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from the Is-this-the-year-of-the-Linux-expert dept.
ticho writes:
"About 77% of hiring managers say finding Linux talent is a priority this year, up from 70% last year, and there's 'explosive demand' around the world for people with Linux skills, according to a recent report. A survey found hiring managers at tech-powered companies are focusing more attention on Linux talent, with the result that those who can work with the open source operating system will earn stronger-than-average salary increases.
Other findings include:
More than nine in 10 hiring managers plan to hire a Linux professional in the next six months;
Hiring managers are increasing the number of Linux professionals they are searching for. Forty six percent of hiring managers are beefing up their plans for recruiting Linux talent over the next six months, a three-point increase over last year.
Knowing Linux advances careers. Eighty-six percent of Linux professionals report that knowing Linux has given them more career opportunities, and 64 per cent say they chose to work with Linux because of its pervasiveness.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Grishnakh on Friday March 07 2014, @05:08PM
It's not just there, it's also on embedded systems. And that sector has grown a lot too: "embedded" used to just mean small microcontrollers, but now all kinds of embedded systems are basically desktop-class hardware with a few changes and used for more specialized environments. Look at bank ATMs for example; they're really nothing more than regular desktop hardware, but with touchscreens, no keyboards, no mice, and a special UI, plus some connections to cash-handling hardware (could be through serial, parallel, or USB).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ticho on Friday March 07 2014, @06:51PM
You're right, I completely forgot about those. Possibly because all the embedded systems I see around me are usually crappy Win98 boxes stuck in a boot loop (ATMs, various information screens in public transports, etc). :) :)
Although to be fair, I've seen one such box running Linux stuck in a boot loop too.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday March 07 2014, @08:07PM
It might not have much to do with Linux either, or specifically any kind of embrace of FOSS philosophy.
From my vantage point, the entrenched incumbents Microsoft, Oracle, etc. of had to compete with FOSS solutions to their platforms.
For most businesses and shops, this is a no-brainer. Do you want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in licensing fees to operate infrastructure, and even more employing your own expensive development teams certified for said infrastructure?
Most will not opt for that anymore. FOSS is *free*. Even those support contracts that Redhat sells make better business sense than spending more and getting less in terms of Microsoft licensing and shops.
Of course I've run into several execs/clients that get upset when I explain they don't own their platforms anymore. There is ownership to an extent, in specific circumstances, but mostly you need to conform with the FOSS licenses and disclose your code.
Their grand idea was to own all the code, in proprietary ways similar the big companies, and some how monetize that. Their greedy little hearts see it as an asset. Once I explained the benefits of FOSS, especially saving 100k+ per year, and not having any vendor lock-in, most of them got on board fairly quickly.
Only fairly large companies these days have the use cases that justify a MSSQL/Oracle DB server, or an expensive MS server farm and domains. Those are disappearing through innovation and new platforms that compete. I don't think it's a coincidence that in the insurance industry the carrier platforms (20k+ month for SAAS) are more and more FOSS. I think I only saw one that was a pure Microsoft platform the whole way through.
It's a progression as older companies fold, newer CTOs come in, and business decisions are made about new platforms. It hasn't been that quick simply because these decisions are made at most every 5-10 years to recoup the costs of the last change in technology.
That's more than likely what this is. The old guard has to compete with FOSS, and quite frankly, it can't. It just can't. That doesn't change till you go reeeally big.
So as each company makes the decision to embrace the cost effectiveness of FOSS, irrespective of any ideologies, you get more and more incentive for people to become Linux sysadmins and developers to use FOSS platforms. I'm betting in the long run they are cheaper than somebody who is well certified with a lot of experience in the proprietary technologies.
Add to that just how much of app development for smart phones and tablets is done on open source platforms that cost nothing.
I'm not surprised by this in the least.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Sunday March 09 2014, @08:05PM
Don't get too excited: Microsoft is still very strong in many sectors. For instance, in higher-powered embedded applications, MS is dominant. ATMs are a good example of this: they all run on Windows (I'm surprised they haven't gotten hacked at Target levels by now). Or high-end ($100K+) test equipment like oscilloscopes and logic analyzers: they all run on Windows too. (Actually, back in the 90s, Agilent fooled around with HP-UX for some of their test equipment, which was cool because it was accessible with both NFS and Samba IIRC, and could be controlled remotely with X, but that's long gone now.) A lot of handheld special-purpose stuff runs on WinCE, and has for years.
For most businesses and shops, this is a no-brainer. Do you want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in licensing fees to operate infrastructure, and even more employing your own expensive development teams certified for said infrastructure?
For most businesses and shops, the answer is "yes". It's gotten better since the early 00s, but most businesses still prefer to be chained to MS.
Most will not opt for that anymore.
Are we talking embedded products (which is what this sub-thread was about), or desktop PCs? For the latter, you're completely wrong.
Only fairly large companies these days have the use cases that justify a MSSQL/Oracle DB server, or an expensive MS server farm and domains.
No, there's little reason they couldn't change over to FOSS products for the most part if they really wanted to, however they don't, because of inertia and familiarity with MS products.
The old guard has to compete with FOSS, and quite frankly, it can't. It just can't.
Doesn't matter; businesses are still perfectly happy to shovel all their money over to MS. The only places I've seen FOSS used in any significant amount is actually a few large companies like Lowe's where they want something really reliable that's totally customized to their usage. Go to your local Lowe's and go to the counter where you order windows and doors, and check out their computer's UI.
Add to that just how much of app development for smart phones and tablets is done on open source platforms that cost nothing.
What dream world are you living in? Most app development for phones and tablets is done on OS X, since most apps are for iOS, and last I checked, you can't do it on Linux. Devs doing both Android and iOS probably use OS X, since you can certainly do both on that platform. Devs doing WinPhone development have to use Windows.