During the pandemic, developers, hobbyists, students and professionals have turned to open source communities for a little bit of normalcy. As such, open source communities are thriving even in this challenging environment. The Zephyr community is a prime example of this.
The dedication and talent of Zephyr’s contributors have played an integral role in advancing the RTOS with a high level of quality. In September, Zephyr 2.4.0 released with 237 authors that helped with more than 3120 commits and closed 965 issues.
As open source developers continue to thrive, demand for these skills also continues to increase. Companies have increased their recruitment of open source technology talent while offering additional educational opportunities for existing staff to fill skills gaps.
For the eighth year, the Linux Foundation released its 2020 Open Source Jobs Report, which examines demand for open source talent and trends amongst open source professionals. The report features data from more than 175 hiring managers at corporations, small and medium businesses, government organizations, and staffing agencies across the globe—as well as responses from more than 900 open source professionals worldwide.
Key findings from the 2020 Open Source Jobs Report include:
- Qualified open source talent is still in short supply: 93% of hiring managers report difficulty finding sufficient talent with open source skills, up from 87% two years ago.
- DevOps’ rise: DevOps pros have risen to the most sought after job role, with 65% of companies looking to hire more DevOps talent, up from 59% in 2018.
- Hiring is down, but not out, due to COVID-19: Despite the pandemic and economic slowdown, 37% of hiring managers say they will be hiring more skilled IT professionals in the next six months.
- Online training gains popularity during the COVID-19 era: A full 80% of employers now report that they provide online training courses for employees to learn open-source software, up from 66% two years ago.
- Certifications grow in importance: 52% of hiring managers are more likely to hire someone with a certification, up from 47% two years ago.
- Cloud technology is hot: In terms of knowledge domains, hiring managers report knowledge of open cloud technologies has the most significant impact, with 70% being more likely to hire a pro with these skills, up from 66% in 2018.
The full 2020 Open Source Jobs Report is available to download for free here.
