Video Linux World Domination Creates Shortage of Linux-Skilled Workers 72
These videos (both visible today) were made remotely, with Timothy Lord at one end in Austin, TX, and Jim Zemlin at the other end in Tokyo, Japan. Their sound quality suffers from the distance involved, but they are generally intelligible -- and, of course, you can always choose to read the transcript instead of watching the videos.
Jim Zemlin: I’m the Executive Director for Linux Foundation, which is the home to Linux, which is the world’s largest open source project. We are also the home to a variety of open source projects from Server-side Java, things like the Node.js Foundation to Cloud Foundry, which is platform-as-a-service. We have an interestin IoT and all sorts of different sectors of technology, and facilitate very large scale collaborative development vis-a-vis open source. And I run that organization which also makes me Linus Torvalds's boss, not that he listens to anything I have to say.
Timothy Lord: Can you briefly explain where you’re talking from right now? Because that’s relevant to the growth and widespread use of Linux?
Jim: Yeah, I’m here in Tokyo, Japan. We have an event here this week to have people work on various projects related to Linux, not only their core Linux technology itself, but we’re hosting an automotive Linux conference here this week. Many of the automotive manufacturers here in Japan, in fact, all over the globe are building their next generation informatics systems and navigation and telematics systems with open source technology, and are all sort of collaborating on the next generation auto cockpit for lack of a better term.
Timothy: Now, that’s a great segue to really the meat of why we are calling and talking with each other today, which is all the people that are going to be needed to make things like that, not only in the automotive world, but in all sorts of technological niches. Can you talk about what jobs are being created right now that are needed, what sort of numbers are we talking about?
Jim: Yeah, the numbers are huge, so what’s happening in technology is that the whole tech sector is increasingly becoming software dominated. You have virtual machines, you have virtual networks, you have in an average automobile, since I’m here in Japan at an automotive Linux event it’s a good example, the number of lines of code in a car built even 10 years ago versus today, is just massively different, we’re talking almost no software versus millions and millions of lines of code. There's simply too much code to be written that any one person in an organization can write it on their own, and there's simply not enough people to write that code, and it’s not just about writing code, there simply aren’t enough people to run the systems that provide all the great services that we are all going to benefit from now and in the future, whether it’s access to services through cloud computing technology, simple things like Twitter or Facebook, Amazon or complicated navigation systems that integrate into your home automation, allow your vehicle to basically sense that it’s in the garage in your home to interact with your alarm system and your thermostat and all those other things, these systems need to be administered, they need to be developed and there just simply aren’t enough people to do that work relative to the demand for those specific technology projects.
Timothy: So the Linux Foundation is actively working right now on the initiative involving edX that is intended to address that very problem, can you talk about that.
Jim: Yeah, Linux has just grown unexpectedly, perhaps in some people’s mind expectedly at a pace that’s really unprecedented. Linux runs every major stock exchange, it runs all the major cloud computing environments, it runs most enterprise computing, it’s the majority of mobile devices, it’s the majority of embedded systems, it’s almost 95% of high performance computing systems that do weather forecasting and whatnot, the world is unbelievable. And several years ago at the Linux Foundation we recognized that that growth of adoption of Linux is outpacing the supply of people to develop and administer these systems. And so what we thought is, why don’t we take an approach like Linux where we can come up with ways for people to learn skills that they need to get jobs administering and developing these systems anywhere in the world through low cost means, and edX was the perfect partner to do that, we were able to develop a massive open online course with edX, one of the few non-academic institutions that partnered with Harvard and MIT in the edX ecosystem to work on these courses, and we introduced LFS101, which was an intro to Linux movement, that is now I believe one of the top if not the top massive open online course on edX, with over 400,000 students taking this course. Just incredible.
Timothy: That puts you near the top of the rankings on edX then?
Jim: I think it does, that’s right, that’s right.
Timothy: So when you say low cost, what is low cost defined as these days?
Jim: Well, our intro to Linux course is free, so anybody can go to edX, take that course, it's completely free of charge, and like I mentioned 400,000 students have taken it and registered for that course, which is really impressive, which shows that there is a lot of people out there who want to get the skills that they need to go get a job as a professional in Linux, but that intro to Linux course isn’t enough for people to really go out and get a job as let’s say an entry level administrator of managing Linux systems. And so with that in mind what we did was invest additional resources into building really the next level that is required in terms of training and in terms of testing to prepare students for real jobs as Linux administrators out in the market. And that’s what we’re really doing next week is launching our LFS201 course which will prepare students really for a career, it’s really taking that intro Linux course to the next level and making it professional grade. And it’s a course that we created that not only is challenging, but has lots of hands on labs and skills based exercises that are going to give people the real knowledge that they need to actually go out and get a job.
Timothy: Do you know if any schools or other institutions are integrating this course into their own curriculum?
Jim: We’re working with a variety of institutions to begin doing that. There is two parts to the program. One, there is the massive open online course which we’re offering through edX. The second is a certification exam which students take to prove that they pass that course and that they have the actual skills that an employer needs. It’s those two things that will bundle together, that will really enable folks to go out and get careers as Linux professionals. The idea here is I get all the training that I need and self-pace the course, and then I go take an exam through a really interesting system where you can take an exam which is basically building real hands-on tests in an actual computer system that is proctored just like we’re talking today through a webcam, and allows you to really take an anytime anywhere skills based test, and if you pass that test you get a certification that shows that you got all these things that are required and you’ve taken this particular course. We go out and talk to employers, 90% of which are looking for Linux talent right away, almost all of whom say it’s challenging for them to find Linux talent, we’ve talked to them, they’ve said this is really what I want to see in terms of the skills that we want through these entry positions and the skills that can form the basis of a long career in IT and a long career in IT these days because Linux really dominates many aspects of computing.
Timothy: You being in Japan right now, and so much of the talent that you mentioned being distributed around the world, is there opportunity for those who are in a country where English isn’t the dominant language to also get this training through the edX Linux Foundation partnership?
Jim: Absolutely. So we’ve started rolling up the program in English right now. There are a couple of things that we’re looking at. One, we will be localizing this language into the local languages in various geographies that have high demand for Linux skills. Two, one of the things that we would encourage students who are second language speakers – English as a second language that is, is to try to work on the course in English because in many ways English is the lingua franca of computing
Well, that sounds good... (Score:3)
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Which would explain the bird flu epidemic in the Midwest. I thought H1B contractors in Silicon Valley were bad.
http://fusion.net/story/144406/your-eggs-are-so-expensive-because-bird-flu-just-wiped-out-45-million-chickens-and-turkeys/ [fusion.net]
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Ah. Right. I was going to claim it was a typo, (B is right next to N after all) but now I think I'll just leave it as is.
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I think the standard answer is that salary deflation since the dot com bust continues, with foreign contractors helping to keep it depressed.
1.April? (Score:2)
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Linux World Domination??? (Score:1)
HA! systemd will leave you on the ash heap of history!
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It has been confirmed. I4ko is a moron. No Netcraft confirmation required.
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Impossible! (Score:3)
According to Slashdot, there's no worker shortage at all, & the H1-B program should be cancelled! Who should I believe, the Linux Foundation Executive Director, or various nerds who live in their mother's basement?
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And you think these people grow on trees in India?
I doubt anyone here is battling the H1-B program for skilled workers who are unavailable here. Like, say, what the H1-B actually should be for. What people complain about is people being fired to be replaced with cheaper foreign workers. Because that's a blatant disregard of what H1-B is about.
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Because that's a blatant disregard of what H1-B is about.
And also, unfortunately, what it has largely become used for.
I consider companies which do that to be traitors to the USA. Because treason is betraying the people and principles of your country... it has nothing to do with what government thinks or does.
Two is better than one (Score:2)
Slashdot, now with double the videos!
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What's more, though the quality suffers the videos are even generally intelligible!
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What's more, though the quality suffers the videos are even generally intelligible!
But I never reached the rank of General. Heck I was an enlisted man.
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*sigh*
Slashdot introduced one video, people complained. Now Slashdot said fine, ok, we got it, they give you two videos. And people complain. There is no satisfying you, is there?
But ok, fine, next post will have three videos. But I'm sure you'll find something to complain about this as well.
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"But ok, fine, next post will have three videos. But I'm sure you'll find something to complain about this as well."
Just give us a way to filter this crap out, like we do with the videobits and we're OK.
Well then (Score:2)
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"Just one piece". You mean the brains of any operating systems, the kernel?
World Dominance (Score:2)
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Proper car analogy. If you train every one in school to only work on Fords, don't be surprised when there is an absence of GM mechanics and Ford claims GM mechanics are too expensive because they need 'additional' training and they charge more and thus the total cost of ownership of GM is higher. After all, isn't that the whole idea.
What? (Score:2)
This is digital audio transmitted via the Internet. How is distance affecting the quality of the sound?
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dropped audio packets...
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Indeed. It's like a milder form of what you get from dropped audio in digital over-the-air TV. Thanks for identifying the problem.
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A recent observation, Skype calls over 10 time zones and via a VPN to home were (a lot) better than without the VPN.
And yet that VPN connection must have been going over similar cables and interchanges.
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Most big residential ISPs try to do their own routing and peering and do a crappy job at it.
Horrible sound... (Score:2)
How can you post a video with such a horrible sound. Wouldn't it be possible to agree with the interviewee to use a decent microphone?
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Ummm... They were using Linux machines so it's probably a driver issue.
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Nice troll
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I use a Linux VM for editing audio and prepping it for distribution or use by students. It doesn't take much, bu I'm rarely required to provide much more than 128K MP3s, which are to me much like fingernails on chalkboards. My own libraries are 320k, and I'm resampling my CDs to Ogg Vorbis and WAV/WMV to let me do better. My Google libraries are, of course, 128K. I also think ATRAC is unfairly maligned, but don't fight that fight much.
I'm not a professional, but I know a few who use Linux as an environme
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Will this skilled worker shortage ever end?
When I went back to school to learn computer programming after the dot com bust in 2001, the expectation for the coming decades was an acute shortage of skilled I.T. workers in the United States. Mostly because the baby boomers are retiring and the South Asian countries would keep their workers at home to drive their own economy.
The Great Recession messed that up. The baby boomers can't retire, so I'm fighting off all these old geezers for tech jobs over the last six years. The South Asian economies are sta
No, well maybe (Score:2)
In one sense I disagree of the need for solid Linux skills. The rise of short term systems (in general, DevOps) means that you don't need to be concerned with the inner workings of the system and you just use something like chef to configure the system on an as-needed basis. You won't care how long the system is stable because it'll only be around for a few hours. After that it's destroyed only to be recreated later on. You can build entire systems without even enabling SSH and having interactive access
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Sadly, as someone who has been using Linux about as long as I have been visiting /., I am switching our servers to windows for this very reason. I cannot find consultants that can support our systems for a reasonable cost, and I don't have the time to do it myself. It is really going to kill me when I have to dump asterisk for the same reason and go with some hosted cloud BS that costs 3x per line.
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No, I am switching to windows so I can actually find a person that will charge me $125-135/hour. I will admit though, the preferred consultant's hourly rate is $85/hour. He does "know Linux," but he thinks we are best served with windows..
And in other news... (Score:1)
Sorry, but for IOT I have to disagree with this. (Score:2)
First off, I'd like to say that I use Linux at home instead of windows, and am actively developing open source IOT devices using the ESP8266 platform and the MQTT protocol on Github.
If there is going to be more demand for linux adminstrators, than what's available in the medium to far term, then someone will solve that problem with more code
which automates the administaration of the linux systems. Additionally, if IOT devices require system administrators to configure, they'll never take off! Home users re
Hilarious (Score:2)
There is no shortage of Linux devs. If there were, two things would be true:
1) salaries for Linux developers would be going up
2) people with two decades of Linux development experience would have no trouble getting a job
Neither of these is true. Ergo, there is no shortage of good developers with Linux experience.
Pretty much every Linux job I've seen posted in the past few months requires (that is, not "nice to have" but "requires") a dozen other skills that make up a combined skill set that only one in a mi
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If they were really that concerned with getting things done, they'd pare down these "laundry" lists to the skills that are both essential and cannot be acquired in a short period of time. And would take time to recognize equivalences (for example, someone who's done MySQL for 5 years might not have such a learning curve for Oracle and vice versa).
Too many businesses are so obsessed with getting someone who can "hit the ground running" that the only "qualified" candidates are either lying about it or statist
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Funny, they have no problem with remote workers when the remote workers are located in Mumbai.
Minimal skills indeed (Score:2)
I retain just enough to advise my customers using our APIs on how to log the data, fix some permissions, and point out the error is their hosed-up SSL install, and to go to StackOverflow and try not to be too annoying lest they be ridiculed and get no real help at all. No, I do not install packages for my customers, I do not wish to be their OS support.
Some beg me to fix their code. Ha. But I do point out when they are misspelled some directive or other, despite having good working sample code available