Experience in the open-source world is a valuable asset for technology job-seekers, and it’s getting more so over time, according to the latest Open-Source Jobs Report, which was published today by Dice and the Linux Foundation.
The report, which surveyed tech hiring managers, found that nearly two-thirds were planning to increase open-source hiring more than other areas of their business in the near future, and that 59% had definite plans to add open-source workers.
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The news was also good for open-source workers who are already employed. Four out of five hiring managers who responded to the survey said that they had increased incentives to retain open-source employees – 44% had hiked salaries to this end, while 43% had offered more flexible working conditions like telecommuting.
Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, said that the trends are strong for open-source workers.
“It’s a seller’s market and it’s only going to get more beneficial for open-source professionals,” he said in a statement. “As more and more open source projects are developed, open-source professionals will need to update their skillsets with knowledge and experience including DevOps and networking.”
One of the most in-demand subsets of open-source knowledge is OpenStack and the cloud, with 51% of respondents saying that cloud expertise is the most critical consideration in open-source hiring. Networking technology was the second most important, according to the survey, at 21%.
The idea that the technology jobs market it tilted sharply in favor of applicants is underlined by another report released today, this one from the CIO Executive Council – just 11% of 133 IT executives surveyed by the CEC said that they had a “robust” pool of potential workers to choose from.