In our previous post, we emphasized the importance of having more than just programming skills to snag the open source job you want. Of course you still have to have the skills required for the job, but exactly which skills would these be?
The answer to this question is revealed in a survey done by The Linux Foundation and online job board Dice last year. The survey, which gathered responses from open source managers and professionals, focused on open source hiring– particularly, the skills that employers are looking for in potential workers.
According to the survey, 67 percent of managers expect the hiring of open source professionals to increase more than that of other IT workers, and 42 percent agreed that they need to hire more open source talent due to the increasing use of open source technologies. However, a whopping 89 percent said that they found it difficult to find the open source talent they needed to fill positions.
So exactly what types of talent are they looking for?
Cloud Computing
This is according to 70 percent of hiring managers surveyed, and it’s an increase from the 66 percent who said the exact same thing in 2016. And 69 percent of professionals expect cloud technologies to become even more important this year.
Application Development
Application development has been all the rage for quite some time now, and it’s showing no signs of stopping. The results of the survey further prove this, showing 59 percent of managers stating it as one of their most sought-after open source skills. 77 percent of IT professionals also agreed that the ability to architect solutions based on open source was one of their most valuable skills on the job.
Open Source Dev Tools
Knowing how to incorporate open source code into applications is vital for developers, but understanding open source development tools takes that skill up a notch. According to 66 percent of IT professionals surveyed, experience with open source development tools is one of the most valuable skills in their jobs.
DevOps
In the survey DevOps skills ranked as the third most sought-after skill, garnering 57 percent. 60 percent also said that they needed DevOps Engineers the most in their organizations. This is supported by the Robert Half Report, which puts DevOps Engineers as one of the most in-demand technology roles of 2018.
Big Data
Big data continues to be a big deal, with 57 percent of open source professionals stating that big data and analytics skills will continue to gain more importance this year. 57 percent of hiring managers surveyed agree, and pinpoint big data as one of the areas of expertise most affecting hiring decisions.
There are several other areas of expertise that the Linux Foundation report specifies as important and in-demand, including open source security, web technologies, and containers.
What other open source skills have you found most useful and valuable in your work? Let us know in the comments section below.