Decisive AI

We're so glad you're interested in becoming a contributor for Decisive. If you have questions, please take the time to read below. If your enquiry isn't answered here, drop us a line at contribute@decisive.ai!

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How do I become a Developer?

To become a developer, you will need to go through several steps. First, fill out our application form here.

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You will be sent the Collaborator's Agreement, which is basically a legal document spelling out each of our duties. You agree that whatever work you do on the Decisive source code belongs to Decisive, which in turn will compensate you for all accepted code once trigger conditions are met.

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Is Decisive Open Source?

No. Decisive is not open source, the code is not shared freely and the software is not free to use. It is true that Decisive is built by a scattered team of collaborators from all over the world, rather than by in-house employees. Still, those organizations using our software need to pay for it, and those involved in creating the software are compensated for their effort.

 

What is Collaborative Software?

Collaborative software is not free and the source code is not public. So it shares that with standard closed source commercial software. On the other hand, collaborative software is mostly produced by an informal network of developers regardless of their locations, very much like open source.

 

Collaborators write code for Decisive, but they do expect to get compensated for their effort. They are not employees, because there isn’t a regular salary or payroll. Instead, the compensation is conditional to the organization reaching certain commercial milestones.

 

Collaborators are like investors, but they invest code, not money. They get paid a return on their investment, but only if the company succeeds. There is a risk involved.

 

Collaborative software is something in between open source and the traditional closed source monolithic organization.

 

Why don’t you make Decisive Open Source?

We love the community aspect of open source, a team of dedicated contributors that make a piece of software great. We strive to achieve an amazing community of developers regardless of their location. But, unlike open source, we want those contributors to be rewarded for their effort. And not just those visible at the top, but any contributor that writes significant code that helps make our AI engine great.

 

There is another big reason to stay away from open source: it is intrinsically free. Years ago, Emiliano Conde, one of the founders of Decisive, also started jBilling, a Java Open Source project that was pretty successful. Having worked for years in open source it was clear that to ensure the long term viability and success for everybody involved, the project has to be commercially robust.

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What is the difference between Collaborative and Open Source Software?

The key differences are that the source code is not available to everybody, it is not free to use the software, and those contributing to the project get compensated. Open source contributors are like volunteers, they won’t be paid. The open source licenses out there ensure that anybody can use the software, even for commercial purposes, for free.

 

Here is a simple table comparing open source, collaborative and commercial software:

 

 

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Can I make money by coding for Decisive?

Yes, but don’t think about it as an employee that gets paid no matter what. You do get paid, per line of code, when decisive as an organization reaches certain goals. That is why we call it ‘conditional compensation’.

 

This is clearly outlined in a legal contract between Decisive and you, so there are no empty promises.

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What do I get by coding for Decisive?

To begin with, we send you swag. For each level of Collaborator status you move up, you get a new, awesome piece of Decisive swag. There is also the Glory. If you're one of our top collaborators, you also make it onto our Decisive Leaderboard, up here on the website. We believe in you being recognized for your contribution and having something to show off!

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Once we meet certain conditions - namely, being profitable and having a revenue of more than a million dollars USD per year - we will also pay you per line of code. The amount you make per line depends on what the rate was when your code was accepted into our repository. This rate will go down over time, so contribute early - get paid more.

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The compensation will be paid on a first-in, first-paid basis. Collaborators will be paid out in the order they contributed. When the amount paid out puts us back out of "profitable" status, payout will be paused and resumed once the trigger conditions are met again.

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Why "conditional" compensation?

Everyone at Decisive comes from an open-source background, and so we firmly believe that a project is better when you have the skills and perspectives of many people. However, we want to reward you for being in this journey with us and so we're willing to pay - and well - for your contribution.

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We hope to combine the best of both open-source and commercial software development - people from all over the world can have access to the repository and write something great, we'll recognize your individual contribution, and once we start making money, we share it with everyone who's helped us along the way!

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How much are you paying per line of code right now?

It will depend on what you work on and your skills and experience. As a general rule of thumb, assume $1 USD per line of code.

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How will I be paid once you trigger conditional compensation?

It will depend on your location, but typically a wire transfer directly to your bank account is the best option.

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What language do you use?

We use Scala!

 

Why Scala?

Scala has a all the advantages of Java: garbage collection, multi-platform, and more,since it runs on the JVM. Then it has a lot of additions that really help AI development. Functional programming really helps express very complex logic in small manageable parts. The strong collection management features are super useful when your code is always dealing with sets of data (trees, arrays, etc..). Last but not least, the parallel processing support comes in handy: no serious AI will happen without many computers working in parallel.

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What do I need to know to become a Decisive developer?

The more you know about Scala and AI programming, the better. But we also understand that many collaborators will want to join to learn and gain experience in those areas. At the very least, you need to know Java well, know some Scala and have a good grasp at both OO and functional programming. Whatever your skills and experience, make sure you want to learn a lot - this project will test your limits.