Nowadays all over the world most programmers are in doubt if it’s a good idea to write Open-Source code or not. In our article we will name 5 reasons why it’s worth it!

Before you start, let’s tell you what Open-Source is? In simple terms, Open-Source project is a project with the source code being open to change by third-party developers and the community as a whole. Open-source has become a powerful impetus for the development of the IT industry.

According to WebSailors System Architect Dmitry B.

And the point here is not even the availability of software for free use. At a fundamental level, many such projects are even higher in quality than commercial software. Such projects have reliable support, subsidies from major players in the software market, provide independence from monopolists and corporations, provide a high level of security, focus on the specific needs of users and, most importantly, form a culture of code and the ability to work in a large team.

Even if you are a novice developer, participating in open source projects will help to pump your skill and gain new knowledge.
The benefits of Open-Source projects will give you wealth experience and new acquaintances. In addition, contributing to Open-Source will prove to be an interesting line in your resume. Here are 5 reasons we have identified.

1. Professional growth opportunity
   Open projects allow you to learn and develop, how other developers organizing their documentation, examples of use and other important information. Anyone can study based on the source code, clone the repository, “borrow” it’s parts to their projects and even participate in the development. There is also a system of questions and answers where you can find a solution to your own problems with your own product.

2. Accessibility
   The other benefit of open source projects is their availability and accessibility to the developer and even just to a simple user. Such projects are distributed from their own team resources in the form of assembled packages for various operating systems, but main requirement, which lies in the very concept of Open-Source is, that it’s code is required to be uploaded to an open repository such as Github. To receive the product, simply follow the instructions.

3. Independence
   Each transition to a new software provider entails new risks and costs. According to Forbes statistics, about 90% of startups fails. The same thing happens with more than 50% of small and medium companies with being less than five years on the market. In this regard, any business investing its energy or money in the development of open source software makes long-term investments in its own products.

4. Focus on customer
   Top priority always is a Client. The whole point is that Software products are developing by the community not for sale, but for use. Everyone can participate in the development by adding the features that he thinks is needed to a user.

5. Support
   Commercial products are often developed by IT monopolists. Therefore, the supplier is the only party that can help in solving a particular problem. Such providers may help for free under the support program, or may require some reward. In the case of open source support for the community, free developers and specialists is guaranteed. In an extreme case, the correction of the problem is performed independently and is immediately applied.

In conclusion

An Open-Source project can be characterized by the following keywords:

• Exchange of experience.
• Teamwork.
• Access to knowledge.
• Clean code (Styled code).
• Openness.

Examples of successful open-source projects

Every day we at WebSailors use such tools. If you will carefully look at the statistics, then the most famous solutions that have contributed to the development of the global IT culture are open-source projects.

First of all, these are Linux distributions (Ubuntu, BSD and others). They are installed on 80% of the server hardware, are used in research centers and, in fact, on 2.5 billion Android devices in the world.

Another one is Apache server software and the MySQL database on which most Web and Mobile projects are based, along with WordPress and PHP.

This list could go on and on. These could be browsers, developer tools, games and much more.

Investments in Open-Source projects

Billions of dollars are invested annually in open source projects. Confluent, Neo4j, HashiCorp and GitLab are just a few examples of companies that have managed to attract very large investments in their development. Large companies and funds invest in such projects, leaving them in the status of open-source. Microsoft, having completely changed its attitude towards open source, bought GitHub, IBM intends to acquire Red Hat, and so on.

Last year, the market for mergers, investments and IPOs grew to $ 70 billion. This year, an additional grow of $ 2 billion is planned for commercial open source solutions.

According to statistics, companies that develop open-source solutions earn more than $ 100 million a year. Their customers are increasingly choosing to use open source solutions without buying expensive licenses, paying for support, customization for their own needs or additional functions after implementation.

For such clients, open-source is primarily the possibility of free implementation, reliability, confidence and support from a huge number of companies and private developers.

Thus, the coverage of open-source projects is huge and they are waiting for your participation!

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