Firestorm Developer: I Want to Work for Linden Lab -- But Would Linden Lab Really Want Me or Firestorm?

Interesting conversation over last week's post about the paradox of the for-profit Linden Lab being utterly dependent on the free labor of the non-profit Firestorm team -- including this comment by Firestorm developer Tonya Souther:

Disclaimer: I'm speaking only for myself, not the Firestorm team.

Personally, I'd love to be hired by Linden Lab. I've even applied a couple of times. But I'm not the tiniest bit interested in living in either California or Massachusetts, and while they are now open once more to hiring remote employees (they weren't for several years), they do not as yet hire in Minnesota where I live. I think it would be a great place to work, even if I would have to give up my connection with the Firestorm team.

For the record, Linden Lab also has offices in Seattle, Charlottesville, and (this is new to me, but they're currently hiring at this satellite) Peachtree Corners, Georgia. (Which looks lovely!) 

In any case, Tonya goes on, most of the Firestorm team isn't even in the US. And then there's the question of whether Linden Lab would really want to take over the Firestorm codebase (another frequently raised suggestion), as it includes some rather kinky upgrades:

[W]e're spread out not just across the US, but internationally. Most of the developers live in various countries in Europe; I may be the only current developer in the US, as a matter of fact. That goes for the remainder of the team, as well. Don't forget that a large part of what makes Firestorm as amazing as it is is the participation of folks not just in developing, but in supporting and QAing and the gateway team that helps people learn about SL and gives them a place to start getting involved. I can't see Linden Lab hiring the entire team even if it could.

I don't think LL would ever pick up the entire Firestorm codebase. In the end, Firestorm addresses a different need from the LL viewer, which is aimed at the casual or new user, learning to navigate in SL. Firestorm is explicitly aimed at the power user. There are features that LL will never adopt, the one springing most quickly to mind being RLV. (Their Experience platform can do some but not all of what RLV does.)

RLV being the Restrained Love Viewer, for controlling other avatars -- popular for BDSM roleplay. So, yeah.

I've long thought that LL's position, where their platform depends heavily on the efforts of a group of third-party volunteers, is one that I would not want my own platform to be in. That said, we do try hard to keep up with new features as LL adds them, Bakes on Mesh being the most recent, and when EEP lands, we're going to try hard to follow that quickly as well.

We'll see how it works out. It does seem to work well enough, though.

It's working now, but in my experience, volunteer groups can suddenly fall apart from internal drama. (Probably not likely in this case, given Firestorm's longevity.) But the very fact that Firestorm is designed for the SL power user is in my opinion the best reason to hire Firestorm team members: They can add Firestorm features to the official viewer that makes it more appealing to SL veterans. And the non-Firestorm team can focus on building a totally different viewer for new users.

Comments

[sirhc desantis]

Personally, I would love to never ever be hired by the Lab. There, nice and balanced =^^= Both sides eh?

[Blueberry]

Linden Lab, please hire a dev who has contributed to the community! I would love for this to happen for you Tonya.
Blueberry

[Joey1058]

If anything, SL should occasionally throw a teammember or two at the Opensim codebase. Kind of like a show of good will.

[Bavid Dailey]

If Linden Labs were to take over the Firestorm viewer, they'd break it. Corporations do things differently to how volunteer groups do. Nothing kills developer enthusiasm better than meetings. I have no direct knowledge of how the Firestorm team works, but I hazard a guess that there a minimal number of meetings. Also, Firestorm volunteers know that they are focused on a clear objective. Corporations tend to have other agendas, and upper management tends to change agendas without consultation, right of appeal - or much logic in many cases. Don't kill the goose that lays golden eggs.Perhaps toss them some gold filings from time to time....