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Linux Jobs on the Rise
Jan Stafford writes "Looking for a job at LinuxWorld and everywhere else? IT recruiting expert Scot Melland says you have more grounds for optimism than in recent years. In this Q&A, he describes where the jobs are and how much they're paying."
I'm a sysadmin, I build and maintain Linux systems for production use. Others where I work use the OS for various purposes, including software development and embedded systems. Some use it as their primary desktop, as I do. The results of the development, made more productive by a solid IT infrastructure foundation, make the money.
I suppose one could turn the question around and ask how one makes money using a non-free operating system, when they're not the one selling/developing it. If anything you would seemingly make less because the OS adds an additional cost, but that doesn't show the big picture. It's the results that really matter, the OS is just a means to the end.
GPL: Free as in will
Where I work we are developing a few different boards that all use embedded linux on an Arm9. I think that Linux may develop to take over that market really well. After all, who needs a full blown Windows installation on an embedded device? And is Windows even capable of running on an MMU-less processor?
it's pretty difficult to make money developing Linux =P
As there is more money to be made overall and more positions to be had in carpentry than there is in designing hammers.
The primary point of tools being their use.
KFG
The other issue is the lock-in that the GPL creates. Most corporations prefer the freedom of the BSD-style license.
The BSD license has some things going for it, but if we look at what corporations are backing Linux and what are backing *BSD, it seems that the GPL "lock-in" doesn't bother IBM, Novell, etc.. In fact, it might encourage them since after adding lots of code to Linux, a third party can't just take the code, add a bit to it and then sell it as proprietary software -- they must give back, just like people before them did, and I'd say that's pretty fair.
Treehugger? Treehugger... Treehugger!
How does a pilot make money flying through free air?
Linux jobs could be going through the roof for all I know, but the apparent "research" done for that article is absolute cr@p.
Counting the job postings on Dice? Please. This could be due to nothing more than Dice negotiating some special contracts with a few big companies.
Anybody every notice that big defense contractors, and a few other institutions absolutely flood those job boards lately? Often posting over 100 jobs in a day just for one city.
I live near Aurora Colorado, good sized Ratheon installation there. If the number of jobs posted just on hotjobs is any clue, then Ratheon must be hirering about 150 new people every day. On Dice, it Lockheed that floods the job boards.
I don't know what kind of games they're playing, or what of deals are made; but you'd have to an idiot to think all of those advertised jobs are for real.
Besides that, is Linux a *primary* qualification? Or is just one the many, many, qualifications that are typically thrown in along with everything else but the kitchen sink?
And, most importantly of all, what is the ratio of new positons vs the number of people flooding into the field?
In my opinion, the article is a bit misleading. From my down to earth view (of having contact with literaly hundreds of IT folks) there are more jobs now than there were in the last few years...
The jobs are different though. Most are doing fairly boring things, and salaries are in the $30-40k range. (very few are in the $50k range). There are obviously exceptions (one of my friends makes $85k), but the average is still ~$35k.
Then again, that's better than being unemployed... And there are cently more jobs there now than there were a year or two ago. But they're crappy jobs.
"If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy
Why would he wish that certification carries a lot of clout? And who is it that expected it to?
Linux is certainly growing in market share, but it's still mostly in environments with management that values the thinking processes and figuring out the right ways to do things. When Linux finally reaches the level where it gets used by managers that don't value the thinking process, and just pick things because it might look good, or because someone wearing another tie said it was good, then we'll see certification in more demand. And they will get what they deserve, too, just like they got when they wanted an MCSE to run their Windows machines. The more the masses get certification, the less value that certification has. But that seems to be when managers want it most. How silly.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars