. 23-32). Florence, Italy, IT: Germany: Springer Verlag.

MLA:

Barcomb, Ann, et al. "How Developers Acquire FLOSS Skills." Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Open Source Systems, Florence, Italy Germany: Springer Verlag, 2015. 23-32.

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