

Open Source Developers are Rock Stars - wslh
http://www.kbedell.com/2011/04/28/open-source-developers-are-rock-stars/

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JonnieCache
The thing is, being a rockstar is a mostly about sleeping on buses, not
washing, and using drugs to dull the loss of identity caused by never being in
the same city for more than 6 hours.

What people want is to be successful and adored. That's all anyone ever talks
about in these 'programmer as rockstar' articles. As much of a sense of
martyrdom startup people cultivate about their work habits, none of it is as
physically difficult or as psychologically degrading as actually being an
truly internationally famous rock musician.

There's a reason why they all act so damn crazy after a certain point in their
careers.

If you want to be celebrated and rewarded way out of proportion to your
contribution to society, just say so, dont make some false analogy to a
completely unrelated profession.

~~~
BrandonM
I agree with most of your comment, but I think there are a few inaccuracies
worth pointing out.

 _> The thing is, being a rockstar is ... [about] using drugs to dull the loss
of identity caused by never being in the same city for more than 6 hours._

I am not entirely sure that's the root cause for rock stars' drug use. It's
certainly part of it, but in large part it's intimately tied to the
socialization context that surrounds the entire rock scene.

When a fan is going to a show, it's a special event. A large population of
those fans use drugs in an effort to enhance their enjoyment. They also want
to share that enjoyment with the band, and they are quite willing to share
their supply with the band. In other words, the rock band basically has a
free, unlimited supply of drugs and a social expectaton to take advantage of
that.

 _> There's a reason why they all act so damn crazy after a certain point in
their careers._

I'm sure you didn't mean that literally, but there are several rock stars who
don't end up crazy. Led Zeppelin, Brian May (a PhD!), BB King, Buddy Guy, Ben
Folds, Nickelback, Darius Rucker (Hootie), I could go on forever... The
reality is that it's a small subset of rock stars that go crazy, and I would
argue that the proportion is actually lower than for the average population of
somewhat-heavy drug users.

~~~
JonnieCache
To be honest the whole comment was pretty flippant and ill-considered, I was
just trying to combat the idea that the life of a 'rockstar' is really worth
idealising outside of the material rewards, which aren't even that great.

Rockstars get paid just enough so that they'll be too busy spending it to
realise that they're getting stiffed.

In the words of Chris Rock: _"Shaq is rich. The white guy who signs his
cheque, is wealthy ... If Bill Gates woke up tomorrow with Oprah's money, he'd
jump out a fucking window."_ \- <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m37JkkGjAY>

_> there are several rock stars who don't end up crazy_

I'd be willing to bet though that the eventual craziness of rockstars is
fairly closely related to what proportion of their career was spent on a
hardcore, label-mandated touring schedule.

------
acangiano
Unless your job gets you laid as much as a rockstar, chances are you are not a
rockstar. Successful entrepreneurs may be a little closer to the definition of
a rockstar.

~~~
wslh
I tried to search the first mentions of developers as rockstars. Indeed the
"Developers are the new Rockstars" (beyond Open Source) is a motivation
statement.

------
follower
Developers will be rock stars only when people compare rock stars to
developers rather than the other way around.

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AlexC04
More "mildly popular local pub musicians ... without groupies"

Stephen Tyler != Linus Torvalds

~~~
maxxxxx
Maybe it should be called "stage technicians". Working hard in the background
so others can become stars.

~~~
mayank
They're called "roadies"

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jimboyoungblood
There's a typo in the title. Should be: "Open Source Developers Wish They Were
Rock Stars"

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BrandonM
I'm going to be a cynic here and say that the author's real thrust seems to be
to reconcile his childhood dreams of being a rock star with his current
station in life. The definition of rock star precludes the vast majority from
ever attaining it, and most of us have to "give up the dream" at some point.

A rock star is a public figure that a sizable portion of the general
population respects, envies, appreciates, and to some degree emulates.

I agree with many commenters here that the almost no tech-related workers are
rock stars. Steve Jobs (and even he is debatable), Bill Gates, and now Mark
Zuckerberg are the only legitimate tech rock stars. If you claim anyone else,
you're just kidding yourself.

Everyone wants to be adored and respected -- it's what makes us care about
"meaningless" karma points. It's great to find from time to time that a total
stranger appreciates you. That does not mean you're a rock star. You can come
to grips with that, delude yourself, or actually become a true rock star.
Changing the definition of _rock star_ is not an option.

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dedward
I like the analogy - it works to a degree.

I'd say more like it covers the whole spectrum from solo musicians to garage
bands that suck, to good garage bands, to "rockstars".

Sure, those working on super high profile projects can be like rock starts to
the software community, not becuase they get lots of chicks, but they attain a
following, but because their work is out there for everyone to see and use,
learn from, and appreciate. Other aspiring programmers can say "Wow! I want to
do that someday."

Those with real talent (including the ability to execute!) can rise to the
top, even if just for a while. Solo people can create game-changing technology
(eg: Bram Cohen / BitTorrent protocol)

But just like rock bands - you can also sit in your garage making decent music
forever, having fun, but never becoming famous. That doesn't make you a rock
star, but it still gives you practice, experience, and confidence.

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nadam
Not answering the main thesis of the article, but I found this interesting:

I've made some googlefight-s. Turns out that Linus Torvalds has more google
results than most of the absolute top pop/rockstars, (much more google results
than John Lennon) Other famous open source developers are pretty 'weak'
compared to famous musicians though, so Linus is an absolute outlier.

Ordered by 'num. of google-results popularity':

Britney Spears: 5730000 results

Michael Jackson: 5650000 results

Linus Torvalds: 3640000 results

James Hetfield: 1850000 results

Elton John: 1740000 results

John Lennon: 1560000 results

Jim Morrison: 698000 results

Jimmy Hendrix: 469000 results

Richard Stallman: 149000 results

John Resig: 43400 results

~~~
dagw
_Turns out that Linus Torvalds has more google results than most of the
absolute top pop/rockstars, (much more google results than John Lennon)_

Though to be fair, John Lennon wasn't very active on mailing lists, and didn't
even have a blog.

~~~
BrandonM
My thoughts exactly. And Linus's name was not misspelled like Jimi Hendrix's
name was.

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thenduks
Non-eye-burning: <https://www.readability.com/articles/9likw7md>

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maxxxxx
After reading the article maybe it should be titled "Open source developers
are like local musicians but maybe can make a bit more money".

In general I don't believe that open source developers are rocks stars but the
people who use open source. Pretty much all well known web companies use open
source but don't open source their flagship products. E.g. Google. Facebook,
37 Signals

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erez
Now I'm confused, I thought they were ninjas. Or Pirates. One of those, I'm
sure

~~~
kstenerud
They're ninja-rockstars. That's why they stay out of the limelight ;-)

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HockeyBiasDotCo
Open Source Developers diminish importance of pay by giving things away;
society as a whole suffers a bit as a result...

By contrast, rock stars are paid handsomely.

~~~
adeaver
At the risk of feeding a troll, are you seriously saying that society is
suffering because developers give stuff away? If so, you really need to take
another look at the world get your priorities adjusted.

