I'm 99% sure that everyone receiving tips has a job. Many of these people probably also love what they're doing. I also know that a lot of them are very self motivated and build things on their own time in order to solve common problems in an elegant way. But isn't that what they're also trying to do at a "job"?
I've been building products based on open source technology for the past 10 years. However, I've seen a HUGE increase int the diversity and the amount of open code I've used over the past 3 years! I feel personally indebted to a number of people that I've never met, because I'm using their work! Therefore, I'm happy to tip them a modest amount weekly (what little I can afford)
I love the idea of gittip, and I think it could make "open source developer" a viable job... BUT I don't think it's going to happen overnight. And it may not even happen while individuals are the only ones tipping.
So, what if companies could (or would) tip? There are probably a number of small companies that use open source tech, who can't afford the salary of a mid-level silicon valley engineer, but could afford to pool their resources to support great open source projects (side note: $160k/year is a very comfortable living in the Southeastern US, and probably elsewhere not right on East/West Coast).
Personally, I think this is an interesting article, and I got two things out of it:
1. Effective communication with people from various backgrounds is important. This is incredibly hard, and it does require practice. Those that succeed typically communicate very well.
2. I mentally replaced the "don't call yourself a programmer" mantra for "tell people why you're doing what you do - what problem do you solve and how is it valuable". If you work for a business, you also need to have some basic understanding of business. Successful organizations probably have more people that really try to find their role in the "big picture" of the company, and they strive to use their place to create value.
I find it really interesting that people who live in different areas will have wildly different thoughts on "driving to the store".
In Memphis, TN (and much of the US), most people drive to and from work. There's just no alternative for commuting, and I think Ernie's has a great opportunity to allow these people to fit a "stop at the grocery store" into their daily commute.
I'll admit that I often need to do a grocery run on the way home, and it almost always takes an extra 30-60 minutes. I'd love the opportunity to do that shopping online before I leave the office, and just stop to pick up my order on the way home. I can imagine this cutting my "grocery stop" time in half.
Full Disclosure: I know the founder, and I had a chance to "beta test" the idea. I drove a couple of miles out of the way and still got home 30 minutes earlier that I would have, had I stopped at my local grocer.
Thanks for the feedback. We've go some info on where the score comes from and what it means, but we haven't published that yet (shame on us!).
And the goal with "standing out" is that your Work for Pie profile will be automatically updated as you participate in the HN, Stackoverflow communities and as you publish code. You may be doing this on your personal site, you may not. We want to provide a way to aggregate that info easily.
Work for Pie provides a way for developers to create a profile that highlights their skills. You can connect your Github and Bitbucket accounts as well as your Stackoverflow and Hacker News Accounts, which will be used create a Score. We'd love to know what you think: Love it? Hate it? What else would you like to see?