feat: innersource-as-career-booster.md

README.md

@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ Our mission
 * [Walk the InnerSource talk](/patterns/1-initial/walk-the-innersource-talk.md) - *Teams across the organization are encouraged to adopt InnerSource principles such as working openly, sharing code, and collaborating transparently. But, if the team behind the InnerSource initiative doesn’t follow these practices themselves, it undermines credibility and adoption. Therefore, this team should lead by example: documenting their decisions as code, working in the open, and treating their work as an InnerSource project to build trust and show others how it’s done.*
 * [Require InnerSource before Open Source](/patterns/1-initial/innersource-before-open-source.md) - *Maintaining and managing open source projects can be challenging for organizations, due to a lack of internal infrastructure and people with the knowledge of the required collaboration practices. By requiring projects to be InnerSource before becoming open source, teams have time to establish the necessary internal support, governance, and collaboration skills needed for successful community engagement.*
 * [AI Code Generation Context](patterns/1-initial/ai-code-generation-context.md) - *AI tools generate code that diverges from project standards and architectural patterns. Provide an AI Code Generation Context within the repositories to guide AI tools in producing contributions that align with existing project conventions, reducing review friction and maintaining code consistency.*
+* [InnerSource as a Career Booster](patterns/1-initial/innersource-as-career-booster.md) - *Many employees wonder how contributing to InnerSource projects benefits their careers beyond their immediate team objectives. By engaging in InnerSource, individuals expand their skills, grow their network, increase visibility across the organization, and unlock new career opportunities.*
 
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 NOTE: The 'Initial' Patterns below don't have a Patlet yet, which is essential for readers to quickly browse our patterns.

patterns/1-initial/innersource-as-career-booster.md

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+## Title
+
+InnerSource as a Career Booster
+
+## Patlet
+
+Many employees wonder how contributing to InnerSource projects benefits their careers beyond their immediate team objectives.
+By engaging in InnerSource, individuals expand their skills, grow their network, increase visibility across the organization, and unlock new career opportunities.
+
+## Problem
+
+Contributors often perceive a conflict between spending time on InnerSource projects and advancing their own careers within their team structure, worrying that their efforts outside of their immediate team won't be recognized, rewarded, or aligned with their manager's goals.
+
+## Story
+
+A developer named Mia worked on a customer-facing product but frequently found herself fixing issues in a shared internal library managed by another team. Initially, she worried this was a distraction. But her consistent contributions were noticed across teams, and soon she was asked to lead a cross-functional initiative. Her reputation grew beyond her team, and her promotion case became significantly stronger due to her recognized impact across the organization.
+
+## Context
+
+- The organization has active InnerSource projects with open contribution models.
+- Contributors are typically evaluated based on performance metrics within their own teams or reporting lines.
+- Performance reviews and promotions prioritize local (team-level) impact.
+- There is no formal recognition system for cross-team contributions.
+- Contributors are autonomous in how they manage their time to some extent.
+
+## Forces
+
+- **Local vs Global Optimization**: Employees are incentivized to focus on team goals over organizational goals.
+- **Recognition Visibility**: Effort outside one's direct team may be invisible to their manager or leadership chain.
+- **Risk Aversion**: Individuals may avoid unfamiliar domains or people, fearing judgment or failure.
+- **Career Laddering**: Most career frameworks reward specialization, but InnerSource often requires generalist or systems thinking.
+- **Cognitive Load**: Switching contexts between one's own project and InnerSource work can temporarily reduce productivity.
+- **Informal Influence**: Power networks within organizations often form across reporting lines, rather than within them.
+
+## Sketch
+
+_(Illustration of a person bridging multiple teams through contribution lines, forming a network of reputation that extends beyond a siloed organizational chart.)_
+
+## Solution
+
+- **Showcase Contributions**: Encourage contributors to document and publicly share what they've done—use README updates, changelogs, team demos, and retrospectives.
+- **Manager Alignment**: Educate managers on how InnerSource work contributes to organizational success and advocate for its inclusion in performance reviews.
+- **Sponsor-Led Recognition**: Have senior leaders or project maintainers acknowledge and elevate contributors in visible channels (e.g., newsletters, all-hands shoutouts).
+- **Skills Framing**: Frame InnerSource work as evidence of cross-functional collaboration, systems thinking, and initiative—qualities valued in promotion cycles.
+- **Strategic Contributions**: Guide contributors to choose InnerSource work aligned with known organizational pain points or strategic initiatives.
+- **Peer Signaling**: Use endorsements from other teams to validate a contributor's impact and influence.
+- **Social Capital Theory Application**: Build trust and reciprocal goodwill by contributing value, which often returns as opportunities (e.g., invitations to new projects, referrals, promotions).
+- **Game Theory Insight**: Treat InnerSource as a non-zero-sum game—helping other teams increases total organizational output and reputational payoff over time.
+
+## Resulting Context
+
+Contributors who engage in InnerSource build a broader reputation, accelerate their learning, and gain exposure to leadership and lateral networks—benefits that compound into real career growth.
+
+The organization sees better collaboration and higher retention among high-performing, ambitious individuals.
+
+This creates a reinforcing loop where career incentives and organizational goals align more closely.
+
+## Rationale
+
+From a **career development** perspective, diverse project experience, network breadth, and initiative-taking are strong signals of promotability.
+
+**Psychologically**, autonomy, mastery, and purpose—core drivers of motivation—are naturally supported by InnerSource work.
+
+From a **game theory** lens, InnerSource transforms isolated career efforts into a reputational economy, where value created for others is returned through visibility, referrals, and opportunities.
+
+## Known Instances
+
+TBD
+
+## Status
+
+- Initial
+
+## Authors
+
+- Jeff Bailey
+- Sebastian Spier
+
+## References
+
+- Dirk Riehle - [How Open Source Is Changing the Software Developer’s Career](https://dirkriehle.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/r5rie-v3.pdf)
+- Bertrand Delacretaz - [How to convince your left brain (or manager) to follow the Open Source path your right brain desires](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0SmiQ3SF6Q)
+
+## Alias
+
+- Career Growth through InnerSource
+- InnerSource for Personal Branding
+- Cross-Team Contributions as Promotion Strategy