How do you find the most innovative and influential operating system projects?

1 Why OS projects matter

Operating system projects are not only fascinating and rewarding, but also crucial for advancing the field of computer science and engineering. They provide opportunities to learn new skills, solve complex problems, and contribute to cutting-edge research and development. They also showcase your creativity, passion, and expertise to potential employers, collaborators, and peers. By participating in operating system projects, you can demonstrate your ability to design, implement, test, and improve software systems that are reliable, efficient, and secure.

2 How to find OS projects

Finding operating system projects can be done both online and offline. For example, online repositories such as GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket host millions of open-source projects, including operating systems and related tools. You can also take advantage of online courses such as CS 162: Operating Systems and System Programming from UC Berkeley or CS 4414: Operating Systems from Virginia. Additionally, there are websites and organizations that host online challenges and competitions related to operating system development. Offline events such as LinuxCon, BSDCan, and FOSDEM also offer workshops, hackathons, and sessions related to operating system development. With all these sources available, you can browse, fork, clone, contribute to projects, learn from experts and instructors, participate in challenges, watch recordings and slides of events, and network with other enthusiasts and professionals.

3 How to evaluate OS projects

Operating system projects can vary in terms of quality and impact. To evaluate the value of a project, consider its scope, design, implementation, testing, and contribution. Scope includes the goal and purpose of the project, its features and functionalities, and how it compares to existing operating systems. Design includes the structure and organization of the project, its components and modules, design principles, and trade-offs. Implementation looks at coding and documentation standards, languages, frameworks, tools, errors/exceptions handling. Testing evaluates methods/tools/metrics used to measure performance, reliability, and security. Contribution examines how active/responsive developers are in maintaining/updating the project as well as how welcoming it is for contributors to submit issues or pull requests.

4 How to learn from OS projects

Finding operating system projects is not enough - you also need to learn from them and apply your knowledge and skills. To do this, you should read the code, documentation, comments, and articles related to the project. Understand the logic, algorithms, and techniques used. Compare different projects and approaches. Run the project on your machine or a virtual machine, experimenting with settings, parameters, and commands. Modify the code or configuration of the project as needed. Create your own operating system project or a sub-project using existing projects as references or inspirations. Apply best practices and lessons learned from them. Share your project with others and get feedback. By doing all of these things, you can learn a lot from operating system projects.

5 How to showcase OS projects

Working on operating system projects can be a great way to boost your career prospects. You can showcase them in a portfolio website or page, include them in your resume or CV, and talk about them in job or internship interviews. It's important to include screenshots, videos, demos, or links to your projects, explain the goals, features, and challenges of your projects, and emphasize the skills, tools, and technologies you used and learned. Additionally, you should quantify your achievements and impact, demonstrate your enthusiasm and knowledge, and show how your projects are relevant and valuable for the position or company you are applying for. By finding, evaluating, learning from, and showcasing operating system projects, you can take your career to the next level and make a difference in the field of computer science and engineering.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?