This is really a question about developer trust.

Recently I saw someone post about their new developer job on LinkedIn.

Here is the job search process they shared:

That’s some incredible signal. If a company supports open source or related conferences, they’re a worthy employer.

Open source is all about trust. It’s important to developers. Heck, it gets its own chapter in ​Developer Marketing Does Not Exist​.

Whatever part of your product can be open source will build trust with developers, assuming it’s authentic. If you open-sourced your blog, that’s great and all… but don’t expect as much developer love as you’d get if your full product was open source.

Now, just because developers appreciate it doesn’t mean you HAVE to do it.

There are only two times your product must be open source:

1. You already are open source (it’s hard to take that back)

2. Developers wouldn’t use it any other way, such as security software

All others can take a more nuanced approach. You can open-source tooling, while maintaining a propriety platform, for example.

However, keep in mind that ​developers are searching for open source​, and you sure would like to be found in those situations.

If developers will bet their careers on open source, you’ve got to believe they’re more likely to trust a product that fully embraces an open approach.