Tech unemployment rate hit 2.1% in May. That number is down slightly from April, but with 623,627 high-tech jobs, that’s still up 52% year-over-year. So good is, Linux Foundation and reliable learning platform edX‘S 10th Annual Open Source Jobs Report found that for open source savvy job seekers, the market is even better.
But, how much better? Based on MarketandMarket analysis, “Global size of open source services market expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.2% […] reach $50.0 billion in 2026 from $21.7 billion in 2021.”
What does that mean for open source job seekers? The report found that 73% of professionals said it would be easy for them to find a new job. On the other hand, 93% of employers have difficulty finding skilled talent.
So far, most open source professionals, 63%, say they haven’t changed jobs in the past year. Of course, that also means one in three people have left their jobs. That leaves employers desperately trying to retain skilled employees. Is this possible? Great resignationbut it’s still making human resources’ lives miserable.
“Every business has struggled with recruiting and retaining talent this year, and the open source industry is no different,” said Linux Foundation CEO Jim Zemlin. “Organizations that want to ensure they have the talent to meet their business goals not only need to differentiate themselves to attract that talent, but they must also find ways to close the skills gap by developing develop new and existing talent.”
“There is a huge supply and demand gap,” says Clyde Seepersad., Senior Vice President & General Manager, Training & Certification of the Linux Foundation. But, the work anarchy could be even worse. Seepersad said employers have been more proactive. That has deterred some because some revenue may have occurred. ”
What keeps people from jumping ship is offering them “remote work. When you think of some of the high cost locations in the San Francisco Bay Area or Bangalore, allowing people to work from remote locations. The difference with their cost is very attractive, says Seepersad.
Higher pay has also become very important. “Payment is also a factor, but it can be number three, number four,” says Seepersad. But, “Obviously it’s number one now.”
To be precise, the report found that compensation has become the top differentiating factor: Two in three open source professionals say a higher salary will prevent them from leaving their jobs. At the same time, as flexible times and remote working are becoming the norm, financial incentives are more important than ever. Note that flexible hours and working from home are becoming the norm. Without those, don’t expect to keep top open source talent.
bother you; Qualified open source talent is harder to find than ever: The vast majority of employers, 93%, say they have trouble finding the right people with the right skills.
This trend will not go away. Nearly half, 46%, of employers are planning to increase their open source recruitment in the next six months.
Another way to retain people is to train the ones you already have. Seepersad previously said, “The company’s hiring managers will tell you straight up, we don’t really invest in training because that just encourages people to go out there and find another job. . […] That thinking has really changed. “That’s because” if you don’t try to encourage and develop growth, employees will go somewhere else. Yes, pay has become more important. But if you invest in their careers, in their relationships, you can create loyalty in your workforce. “
A related issue is that certificates are more important than ever. A whopping 90% of employers say they will pay employees to get a certificate, and 81% of professionals plan to add a certification. 69% of employers are more likely to hire a certified open source professional.
As a side effect, previous experience becomes less and less important as there is a shortage of talent. If you have a certificate that shows you have the right skills, it will now be easier for you to get a job.
What skills? Looking ahead, it’s all about clouds and containers. 69% of employers are looking for people who know their way around the cloud, Docker, and Kubernetes. Pure Linux skills are also still in high demand with 61% of hiring managers. That’s no surprise because underneath the cloud and the container is Linux.
And, I’m sure there won’t be any shock as security concerns are on the rise: Cybersecurity skills have the fourth biggest impact on hiring decisions, as reported by 40% of employers. recruitment, second only to the cloud, Linux and DevOps.
DevOps is also becoming more important than ever. Seepersad commented, “There used to be walls between the development team and the implementation team. They are just collapsing under the weight of new expectations.”
Security training is also becoming extremely important. They are simply nothing like enough security intelligence. there. Staff know this. 77% of hired open source professionals say they would benefit from more security training. They are right. They would.
If you have to choose a skill to focus on to enter the open source job market, Seepersad has an interesting choice: Gitdistributed version control system.
Why? Because everyone uses Git now. The goal doesn’t necessarily say you’ve done 1000 accepted pulls from a Git repository, says Seepersad. “Had to get used to this work to get the motivation of often working collaboratively on code together. And everyone is a developer now. In the past, people who specialized in security had technical implementations. would hesitate to take a closer look at the code because the idea is in the realm of developers, and the same is true for developers, right in terms of things like scalability, but that’s broken down. with DevOps and now everyone is jointly responsible for the code.As you’ve learned what code is and how it’s managed, opportunities come in to contribute to it. And, with that, you have I can put myself in a really good position.”
And, with all the small steps, you’ll be one giant leap closer to a great open source career.
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