Why Developers Treat OSS as Career Currency

DJ Weidner, Director of Strategy

TL;DR:

• OSS is now mainstream for growth: 49% of developers actively contribute to open source, using it to gain credibility, not just experience.

• Community recognition beats certifications: Developers value public contributions, peer validation, and visibility over traditional vendor-led certifications.

• Developer programs must evolve: Ecosystems that embed contribution pathways, recognition, and public visibility outperform static learning platforms.

• Brands should act as career accelerators: The most effective developer marketing aligns products with career growth, not just technical adoption.

Why open source is now part of the developer résumé

Catchy’s ecosystem campaigns and developer research have revealed a striking trend: Open source has become professional currency. According to the 2024 Open Source Software Developer Report, 49% of developers both consume and contribute to OSS projects. And 96% report some level of OSS involvement overall.

What’s changed? Visibility and validation. Developers no longer rely solely on employer-funded training or traditional certifications to prove their value. Instead, they’re earning credibility by building in the open—where anyone can see it.

What makes OSS a career accelerator?

OSS flips the traditional career ladder on its head. Rather than moving up through roles inside a company, developers grow by contributing publicly, earning peer recognition, and building reputations across communities.

Catchy campaign data backs this up. Developer programs that integrate:

• Contribution pathways (e.g. open issues, content co-creation)

• Recognition mechanisms (e.g. contributor spotlights, badges)

• Public visibility (e.g. GitHub activity, community events)

…consistently outperform those that rely only on gated e-learning or certifications.

When you spotlight contributors and make growth visible, developers engage longer and more meaningfully.

Developers care more about reputation than certificates

From Mind of the Engineer 2024 and the OSS Developer Report 2024:

• 49% both use and contribute to OSS—it's now mainstream.

• 96% engage with OSS in some form.

• 82% say conferences are critical for growth.

• 86% prioritize interdisciplinary skills.

• 60% value community collaboration.

• 58% believe OSS boosts their careers.

• 53% value increased visibility.

Compare that with traditional, vendor-led certifications:

• Only 20–28% consider them important for growth.

The takeaway? Learning is table stakes. Recognition is the real reward.

Brand strategies that align with the new developer mindset

Here’s how successful brands are adapting to this new reality:

GitHub activity is the new résumé

Developers showcase their GitHub profiles to prove real-world experience. Recruiters now browse commit history, pull requests, and issue threads instead of résumés.

💡 Implication: Help developers contribute, not just consume. Create GitHub-first campaigns and highlight community impact.

Postman's badge system builds loyalty

Postman awards badges for tutorials, toolkits, API support, and more. These micro-credentials carry weight within the Postman ecosystem—and drive community retention.

💡 Implication: Build recognition into your developer program. Offer ways to earn status through contribution and collaboration.

Traditional certifications are losing ground

Certs from Oracle, SAP, and others still exist—but they don’t carry the same cachet among OSS-native developers. They're costly, static, and often too narrow.

💡 Implication: Don’t lead with a test. Lead with a challenge, a contribution opportunity, or a collaborative build.

What this means for developer marketers

The shift is clear: Developers are optimizing for visibility, validation, and community respect. If your ecosystem doesn’t support that, they’ll find one that does.

To stay competitive, design programs that:

• Offer clear ways to showcase skill, not just gain it.

• Enable peer recognition and collaborative growth.

• Position your platform as a career catalyst, not just a product.

The bottom line

When developers evaluate ecosystems, they’re asking:

“Will this help me grow, learn, and be recognized?”

If the answer is yes, adoption follows. If not, they’ll move on. Your developer program isn’t just a place to learn—it’s a place to level up.