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Open Source Sabbatical

After the Open Source Programme Office was founded in January 2024, the Munich Open Source Sabbatical is now officially being introduced. Professionally qualified programmers can participate in open source projects for a limited time and improve them.
This sabbatical is not only open to employees of the City of Munich, but also to external software developers. To support external developers, the city offers financial compensation for the loss of earnings during the sabbatical.[1][2]

Application

Interested programmers can apply for the sabbatical. Participants can work together with the employees of the Open Source Programme Office. Applications from women are particularly encouraged.

Project selection

The selection of open source sabbaticals is open to ideas from external and internal developers.

  • They can be bug fixes or features for projects from the City of Munich's in-house development portfolio.
  • Software projects that we already use.
  • Other published free projects, if they offer a benefit for the city.

Financial compensation

The sabbatical is attractively remunerated so that the programmers can take time off work from their employer. The participants are not bound by instructions.[2:1]

The following compensation options are currently offered

External software developers

A permanent permanent position is generally possible with a six-month material reason.

A fixed-term permanent position is possible via the digital consulting company of the City of Munich digital@M. Our target for financial compensation is 60% of the usual salary.

A work contract or service contract is difficult to realise due to the pre-award consultation, the preparation of the award and contract documents and a call for tenders for the contract by the awarding authority

Employees of the LHM

Temporary assignments__ within LHM offer employees development opportunities and can be realised at short notice. The prerequisite is the consent of the department that is assigning the employee. The open source sabbatical is also possible as an internship during vocational training or dual study programmes, provided the project fits in with the training plan.
A direct appointment within LHM is possible, provided that the necessary position has been created and there is a possibility of compensation at the departing department.

Interested parties can send their applications informally to opensource@muenchen.de, stating the software project and the start date.

The City of Munich is looking forward to receiving your applications!


  1. Beschluss 20-26 / V 08681 ↩︎

  2. Ein Munich Open Source Sabbatical einführen ↩︎ ↩︎