SebastianVerified account

I've been thinking about one unavoidable part of company governed open source projects. The power dynamic between company employees and contributors.

In a regular open source project, to become a maintainer, there's a long transition between contributing and then eventually having a large say over the project and then being inducted as a maintainer.

But it's common for company employees to join the internal team and become instant maintainers. Not to say they won't work just as hard, but the transition is instant and might not feel as deserved.

I don't think it's bad, just sets a different tone for those contributing to the project. This also goes for projects governed with a foundation. Sponsorships typically fill the same role, "buying" maintainership.

Is it that big of a deal? It's a lot more nuanced than I can describe here, and every scenario is different. I'm also typically in the position of maintainer so I could be exaggerating how a new contributor may feel.