Linux Skills Still in High Demand in the Job Market

 Have you been looking for a job, or extra work on the side, and getting ever more frustrated even though the job market is turning up? While the market is improving, it's still a tough environment out there, especially for college graduates who have little experience on their resumes. The good news is that a number of recent surveys and studies show that open source skills are in increasing demand at many organizations.

In the latest example of these reports, Dice.com and The Linux Foundation surveyed more than 850 global hiring managers and 2,600 Linux professionals, finding that Linux skills, in particular, are very much in demand.

 "[Linux] is considered the most ubiquitous and popular free open-source operating system," The Linux Foundation reports. "And if you demonstrate IT skills in this field, you're setting yourself up for a lucrative in-demand career."

At Baselinemag.com, you can look at a nice slideshow featuring results from the Dice/Linux Foundation survey.  These were some of the findings:

- 93% of respondent employers plan to hire at least one Linux professional within the next six months.

- 90% of employers say it's difficult to find professionals with Linux skills.

- The average increase in pay for staffers with Linux experience from January 2012 to January 2013 was a healthy 9%.

A few months back, The Linux Foundation ran a complete interview with Dice.com's Alice Hill, where she noted:

"Linux is firmly at the core of software development and system administration and still growing. What the survey respondents tell us about Linux as a priority for 2012 echoes recruitment posting activity on Dice. We have seen demand in areas like mobile and cloud take off, but Linux-related jobs are a consistent leader. In fact, Linux job postings on Dice.com are up 17 percent year/year and is one of the top 10 most requested skills...It’s not a surprise to us that Linux talent is in demand, but what is surprising is the fact that 85 percent of companies report having difficulty finding qualified Linux professionals. That’s substantial. Linux is a core skill and employers understand this. Now tech professionals need to recognize the opportunity and join this community."

Increasingly, there are certification programs available for job seekers who want to pick up open source skills, and some of them are very affordable. You can get certified for popular open platforms ranging from Hadoop to OpenStack. But, even straight Linux skills are becoming increasingly valuable to employers.