Working in the open-source community has as much growth as working in healthcare or even the cannabis industry. Many show open-source software as having a very bright future, with 70% of companies already participating or contributing to the movement.
There isn’t any better time to get involved in open-source projects than now, even though you may have trouble finding the right thing to work on.
A lot of sources are available to help you find open-source projects. It pays to look at trends for this year to give you an idea of what might interest you.
The Growth in Cross-Platform Development
One open-source project potentially giving you a lot of steady work is in cross-platform development. Evidence shows more people are getting involved in these projects to help bring easier ways to deploy applications from desktop to mobile.
With mobile being a stronger factor in application use, cross-platform development is going to become more popular. To make this work, you’re going to need the right tools to help enhance security measures.
There isn’t any doubt security in open-source is a big part of this, something we can help with at Kiuwan. For instance, our Kiuwan for Developers integrates our system into your developers’ IDE’s.
Working With Artificial Intelligence
We’re seeing AI being used in more and more applications, making open-source projects at this level all the more trendy.
Some projects out there are working toward a lofty goal: Making AI more intelligent than humans. While this is more on the horizon, some applications continue to make AI programs more practical in the workplace.
Areas where you can expect more open-source AI projects include use for deeper research and development.
Throughout this year and into ensuing years, expect to see more open-source projects involved in virtual technologies and robot capabilities. Some of this involves implementing deep learning.
Bringing Blockchain into the Open-Source World
No doubt you’ve heard a lot about blockchain and how it could revolutionize online security. The use of it in many mobile applications is about to step into gear. As you might expect, the open-source community is very much involved in bringing blockchain into the mix.
As Linux notes, even though bitcoin has faltered, its fundamental technology of blockchain continues steady. Its usage has so much potentials in applications, it’s almost overwhelming.
One reason open-source blockchain projects are so popular is it’s allowing developers to do cross-industry collaborations. It’s going to allow for a major shift in how developers work with each other and bring considerable innovation to where blockchain gets used.
Competition is going to become intense here, so pick your open-source projects wisely.
Using Automation for Deployment
We’re seeing automation in different forms pop up everywhere. Open-source developers are finding a lot to focus on in automation as well, something showing up in various projects.
A strong area being worked on now is automation for app deployment through the use of containers.
Continuous testing is another strong area developers are working on. Much of this focuses on continuous delivery, DevOps, and agile delivery to avoid app downtime. The more automation can help with these functions, the less it falls on the shoulders of IT staff.
AI is also playing a strong part in open-source automation projects.
Creating Progressive Web Apps
You can place this in the very top of open-source trends since progressive web apps perfectly integrate an app with the look of a website.
As Medium notes, the development of Web API’s began to bring the app experience to mobile web. Many open-source developers are going to jump on the realization that progressive web apps have a better UX, work in real-time, and are very responsive.
All of these make competition in this area fairly crowded, even though it’s going to require open-source developers focusing on myriad details.
Google is at the helm of some open-source projects for progressive web apps, providing ways to reduce the time necessary to set these apps up.
The Internet of Things
There isn’t any denying how ubiquitous The Internet of Things is, and it’s becoming an important aspect to many open-source projects. TechBeacon shows a wide range of open-source IOT projects underway that operate as industry consortiums, protocols, and studies on operating systems. They also fall under dozens of other categories ranging from API’s to home automation.
An area getting the most attention for 2018 is Autonomous Decentralized Peer-to-Peer Telemetry. As a major part of the next wave of IoT technology, this is essentially integrating IoT with blockchain. It’s an example in how above-mentioned open-source blockchain projects are crossing over to work with other industries.
The demand is huge for creating a safer network with so many connected devices. At stake is creating what’s known as a decentralized IoT, something still very much in development.
If you’re looking for something exciting in the open-source community, this is a smart trend to focus on over the next couple of years.
Enhancing Security
On top of the list is security and how it factors into all open-source programs. You’ll find some open-source projects focusing primarily on encryption and how important it’s going to become to keep everyone’s data truly private.
Most importantly, attention is being paid to encryption while data is in-transit, as well as overall secure management of data.
Security compliance is becoming more serious this year, leading open-source developers to find ways to make security more reliable while also making it easier to use.
Despite many projects available for open-source security, you can go through one source to help your company deal with end-to-end application security.
Security for Your Entire SDLC
Since security is such a hot open-source topic, those of us at Kiuwan can help your team of developers take on security in a more efficient way.
We provide thorough security solutions covering everything from application risk governance to application security architecture.
Our platform is state-of-the-art with the ability to integrate with all top tools and systems, including GitHub.
Visit our site to learn more and how we can make all your open-source projects run safely for your team of developers.
