[Foundation-l] Why is the software out of reach of the community?

[Erik Moeller]

2009/1/9 Brian <Brian.Mingus at colorado.edu>:
> Erik I am glad you are still around and keeping an eye on things.

Thank you, I appreciate that. :-)

> I believe that, with the audience the Foundation has access to, it could
> save a lot of money by hiring people who love Wikipedia and want to work for
> it. I don't think its true that the only way to get seasoned developers is
> to wave a large carrot (aka $$$) in front of their face. I believe there
> exist experienced developers who would gladly give a year of their life,
> working at a lower wage, to work on Wikipedia.

That is evidently true. In fact, everyone we're hiring accepts that
they are going to be paid under market rates. We are also working with
remote contractors on specific projects. If you are interested in
working as a remote contractor, or you know brilliant people who would
be, make a pitch to jobs at wikimedia dot org. We have put a general
note on the job openings page that we appreciate hearing from people
who are passionate and interested throughout the year, regardless of
current openings.

As for advertising this extremely broadly, I think that would be doing
a disservice to serious candidates as we simply would be drowning in
applications. (Sometimes, we already are.) And, having reviewed CVs
for almost every position that we've hired for in 2008, I can tell you
that arriving at a reasonable shortlist in a fair and accurate fashion
is a lot of work - and with the exception of some sanity filtering,
it's not a task you can easily give to someone else. We might try it
regardless, but only if we have a process in place to deal with the
predictable level of interest.
-- 
Erik Möller
Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation

Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate