A few years ago, the demand for open source DevOps talent was relatively low. But this year, there has been a massive shift in the hiring pattern. Companies need developers with these skills who can not only maintain the performance of legacy workloads but also deliver agile and responsive operations for digital transformation.
According to The Linux Foundation’s 2020 Open Source Jobs Report, which examines demand for open source talent and trends amongst open source professionals, DevOps is currently in high demand and there are no signs of slowing down.
DevOps is the top role hiring managers are looking to fill (65% are looking to hire DevOps talent), moving demand for developers to second (59%) for the first time in this report’s history. 74% of employers are now offering to pay for employee certifications, up from 55% in 2018, 47% in 2017, and only 34% in 2016.
Additionally, companies have increased their recruitment of open source technology talent while offering educational opportunities for existing staff to fill skills gaps.
Companies and organizations continue to increase their recruitment of open source technology talent while offering increased educational opportunities for existing staff to fill skills gaps. 93% of hiring managers report difficulty finding open source talent, and 63% say their organizations have begun to support open source projects with code or other resources for the explicit reason of recruiting individuals with those software skills, a significant jump from the 48% who stated this in 2018.
Other key findings from the 2020 Open Source Jobs Report include:
- 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.
