How Linus Copes With Criticism

Open source projects are great. They create free applications and tools for anyone who wants them, and often times, the open sourced version is more robust and more secure than commercial equivalents. Like Linux for example. But as Linux.com points out, the lifestyle of the open-source coder is not always that peachy. Often arguments can occur and your code submission bashed. Even Linus can’t escape it, but he mentions in the article that he’s good in letting things go.

FOSS development is often described as a meritocracy, where only the best code makes it into a project. That sounds good from the point of view of the user, but that philosophy has some harsh edges that can damage the ego and even cause developers to walk away from a project. Any developer’s code submissions might come under heavy criticism from rival contributors as well as from the project hierarchy. You need a tough hide to survive.

Source: Linux.com