As strange as it may sound to the average business person, open source software is usually developed by unpaid volunteers. The motivation behind open source development varies, but the usual reason a developer would give of their time freely like this is for the respect and kudos that it brings. Some people do it just as a hobby.

Open source developers are generally well-respected because it is clear that they are not out to make a fast buck. For the same reason, open source software is usually (but not always!) of a very high quality - the people working on it are doing it because they want to create a great product.

On the other hand, it does look very good on your CV or résumé to say that you are an official developer for an open source project. There are also revenue-generating possibilities that come from providing value-added services to an open source product. For example, although it is illegal for non-copyright holders to charge for the Joomla software, it is perfectly legal and acceptable to charge for value-added services, such as installation of the software, development of a website using the software, and development of additional software and components to complement the open source product.

And while anyone can take an open source product and charge for value-added services to it, the official developers are more likely to be chosen by many businesses to do paid work, because they know the system better than anyone else. Having said that, there are many developers who are not part of the official Joomla team, who also know the system well, and can provide excellent value-added services (including of course, Netshine Software Ltd!).