You say you're a student on your profile - does that mean university? If so, have you also worked on the OS directly as part of your studies?
How much time I put to this really depends on what else is happening in my life at the moment. There has been months where I've put total of 5 hours into this and some weeks alone I may reach close to 40 hours.
I would imagine this will set you up incredibly well for a career in the industry, arguably moreso than your actual degree. Any reasonable prospective potential hirer is gonna be super impressed by it I think.
That's what I hope at least. This is something I would want to do for my career in the future. Good portfolio never hurts :)
Love this! Well done. Best way to skip classes ever!
One more set of questions: was there something you would call an "it's alive!" moment in the beginning of the project? A part where it would start to get _really_ fun for you? If so, what was it and how long did it take you to get there?
I think it became actually fun after I got all the basic requirements done and could start deviating from more or less standard OS code. When I could actually decide what I want to work on. Maybe after couple of months it was in that state. It was also fun at the beginning. it was just way harder as I didn't have any prior knowledge and I was trying to wrap my head around some basic concepts :D
One of these is really a lot more impressive (and indicates a far more mature and finished product) than the rest. I love how it's just listed in there next to the basics. Nice job.