Ninety-three percent of employers plan to hire a Linux pro in the next six months. Ninety percent of hiring managers say it’s difficult to find experienced Linux professionals. When they do find them, they’re offering higher salaries and more perks.
These are the startling and exciting facts that are surfaced in this year’s Linux Jobs Report (Dice.com/Linux Foundation). But they pose both an opportunity and a challenge for the Linux community: the need to increase access to in-depth Linux training opportunities to help meet this unprecedented demand. And, The Linux Foundation is working on tackling this challenge with its comprehensive set of in-depth Linux training courses.
But it is also investing in addressing this challenge with its Linux Training Scholarship Program, which opens today for submissions. The program is in its third year and is designed to offer funds to developers and IT professionals who show incredible promise for helping to shape the future of Linux but do not otherwise have the ability to attend Linux Foundation training courses.
New this year are the introduction of five categories. We hope that by asking applicants to submit their scholarship forms in one of each of these new categories, that we can encourage more people from a variety of areas in the Linux and open source software communities to participate in the program.
The new categories include:
* Whiz Kids: High school or college grads already familiar with Linux but who want to prepare for their career with extra training. Applicants must be 18 years or older.
* Women in Linux: Women who have demonstrated leadership or want to take initiative in creating opportunities for themselves or other women in Linux.
* SysAdmin Superstars: SysAdmins who have already begun using Linux in their workplace but want to take their work to the next level with additional training.
* Developer Do-Gooders: Developers who use Linux for good and who are looking to expand that good work while enhancing their Linux skills.
* Linux Kernel Gurus: Individuals who have already contributed to the Linux kernel community and show promise of becoming a Linux maintainer.
Also new this year is the addition of a mentoring session with one of The Linux Foundation’s training instructors. Each winner will receive at least 30 minutes of one-on-one time to get input on technical skills, career guidance or anything else they’d like to know from these Linux experts.
Please join us in sharing this information with your friends, colleagues and online followers. We want to help increase access to these important skills and give more people the opportunity to help advance the world’s most ubiquitous operating system.
Additional Resources
Some of the previous winners have been profiled on Linux.com. Their stories certainly inspire.