I didn’t have any open source work from 1996-2020. What I did have was the an active network and the ability to dig deep when asked about my prior projects/accomplishments.

If I ever pivoted back to pure software development and wanted to get a comparably compensated position at a large tech company would a jump through the DS&A grind - yes. But to work for a startup that offered meh compensation and meaningless “equity” - no.