When developing FOSS with passion, it’s easy to forget that you are doing a six-figure job for free.

Users will celebrate your sacrifice while you continue to do a great job for nothing—or for cents on the dollar.

When the passion fades and FOSS becomes a job you don’t enjoy, that is when devs realize that they forgot to price their time under “operational expenses.”

This is one danger of being a solo dev genius. You’ll lose your mind and time while the community will start to question why you stopped taking donations.

When working with a team, you’ll think about compensation more often, which will guard you against donating your life away.