Apache to tempt new talent with salaries

By Alun Williams

Posted on 6 Dec 2004 at 13:12

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the body behind the widely adopted open source Web server among other projects, is considering hiring full-time, paid staff. Currently a volunteer organisation, the extra staff are seen as necessary for future growth.

Positions up for grabs would include an executive director, according to Brian Behlendorf, a co-founder and director of the ASF. And while developers would not be paid to write software, the ASF is considering hiring administrative staff for the 'grunt work' that doesn't appeal to volunteers, reports the The Industry Standard website.

Behlendorf believes, however, that the size of the ASF organisation is making it difficult to operate solely on a volunteer footing.

'It is starting to get to the point where we are realizing that we might need to hire a full-time executive director to help us stay on top of a lot of issues, help us craft a fund-raising strategy, and help us craft an effective legal strategy,' Behlendorf is quoted as saying.

Set up in 1999, the ASF is intended to support an estimated 1,200 developers in the Apache open source development community, spanning some 20 projects including the HTTP Server, Jakarta, SpamAssasin, Ants and XML Graphics. It was an outgrowth of The Apache Group, a group of individuals that formed in 1995 to start developing the Apache HTTP Server.