The 2017 Open Source Jobs Report: Employers Prioritize Hiring Open Source Professionals with Latest Skills

Sixth annual report reveals the hottest open source skills, biggest motivators for employees and the growing importance of training and certification

NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO, August 23, 2017 – Opportunities for open source professionals abound as companies strive to improve efficiency and cut time to market for new software products according to the 2017 Open Source Jobs Report, released today. Not only do 89% of hiring managers report difficulty in finding qualified talent for open source roles, but 58% report needing to hire more open source professionals in the next six months than in the six months prior.

This is the sixth year Dice®, the leading career site for technology and engineering professionals, and The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, are partnering to produce a jobs report. As with last year’s report, the focus is on all aspects of open source software; the first four years focused more specifically on Linux professionals.

The 2017 Open Source Jobs Survey and Report provides an overview of the trends for open source careers, motivation for professionals in the industry and how employers attract and retain qualified talent.

Key findings from the 2017 Open Source Jobs Survey and Report include:

• Sixty-seven percent of managers say hiring of open source professionals will increase more than other areas of the business in the next six months.
• A growing number of companies (60 percent) are looking for full-time hires, compared with 53 percent last year.
• Nearly half (47 percent) of companies are willing to pay for employees to become open source certified.
• Developer (73 percent), DevOps engineer (60 percent) and systems administrator (53 percent) are the most common positions employers seek to fill. Open source cloud (47 percent), application development (44 percent), Big Data (43 percent) and both DevOps and security (42 percent) are the skills most in demand.

“As open source becomes increasingly relevant and more companies globally leverage the technology in their stacks, demand for professionals with open source experience will only intensify,” said Michael Durney, President and CEO of DHI Group, Inc. “Successful employers recognize open source professionals will look at things beyond just the compensation and will, for instance, express the opportunity to work on challenging projects during the recruiting process. Those firms who foster a spirit of teamwork and promote paths for professionals to advance their careers within the organization will attract highly skilled, passionate tech talent and, in turn, propel innovation forward for the future.”

“Open source is a dominant force in software development, and opportunities abound for those looking for careers with strong prospects for growth,” said Jim Zemlin, Executive Director at The Linux Foundation. “This year’s Open Source Jobs Report reinforces what we have seen the past several years; open source is professionalizing, and employers are seeking staff with demonstrable skills. The Linux Foundation will continue our efforts to make quality training and certification accessible to individuals all over the world who want to contribute to the open source community and pursue rewarding careers.”

The annual report features data from more than 280 hiring managers at corporations, small and medium businesses (SMBs), government organizations, and staffing agencies across the globe—as well as responses from more than 1,800 open source professionals worldwide.

The full 2017 Open Source Jobs Report is available to download for free from http://bit.ly/2017OSSjobsreport.

About Dice

Dice is a leading tech career hub connecting employers with skilled technology professionals and providing tech professionals with career opportunities, data, insights and advice. Established in 1990, Dice began as one of the first career sites and today provides a comprehensive suite of recruiting solutions, empowering companies and recruiters to make informed hiring decisions. Dice serves multiple markets throughout North America and Europe. www.Dice.com, Twitter, Facebook. Dice is a DHI Group, Inc. (NYSE:DHX) service.

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

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