What kind of open-source skills do companies actually want technologists to possess? That’s a key question for technologists who are trying to deepen their open-source knowledge; after all, they don’t have time to learn everything out there.
Fortunately, the Linux Foundation’s 2021 Open Source Jobs Report breaks down the most-requested open-source skills. (To gather data for the report, the Linux Foundation surveyed 200 technical hiring managers and 750 open-source professionals.) In a surprising twist, cloud/container technologies outpaced Linux skills for the first time in the report’s history. Take a look at the full chart:
However, the primacy of the cloud makes a lot of sense. “Cloud adoption spiked due to the pandemic, with Microsoft reporting they saw ‘2 years of digital transformation in 2 months’ from customers, so this shifting was to be expected,” the report stated. “The 61 percent of professionals surveyed also reported that their organizations’ use of the cloud has increased over the past year.”
Establishing and managing any kind of cloud buildout can require a variety of associated skills, including cybersecurity, DevOps, network administration, Linux, and more. Technologists generally seemed to agree with open-source hiring managers about key skills: Some 48 percent of developers surveyed by the Linux Foundation said that cloud and container technologies were important, followed by 44 percent who cited DevOps/GitOps/DevSecOps, and 31 percent who chose Linux development and administration.
“While we are firmly in the phase of technology adoption where most organizations are operating at least partly in the cloud, there are still laggards both in moving to the cloud in the first place and transitioning all parts of the business to the cloud,” the report added. “The skills gap will continue to grow unless more professionals are trained with the skills needed to manage a cloud deployment.”
Experts generally agree that mastering cloud-related skills will only make you more viable to employers. As companies embrace digital transformation, they’ll need masters in cloud, DevOps, cybersecurity, open source, and more to build out the tech stacks of the future.
