Contribution-based Firing of Developers?

Speaker: Vincenzo Orrei

Abstract:
There has been some recent clamor about the developer layoff and turnover policies enacted by high-profile corporate executives. Precisely defining the contributions in software development has always been a thorny issue, as it is difficult to establish a developer’s ‘performance’ without recurring to guesswork, due to how software development works and how Git persists history. Taking inspiration from a seemingly informal notion, the pony factor, we present an approach to identify the key developers in a software project. We present an analysis of 1,011 GitHub repositories, providing fact-based reflections on development contributions.

Biography: 
I obtained my doctoral degree in July 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Economia Aziendale from the University of Bologna. In April 2020, I also completed my Master’s degree in Scienze Statistiche, Finanziarie e Attuariali, still at the University of Bologna, specifically at the Rimini campus. Afterward, I worked as a Data Scientist in the world of football for two years, primarily focusing on machine learning and deep learning techniques. Subsequently, I embarked on my Ph.D. journey within the REVEAL research group, under the supervision of Professor Michele Lanza. My current research focuses on studying the evolution of software, with a particular emphasis on the concepts of contribution and ownership.

Chair: Diego Venâncio Marcílio

To join online: https://tinyurl.com/22r2p4us