The Role of Developer Advocates in Open Source Communities

Michael Cheng, Chief Legal Officer at Aalyria Technologies, is a master at strategy and execution for open-source products and companies. From his humble beginning spearheading the open source team at Meta (formerly Facebook), Cheng has honed his knowledge about the interworking of open source and utilizes it to its fullest potential.

In this episode of The Business of Open Source, Cheng talks about his time as Meta's lead in open source as well as what it's like to be an individual working for a large company. He also explains what happens in mergers and acquisitions with open source projects and the legality of being a small fish in a large pond!

Highlights:

• A little insight into Meta's open source (2:06)
• Detractors on a project (4:25)
• It's hard running a large company open source (7:47)
• Is it a problem to be individually driven? (9:45)
• Creating projects while working for large companies in open source (13:25)
•  Do they have a right to reprimand? (16:16)
• What happens in a merger for an open source company (17:53]
• Recommendations to an inquirer (21:47)
• Personality-deprived communities (24:48)

Links:

Michael

• LinkedIn
• Aalyria