Open source software can bring a variety of benefits to financial institutions, including increased engineering speed and improved code quality, while helping attract tech workers. Discover expects its new site and partnerships to help it stand out in the space.

Discover just launched a new website dedicated to open source software development and building community in tech.  

“Like all organizations, we use a huge amount of open source in our products,” Discover’s VP of technology capabilities and innovation, Angel Diaz, told Insights Distilled. “It allows our technology folks to express themselves, to build on their skills, to partner with others, and to improve the technology that we use.” 

The public-facing Discover Technology Experience website is meant for knowledge sharing and inspiration and coincides with the firm joining the Linux Foundation and the Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS), and committing to sending its engineers to more than 50 events and meetups around the world this year.  

All these actions play into Discover’s plan to recruit and retain tech workers, who view open source contributions as a way to make an industry-wide impact, build community, and earn cachet. 

“You cannot hire a great engineer who doesn’t want to be learning and collaborating: If you’re not giving them an outlet to do that, you’re not going to be able to retain talent,” Diaz said. The site provides the “connective tissue” for “creating better conversations across the workforce,” he added, and will also help attract people to the firm.  

Generally, open source software continues to gain steam among big FinServs: A survey from FINOS late last year found that 20 financial institutions rolled out Open Source Program Offices in 2022 and that 56% of respondents said they got more value from open source last year than in the year before.