Boost your OSS skill set

If you want a secure and rewarding career, open source software is the field to be in according to this year’s OpenSourceJobsReport, an annual survey of the industry conducted by The Linux Foundation and Dice. Not only did 89 per cent of hiring managers surveyed say that they have difficulty recruiting enough OS (open source) talent, but 86 per cent of professionals believe that knowing OS has advanced their career.

Both hiring managers and OS pros agree that the top skill right now is cloud. Forty seven per cent of hiring managers are looking to hire professionals with OS cloud expertise, and 69 per cent of professionals believe cloud skills will gain in importance in the next year. Big Data is also in demand, with 43 per cent of hiring managers seeking employees with this expertise, and 57 per cent of pros seeing it growing in importance. Software development, DevOps, security and containers are similarly seen as key skills now and in the future.

The next question is how to go about acquiring these in-demand skills. Fifty per cent of hiring managers say they would be more likely to hire a certified professional, and 76 per cent of professionals with certifications say they’ve helped their career. And the percentage of hiring managers willing to pay for employees to get certified has jumped from 33 per cent in 2016 to 47 per cent this year. This is good news for existing professionals who want to learn new skills, and also gives those looking to break into the industry a starting place to demonstrate their knowledge. Don’t be shy about asking your company to sponsor your training!

To learn more about what benefits of an open source career professionals enjoy most, and what skills and experience hiring managers are looking for, the 2017OpenSourceJobsReport is available for free download at http://bit. ly/2017OSS jobsreport.