Learning Software Development the Open Source way: A student guide

A book I co-authored with Professor Allen Tucker and Professor Ralph Morelli targeted mainly as a semester course for students was recently published by Chapman and Hall/CRC as part of their innovations in software engineering series and is available on Amazon titled "Software Development: An Open Source Approach"

Background to book and value to students interested in a career in IT
Participating in Open Source is a fantastic way for computer science students to get some hands on experience in a live Software Engineering project, especially before they start a professional career in Information Technology. Participating in an Open Source provides invaluable experiences that closely emulates what they have to face in the real world of professional software engineering, which a pure academic project or simulated mock project cannot offer. Additionally internships with software engineering firms often does not sometimes provide the full range of experiences needed as students are rarely permitted to participate in the critical parts of a billable client project thus their access and exposure is often restricted. Open Source projects however welcome contribution and the sky's the limit in terms of what you can contribute. You are valued more for the quality of what you can do, rather than how many years of experience you have under your belt. Participating in a global Open Source project also is not just about coding, but also about getting exposure to some of the invaluable soft skills needed to becoming a well rounded professional software engineer or architect. This includes interacting with diverse people from developers to users, documenting for those different audiences, understanding software usability, software intellectual property boundaries and learning how to promote your product and yourself. And if the student does well, it also gives them valuable credentials, referenceable experience and a global recognition that could serve to rapidly develop their career. Invaluable not just for students but even professionals who have still not got into Open Source. The book is a hands-on guide for you to get involved and becoming a valuable part of a Open Source community. Hope you enjoy it and do send us feedback for our next edition.