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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."
My last job was a SCO shop. They were migrating to Red Hat when I left.
My current job is using linux on a lot of lower end servers.
This is a far cry from 2000-2001, when no one would even touch the OS.
Now, it is my desktop, and that of others.
They stuck me in an institution, said it was the only solution, to...protect me from the enemy, myself
Its a combination of things... Ill give a list.
/tmp after program crashes)
1: Unexpected program operation
2: Features not documented (ala commandline arguments)
3: Poor settings that are not accessable through GUI (ala mozilla about:config )
4: Bad or lacking help in help file. No exmples are a big concern in many programs
5: Not working due to silly happenings (lock file in
6: Insane setup required or large amount of dependancies on source packages
7: Just plain bad configs for your system (and youre not a programmer) and doesnt compile
You support these (or..ahem, make these) and you get money.
Major vendors (HP, IBM, Dell) have tech support with Linux savvy techies who can speak to a UNIX admin with very little disconnect. The other day I called HP about an issue with a DL380 G3 running RHEL 3 and they knew exactly what I was talking about and could help me out. They even give you the ability to flash your BIOS IN LINUX, as root of course. It does require a reboot to take effect.
Most of the open source jobs I see are for BSD stuff. Perhaps it is because of the area in which I work (networking). A robust TCP/IP stack is vital. Linux still has a problem with this. The other issue is the lock-in that the GPL creates. Most corporations prefer the freedom of the BSD-style license.
Linux jobs won't spread until of more there are more Linux installs. This won't happen until Linux becomes easier to use, and more widespread.
:)
Biggest of all is going to be when big companies can just move their software to a linux box without making software changes. And now since so many companies are still getting locked in MS contracts, this won't happen unless big hardware suppliers start packing Linux on their servers. One company doing this is IBM. Of course they are also packaging systems that will run MS server software, I guess covering their bases.
Anyway, best way to get Linux on the street would be to give me a prepackaged linux PC my wife could use. When that happens and she can browse the web, send email, and play her favorite games(or equivalent) then she won't be switching. Her and monay others, as another poster mentioned, don't want obscure and undocumented command line only changes to be required to set things up.
Me, I'm a geekboy at heart and miss a good command line go once in a while.
Later folks,
Tojo
The number of job postings on Dice.com that required some type of Linux expertise increased 190% over the past year to over 2,200 positions.
Not to pooh pooh this kind of increase, but it isn't as cool as jobs actually doing Linux development, or other OSS development. That would be even more exciting. Just because a job has need for Linux experience, doesn't mean that you'll actually have time to work on your favorite OSS project as part of your work. It may just mean that the company is using Linux to power some solution that you'll be working with.
On the other hand, I've seen data that does show that more developers are getting paid for OSS work. I would like to see a 190% jump there next year.
CKO
- Sighuh?
Linux is getting big here in Markham, Ontario (Home of ATI). A couple years ago IBM built a huge R&D lab right near my house.
My first linux job was at 17 at the local soctiabank doing simple perl scripts. I had a second job at 18 programming software for a handheld device using linux. At 20 I got a job designing a sprinkler system at a local golf course that used a linux system to manage watering, etc...
Basically, there are tons of jobs out there that use linux, and I am grateful for that.
--Using slackware since I was 13 (now 22)
I'm a college student studying computer engineering. I've been learning linux all summer long in the hopes of it helping me get a good job when I graduate. It's nice to know watching all that compiler output will lead to somewhere.
Although so I don't sound like an anti-linux hitler nazi, I am very happy with the switch to linux and specifically gentoo.
Ah damn, now I sound like a gentoo karma whore. Oh well. Show me the...high paying salary!
I'm confused... recently there have been several articles about IT jobs getting shipped overseas, outsourcing, and how the IT job market in the US is pathetic compared to the relatively recent past. So does this article by someone who I'd consider to be "in the know" negate all the other articles, or is there a truly dramatic and (presumably) completely unexpected shift in IT hiring?
"It's better to have a gun and not need it than need a gun and not have it." ~ Christian Slater, True Romance
I saw a recent posting of Unisys job announcements and was pleased to see Linux among the "looking for" skills, along with the usual J2EE, Oracle, etc etc. But they want someone with 10 to 15 years of Linux experience. Kind of like the postings for Java jobs that only Gosling could qualify for.
1998 - Finished high school. Was career-minded kinda guy. Decided I'd rather get an exciting job than go to University (I'd done some tertiary stuff in year 12, but three years of Uni just wasn't my thing).
1999 - I'd already had a lot of experience playing with Windows NT out of interest, so I got an MCSE to try and prove my skills to potential employers. Volunteered to assist my local 1300-member LUG at an IT show. Met my future boss, Con Zymaris from Cybersource *. Ended up being the 'Windows guy' at a Linux / Unix / BSD shop. Spent most of my time learning Linux.
1999 - Began career as Linux journo - was initially asked to do Linux software for APC magazine's CD ROM, but I went beyong the brief and wrote a 2 page article on Linux gaming. They liked it and put it in the mag. I then worked on Linux workshop, a couple of Linux features, wrote a little under half of the Linux Pocketbook Third Edition, more than half of the Advanced Linux Pocketbook, became PC Authority magazine's Linux columnist, and then was poached back to APC briefly before the editor that got me there left and mag and me went in different directions. **
During this time, I still got half my income from Linux consulting for Cybersource.
2002 - Wrote and began teaching a Linux training course for Advanced Training, Melbourne. Again, still worked consulting for Cyber.
2003 - Got poached by Red Hat Asia Pacific. Teach RHCE courses, and the nifty new RHCA type courses (which cover clustering, packaging, cross platform authentication, etc).
Spending the weekend learning about Kerberos, LDAP and Active Directory to teach the 423 course.
* Yes, the current Cyber web site looks terrible in Moz. It used to work ok in every browser - then Moz changed its rendering technique. Since I was respomsible for the original non-standard code, there's a fully XHTML version I templated just before I left here. Hopefully Cyber wil start using that one soon.
** I've been told that APC's readers want to do 'the hard stuff'. I disagree - people want to do interesting, useful cool things, regardless of whether they're hard or not. These guys are mbasically Windows power users, who want the basic stuff (installing, setting up a web server) to be easy, so they can focus on doing the cool stuff - anything that's cool or easier / cheaper / better than Windows. I reckon showing people how to do practical stuff with cool apps like QEmu, MythTV, Liferea, etc. is more interesting than yet another guide to installing Apache (including a page of how to compile it, for no other reason than Compiling Makes You Leet).
If I was gonna wrote about Apache, I'd write about creating a blog or CMS using Movabletype, or show people how to get Apache serving ASP 1.1 with mod_mono.
I had a great time at APC, and met some cool people, including Ashton Mills (who's now the editor of Atomic) and David Flynn (an editor who's simply damn good at his job). But the mag's editors don't want what I have to offer anymore, and I don't want to write what they offer me. Pity.
I recently landed a Linux job. It was very hard to find. 99% of the jobs I looked at were Windows based. I stuck to my convictions and I eventually found the job I was looking for. I chalk it up to luck. There aren't that many Linux jobs in my city. Hopefully that is changing.
In my shop, everyone uses Linux, and most users (and they are not very computer literate at all) don't care that they are not using windows. We have managed to make Linux as user friendly as possible.
We impress the accountants with how cheap we can do things now. LTSP is a beautiful project which can save you time, money and hassle. I strongly suggest that any system administrator take a look at the project.
I'm not really a counterexample, because we have *nix experience in my shop, but if you gave me a bid that recommended Windows, you would not get the job, and you'd be asked not to submit any more bids to my company. There may be some things Windows is good for, but we don't do any of those things.
Found this while searching for tech jobs online.
g el es/1271123.cfm
Live near Agoura Hills, CA? Get your resume ready.
Vivid Entertainment is looking for a new PROGRAMMER
for Vivid Entertainment
Required Technical Skills:
Linux, Design, Database design
Job Description:
This is an intermediate to mid-level, full-time position. In addition to the programming skills mentioned below, the candidate should have strong database design skills and some clue about Linux system administration and networking.Ability to multi-task; Can-do attitude; Organized; Detail-oriented; Independent, yet team-player; Flexible; Open to new ideas and ways of doing business. Monitor, track and report on progress. Salary is dependent on experience and qualifications. We offer a competitive salary, medical, paid vacation, 401K and more.
http://www.computerwork.com/cfm-bin/Jobs/Los-An