I have only seen Bounty Hunters in movies and I never thought it could exist in Open Source too. In movies I've seen, Bounty is a sum of money paid for capturing a person who is being looked for, except that in Open Source, we're hunting software bugs here.
In the world of Open Source, Bounties are given to people who implement features or find and fix bugs in an Open Source software project. Outsourcing Open Source projects to bounty hunters help save time and money. There is continuity and sustainability in the project as well. On the other side, It helps developers earn while participating in short-term projects. In this article, I am going to share a few platforms you can easily find Open Source projects that have Bounties.
Are you ready to become a Bounty Hunter on some cool Open Source projects? NB: Be sure to read the guidelines on each platform.
1. bountysource
Improve open source projects by creating or collecting bounties. This also serves as a platform where Open Source projects can get funded.
2. huntr
Find Bounties worth up to $1000! You are rewarded for either finding or fixing vulnerabilities in an Open Source repository. You can do both and get rewarded too. Also, if you're a maintainer of a project and you submit a fix you validated from a researcher, you're awarded a fix bounty. Interesting, right?
3. IssueHunt
IssueHunt helps you find and fix issues in open source projects on GitHub. Users whose pull requests solve these issues get paid based on the funds allocated to the project.
4. [Gitcoin] (gitcoin.co/bounties/funder)
Aside from earning while contributing to Open Source projects, this platform allows you to hire talent globally and also helps you grow your community.
5. Devcash
If you're interested in bounties specifically for Blockchain projects, the Blockchain Developers United (BDU) Community has got you! Devcash, coined from the phrase "cash for the developer economy" is the official currency of BDU and also serves as a platform that shows various projects that have bounties. Ultimately, you use the Devcash platform to earn Devcash.
Organization Specific Bounties
Finally, organizations like Google have bounty programs where projects that need bugs fixing are displayed. If you're interested in organization-specific bounties, check the following out;
I am thrilled by the idea of putting bounties on Open Source projects because I believe that while people can earn money through contributing, it will also help in the advancement of creating, consuming, and sustaining Open Source projects.
Thanks for reading and I hope you find projects you can contribute to and earn some rewards as well.
Let the hunt begin!