Linux/Open Source Recruitment Landscape

OLS is next week!!!!

2008-07-17T05:57:00.000-07:00

I will be headed up to the Ottawa Linux Symposium next week. My BOF is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, July 23 at 5:45PM. I look forward to hopefully seeing a good crowd there. In addition, if anyone would like to meet up during the conference, please feel free to send me an email at brent@hotlinuxjobs.com. Look forward to visiting our friends to the north next week!!

Overview of Novell's Linux Certification Slate

2008-06-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

Steven Vaughan-Nichols summed up the new slate of Novell's available certifications after speaking with Jim Henderson of Novell. The newly developed certifications and some of the details are listed here .

The key is in the final paragraph. As it states, the Novell Linux Certified Engineer (NLCE) and the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) are the ones that individuals should focus on if they are looking for assistance in their job search. While it is fine that they offer different levels below these two certifications, such as the Novell Certified Administrator (NCA) or the Red Hat Certified Technician (RHCT), do not expect companies to be explicitly looking for people with these certifications. The only value that can be gained from these is if you feel it is necessary to achieve this level of knowledge before you go for the more senior certifications. Otherwise, I would not bother spending the money for this level of certification.

How Google Values Open Source Work

2008-06-02T10:47:00.000-07:00

A couple of interesting pieces of information, as it results to recruiting, came out of Stephen Shankland's interview with Chris DiBona from Google. They are as follows:

SS: Is it easier to get hired at Google if you have experience maintaining your own open-source product or patch?
CB: If you have made a name for yourself in open source, clearly it helps. If you have a healthy project in open-source, I believe it helps. One thing I see on hiring committees is when somebody has an open-source history, it's really great. You can just look at that history. Interviews are great, but they're not very deep. They're only 45 minutes long. So how can you really get a feel for if a person is good at programming, at computer science?

SS: Or at social relations, for that matter.
CB: Open source really reveals that incredibly quickly. You can look at their code, at their activity on mailing lists, how they deal with bugs from real people, and real user problems. That's an incredible resource.

Just as has been discussed many times in the past, open source project work has the ability to assist you greatly in your next job search. Your next potential employer will be able to get a look at your programming skills, but just as Chris mentions, they also view your community interaction closely. I have seen a lack of professionalism hurt developers in the past. So, always remember, somebody is watching you!

Follow up on Zend layoff

2008-05-22T07:56:00.001-07:00

There has been a lot written this week about the Zend layoff. It started on Techcrunch with this posting by Erick Schonfeld, and has swirled into a debate as to who is going to acquire Zend. All very interesting to say the least. But, there has been speculation for years about them.

I was able to gather a little bit more on these layoffs. From what I am hearing, the layoff primarily consisted of contractors that were already done with a project that they were working on. I have not been able to confirm any notable PHP developers that work there on a full-time basis as being ones that were laid off.

It will be interesting to see if they get acquired, but I am not sure at this point if these layoffs are that big of news. I could easily be wrong, so we will see.

Great to See Harvard Teaching Open Source

2008-04-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

Having gone to business school, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Matt Asay's blog the other day about Harvard including a case study that involves open source in the Harvard Business Review. I always expected this to come, albeit perhaps a little earlier. But, as the saying goes, better late than never.

The biggest benefit to this though is that it is not limited to just Harvard. Anyone who has gone to business school has probably done their fair share of Harvard Business Review case studies. Therefore, graduate students across the land and abroad will probably get a chance to take a peak at this case study. As a result, the knowledge base on open source continues to climb.

In addition to weighing the pros and cons of utilizing open source software in a corporate environment, I believe the business schools will also start to analyze to great length the collaboration scheme that is open source if they have not started doing so already. That is of course the core of open source system and what makes it tick. They will try to dissect it to see if they can produce the same results in other areas of the corporation. That is what is really compelling, at least from my vantage point.

Selected for a BOF at OLS (Ottawa Linux Symposium)

2008-03-24T08:32:00.000-07:00

Wow!! Great excitement that my BOF proposal has been selected for OLS this year! OLS is a show that I have always had a strong interest in, since it is essentially the de facto standard for technical conferences that entertain Linux kernel engineers. I am very appreciative that they are finally giving us a chance to speak. I am looking forward to this show, and I hope to see some of you there. I will provide more information at this conference approaches.

Good Article on the Ramifications of Social Networking Sites for Job Seekers

2008-03-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

This is a good article in Businessweek that goes through some of the ramifications of your public profile on social networking web sites. I know not everyone will agree, but I tell people to lean on the side of conservatism when building your profile.

However, perhaps the most important part of the article is that they ACTUALLY mention displaying your open source contributions on your profile. Here here to Timothy Lee of the Cato Institute for throwing in a little open source mention in a Businessweek article. Makes a good article even more enjoyable.

Where have the PHP developers gone?

2008-03-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

It seems as though there is a lack of PHP talent in the marketplace that has intensified over the last 6 months or so. In some of the select markets where we are always searching for good senior level PHP talent, it has been very slim pickings as opposed to just a year or two ago. Now, we have other areas where we experience the same phenomenon, especially in the area of Linux kernel engineers over the years, but the PHP market was not always that way. So, the question is, why is that the case? Here are a few of the reasons that I have come up with, but I would love to hear your thoughts as well.

1. PHP developers have moved to Ruby on Rails. That is one that I use to hear quite a bit. There is no doubt that there is some truth to that statement, but recently I have started to question it. Lately, I have spoken with a few PHP developers that ultimately became enthralled with RoR and thus made the switch. However, after developing with RoR for a year or so, they find themselves back where they started in the PHP world. And, that is by their own choice. So, I know that it is indeed taking some PHP developers away, but I am not as convinced as I was earlier that it is taking as many as I thought it was.

2. All the good talent already has jobs. There is no question that this is very much true. The market in our space is still a good one, and if you are a good engineer, there is no doubt it is not that hard to find a good position. But, even with that being said, before I would always see a new crop of PHP engineers emerge and join the ranks of their senior brethren. For some reason, I am not seeing the same in today's market. Perhaps we can go back to number one with this one, and all of the "up and coming" engineers, if you will, are more interested in RoR than PHP. I have not been able to come up with a conclusion on this as of yet.

3. The talent lies outside of the U.S. border. Well, that is a given just like everything other area of open source. We have made great strides in this country, but we are still behind the likes of the European Union in developing open source talent. And, I think you can lump PHP into this equation. I have seen a lot of engineering schools embrace Linux and other open source software into their education programs, but this takes some time to evolve. So, we are probably on the right track (somewhat), but we have a way to go yet.

4. Consulting firms are eating up all the talent. This is the one that I have come to believe might be the most crucial out there. It appears that lately when I come across a good senior PHP developer, they are tied to some consulting firm. Essentially, these consulting firms are applying for as many H1-B visa applications as they can, and then bringing in some of that talent that lies overseas. Why this is well and good, it does not help out the organization that is looking for a PHP developer to be their employee. They are nearly forced into the situation of having to deal with a consulting firm due to the lack of talent in the marketplace. And, ultimately this might be a hinderance in keeping these talented individuals on our soil long term. That is if they choose to stay. The consulting firm might just keep their visa current for as long as they can engage in client projects, and then send them back to their homeland if things dry up for that particular firm. Instead, a company that is able to bring this person on as an employee might fill out the necessary paperwork to try to get this person the documentation to keep this individual in the country for the long haul and thus preserving technical talent that this country desperately needs.

So, that is just a few of the areas that I feel might be causing this imbalance in the marketplace. But, I would like to hear from anyone that might have input on this as well. Look forward to hearing from you.

Status of the Open Source Labor Market

2008-02-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

I have been contacted by a number of Linux engineers recently asking me about the status of the market. Everyone seems to have been sucked in by all the rhetoric about the looming recession or already being in one. I leave that debate up to the economists, but I figured it was worthwhile to let people know what we see from our minute vantage point.

The fact of the matter is that the market for established Linux/open source based engineers is still relatively strong. Overall, I would tend to say that the number of openings that I see is down slightly, but nothing drastic. That probably does not hold true for the entire labor market. I watched an interview yesterday on CNBC with the President and CEO of Craigslist, and they have seen their first negative growth in overall job postings since 2001. But, luckily in tech land, and especially in Linux land, things are not as dire.

As a result, people are constantly asking me, "Why is that the case?" The worst market that we have witnessed was right after 9/11 and the bubble burst (not surprising). However, at that time, there was a lot of excess to get rid of. Things were way out of proportion; not too much different than the housing market in the last couple of years. It takes time to bring everything back in line.

This "slowdown" is much different. Even though the labor market and overall economy has been relatively strong the last couple of years, there is not a lot of excess. I do not expect to see the amount of mass layoffs (exception being in the housing and financial sectors) that we witnessed from some of the technology companies back in '02 and '03. In addition, we are fortunate that a lot of the technology companies revenue streams are pretty diversified throughout the globe, thus the emerging markets are assisting us greatly at this time.

But, I regress to the open source market specifically. The trend continues in regards to corporate adoption of Linux and other open source based software. As a result, corporations are always going to be in need of so called "experts" to assist them in any migration of platforms or modifications to software that they are making. Therefore, opportunities for qualified individuals will always exist.

So, the Linux/open source labor market luckily does not sync up with perhaps the rest of the market at this time. Be thrilled that you selected to contribute to the BEST way to develop software, and one that continues to provide growth for you both personally and professionally! Long live a strong Linux/open source labor market! At least let's hope that continues to be the case ;)

And the Survey Says.....Aussies Anteing Up for Open Source Talent

2008-02-07T11:08:00.000-08:00

According to a recent survey conducted by the Australian Open Source Industry Census, individuals that participate in open source are earning more than their counterparts down under. A synopsis of the survey was revealed in a recent LinuxWorld article .

It is a trend that we continue to see throughout the globe. Let's just hope that it continues. We strongly believe that it will!

Allow Participation if You Want the Best Talent

2008-01-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

If your company wants the best talent on their team, please allow this talent to participate in open source projects! As long as their contributions do not violate the company's NDA, I am not sure why there is continued concerns about open source participation in some cases. Is this due to recent examples such as McAfee , or prior to that the likes of Tivo feeling corporate pressure as a result of their use of open source based software? Whatever the cause may be, it seems like the battle still has to be fought from time to time.

The reason why I bring this up is that we recently ran into this on a search we were conducting. In this case, a candidate for the opening had created a successful open source project over the previous 4-5 years. From all we were able to gain from the IP attorney, it appeared that this project did not violate the company's NDA. Even with that being the case, the company decided to stick to its' guns of not allowing employees to contribute to open source projects.

Thus, there still seems to be a fear factor when dealing with candidates that have contributed code to open source projects. On one hand, the companies love to see this involvement, because they can gauge the level of the candidate's development prowess. And, like I have said in the past, if your code is accepted in a particular project, it is a pretty good sign that we have a talented engineer on our hands. On the other hand, there appears to be great fear that somehow some of the company's code is going to find itself in open source projects. As a result, this code would have to be GPL'd, and the company could lose its valuable IP.

At the end of the day, there are always going to be risks with whomever you hire. But, I plead to the companies that prevent their engineers from participating. PLEASE find a way to have some trust in these individuals! I understand fully the investment that is at stake. But, if you want to take your organization to the next level, you are going to need the best talent. And, in these days of open source software, the best talent is contributing to projects.

Is there a problem with providing monetary incentives to open source projects?

2007-12-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

A lot has been discussed recently about Sun unveiling a program that will provide monetary incentives to successful contributions to some of their open source projects. The program was discussed in limited scope on Simon Phipps's blog .

I have read people's comments that straddle both sides of the fence. On one hand, you have Michael Cote', an analyst with Redmonk, in favor of this decision. He states in an article in ComputerWorld, "In the open-source community, you get sort of soft rewards, like respect and a reputation in the overall IT community, and the adoration of your fans. That's great, but it's also great to get cash."

On the other side, you have Matthew Aslett from the 451 Group questioning Sun's move in his blog . He goes on to state that, "Could the same not be said of offering cash prizes for innovative open source development? If the idea is truly innovative, would it not find its way to to the development tree without the promise of financial reward? Previous surveys have indicated that personal gratification and improved skills are greater motivations for open source developers than direct financial returns."

So, at the end of the day, this is all very interesting. I believe whichever side you are on, you can make a valid point. However, I do not see what is wrong with both. I personally agree with both sides. Essentially, in this case, "you can have your cake and eat it to".

There is no question that open source developers take great pride in the code that they develop. And, I believe many like the name recognition. After all, everyone needs a little ego boost from time to time. At the same time, I rarely run into an individual that will shy away from accepting additional compensation for their code. Sure, most of the leading open source developers are employed and making a fairly decent living. But, I have yet to hear one cry out, "Enough is enough. I do not want anymore money."

The way that I see it is this is a win-win for everyone involved. I do not think it is going to change the open source landscape. Whether or not there is monetary motivations, developers are always going to develop whatever interests them. So, that will remain the same. The benefit to those developers is that they will get a few extra greenbacks on the side from a company with large coffers. If I am a developer (which I am not), I say bring it on. Whoever is willing to giveth, I would be happy to be on the receiving end.

49 Noteworthy Open Source Projects

2007-11-19T07:02:00.001-08:00

I get asked a lot from aspiring open source developers on which projects they should take part in. Of course, that should always be determined by the individual themselves. Like I have mentioned in the past, you must have a passion for the project you are contributing to to benefit that community.

In any regard, listed here are 49 projects that Datamation feels should be in the spotlight. Are all of these noteworthy? I am not sure. I have not had a chance to research every project. However, this can at least be a guide for some aspiring open source developers out there.

If you ever have any questions regarding projects or what you can do to better position yourself in the open source marketplace, we are always happy to answer as many questions as we can on our IRC channel: irc.freenode.net #hotlinuxjobs. We look forward to hearing from you!

HotLinuxJobs is indeed #1 on Google for Linux kernel jobs

2007-11-19T06:56:00.001-08:00

It was brought to our attention that we were not number one on Google when you search for Linux kernel jobs. Some minor tweaking from our staff and viola. See for yourself here .

Interview on SearchEnterpriseLinux

2007-11-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

Here is an interview I did with SearchEnterpriseLinux. You can read the full interview here .

Thanks goes out to Mark Gallagher at SearchEnterpriseLinux for contacting us to get our thoughts on the Linux job market. We are always happy to supply information we have gathered over the years about the job market in the open source space.

New Linux Job Board on Kerneltrap...but, be careful!

2007-11-13T12:35:00.000-08:00

Perhaps some of you have seen, but there is a new Linux kernel job board on Kerneltrap . We have been big fans of Jeremy's throughout the years, and we enjoy the site. We have even advertised on it in the past, which would make sense since we have a number of Linux kernel searches that are ongoing.

My only concern is about this new job board partnership that he has with Specialty Job Markets. From some of the comments that I was reading and the responses they received, I am concerned that Specialty Job Markets will not always inform candidates where they are being sent. Christopher Lozinski, founder of Specialty Job Markets, even admits that he does not have agreements with all the companies he splatters candidates resumes to. Being in the recruiting business for 10 years, that is concerning to me. Hopefully, he is in full communication with these candidates. But, by the number of job boards he runs with what appears to be a small staff, I am not sure this is possible. He mentions in one posting that he is helping get rid of spam, but ironically he is also creating spam if he sends resumes to companies he does not have agreements with. Anyhow, just a word of caution, make sure you know where your resume is being sent. You are entitled to that, and it is only ethical.

Imperative for candidates to be open and honest

2007-11-05T11:31:00.001-08:00

Lately, it appears that some candidates are willing to go to great lengths to mislead both ourselves and the corporations which we work with. With the market being as hot as it is, it tends to come with the territory. However, that is not an excuse for the type of behavior some candidates are displaying.

Case in point, we were trying to conclude a search last week. It was a situation where we had an offer for an individual, and we were aware that he received another offer. Throughout this process, we met everyone of his goals that he listed...consumer electronics company, good working environment, etc. The other company did not "appear" to offer these criteria according to the candidate at the time. It got to a point where the offer from the other company was a little higher than the company that we were representing. Therefore, the company decided to bring up the base salary to a level that was very comparable to the other offer he had. Smartly, before this company decided to present the updated offer to him, they offered him a day to think about it to make sure that he would accept this new offer. They did not want to go through the paperwork if he was not going to do so. And, they asked that he contact them. Once again, they wanted to see firsthand his interest in the position. Sure enough, the next day, the candidate called up this company to say he would accept if the revised offer was signed off on.

Moving a couple of days ahead, I got confirmation from the candidate that he received the FedEx package with the revised offer. He wrote me to say that this was "good news". Then, all of a sudden he disappeared for a couple of days. He never responded to email or returned calls. Of course, one starts to wonder at this point, and for good reason. The offer was going to be null and void at the end of the work week. Low and behold, he finally called me back up during the middle of the day on Friday and declined the revised offer. He could never give me any reason as to why that was now the case or what transpired during the past week. He was just accepting the other offer and that was it. The only thing that I finally got him to say is that it was true that he mislead both myself and the company during this process.

The reason why I write about this particular event is to again mention the fact that you are continuously in the process of building your brand. I do not have a problem with someone declining an offer that is made to them. It happens all the time. What I do expect is open communication and honesty throughout the process. I pride myself on that, and I think it is only fair to expect it in return. In this case, the engineer took a hit to his brand. You never know when something like this might come back to haunt you in the future. So, please, for all those candidates out there, please do your best to communicate in an "open" fashion when dealing with recruiters or companies alike. It is not that hard. And, you will garner great respect for doing so. Your brand will keep on expanding, and hopefully as a result, your career will flourish as a result.

According to Study, Noncertified Engineers Make More Than Certified Engineers

2007-10-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

There was a recent posting on SearchEnterpriseLinux that refers to a study by Foote Partners that concludes non-certified engineers are compensated better than certified ones. Overall, this should not come as a shock to people out there.

Generally, from what we witness, certified people tend to have less overall experience than non-certified engineers. That does not mean that is the case every time, but it is most of the time. And, it makes perfect sense. As I have written about in the past, the person with less experience is going to garner the greatest reward by attaining a certification. Essentially, this solidifies their knowledge to date. Corporations tend to use this as a barometer of ones skillset that are lacking significant time in the field.

However, as the person achieves more professional experience, the need for a certification does not really exist. Their work history is the primary measuring stick that companies look at for senior level positions. That is not to say that certification is going to hurt them, but it does not provide them the boost it does one that is lacking significant work experience. Therefore, if you are a senior level engineer and you desire to get a certification, great. Is it needed? Only in very rare situations.

If anyone has any open source related certification questions, you are welcome to send me an email. Or, you can visit us on our IRC channel, irc.freenode.net #hotlinuxjobs . We look forward to hearing from you!

Novell Layoffs

2007-10-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

Matt Asay mentions in his blog The Open Road about Novell layoffs rumored to be in the works. Not only are they rumored, but they are taking place as I write this. I do not know the full extent of them or what divisions are affected, but I did speak with one of the victim's last week. It is probably best to leave it at that at the moment. But, I will tell you that I was a little surprised that they laid this individual off.

Pulling from the Community

2007-10-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

I just read another article about a company that has been able to make what appears to be most of its' key hires through pulling people from the open source community in which they built their organization on. In this article, JT Smith, President of Plain Black Corporation, talks about the process he has gone through to hire the necessary developers to keep up with the expansion that his company is realizing. It is a well written piece that describes the process that Plain Black undergoes when examining potential talent for the organization. In essence, they have been able to make the recruiting piece of their business very efficient by utilizing the talent that they interact with on a daily basis. Thus, hiring the members of that community that they feel are best suited for their corporate culture. Good approach by JT and the other members of his staff, since recruiting can sometimes be a long and arduous process (especially in this market).

There are a few items that might be missing from this article if anyone else is looking to mimic this recruiting process. I would be willing to bet that JT has allowed some of his staff to work remotely. Usually, from our experience, open source based startups have been good at realizing the benefits of a telecommute arrangement. However, that is not always the case. I know I have stressed this time and time again, but in order to build the best engineering team, I believe it is a must to be flexible in the work arrangements that you offer. And, no more so than in the open source world. Unfortunately, this message has fallen on deaf ears more times than not.

The other major point is potential competition for Plain Black. I do not know enough about the WebGUI project and the number of organizations utilizing it as a base of their business model. But, I would imagine that luckily for JT and his organization, they rule the roost. Therefore, they essentially get the pick of the litter, because they are the WebGUI company. Very similar to Zend when they were formed. They are after all, Zend, the PHP company, so they were able to attract some of the best and brightest minds from the PHP community. As PHP has continued to gather steam over the years, you continually see influential active members of the PHP community dispersed throughout a number of companies.

Once that happens, we revert back to factors that companies deal with whether or not they operate in the open source space. Items such as compensation and benefits become very important to prospective employees, and it is essential that your offerings are competitive in the market. Also important is culture, and this is hopefully where open source companies can set themselves apart. There should be a likeness in the values and ideals of the potential employee and the company based on the project. That can give your organization a very big leg up in the constant hunt for talent. But, as I always hear on a daily basis, candidates always want to know about the entire package. So, there are always certain items that are more relevant to one person and not so much to the other. It is the beauty of being in the people business.

As I said before, this was a good read. I am always interested in hearing about the success of open source based companies and their recruiting methodologies. So far, it seems that JT and his staff are approaching their need for talent in a very good manner.

Being Blacklisted in an Industry

2007-09-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

I was just reading an interesting post from Nick Corcodilos in his "Ask the Headhunter" series on Infoworld.com. He is asked from an individual if it is possible to be blacklisted from an industry for turning down an offer after you have accepted it. This is something that obviously crops up quite a bit in our industry. And, unfortunately, I have had to deal with it from time to time myself. It is always a tough situation for everyone involved. And, when you add the open source component to it, it even brings out more potential repercussions for the person's career. I focused on this aspect in my one article entitled, "Tip Toe Through the Open Source Tulips".

As he states, and rightfully so, it is not the end of the world if you do find yourself in this predicament. The key is how you handle the situation. I can not stress how important it is to be honest throughout the process, and you must handle it with the utmost professionalism. The worst thing that one can potentially do for their career is let it careen out of control. Therefore, you must tackle it head on. Apologize profusely as soon as possible for putting the company in this predicament. And, as Nick points out, if you happen to have a friend or former colleague that might be a possibility to fill the vacancy, that assists your situation tremendously.

I encountered this scenario earlier this year. A candidate had accepted a position, and then after doing so, was offered another position a few days later. He decided the subsequent offer was a better fit for him, primarily due to the commute. As is to be expected, the company did not look fondly on this particular individual shortly thereafter. However, after I explained the potential repercussions that would be felt by this candidate moving forward, he quickly offered up a former colleague that he thought might be a fit for the role. Sure enough, it worked out, and this former colleague now works at this company. So, I must give him credit for tackling it head on and making the best of the situation. Luckily in this case, there are no ill feelings on either side as a result of his actions. And, it has progressed quite nicely into a fruitful symbiotic relationship.

All in all, many of you might find yourselves in this situation at one point or another in your career. It is always wise to do your best to protect your reputation as much as possible. That can not be stressed enough especially in the open source world. As I have mentioned before, you are essentially in a continual state of polishing your brand, that being yourself. It is very important that others in the community continue to look fondly at the brand you have created to benefit your career to the greatest potential moving forward.

Linux Job Growth 30% YTD

2007-09-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

A recent article by Datamation shows that Dice.com has seen a 30% increase in job postings involving Linux year-to-date. They are now getting over 9,500 postings involving Linux and Open Source software a month. That is a pretty impressive number. And, all aspects of Open Source seem to be contributing to this growth nicely. Of course, you can see from the breakdown that some areas are hotter than others. But, overall it is a very impressive tally to say the least. You can get a good breakdown of the numbers involved here .

Personality a key to being a Linux kernel developer

2007-09-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

I know this has been discussed ad nauseam on how cruel the exchanges can be on the LKML. And, there is no doubt that one must display the right personality to thrive in the Linux kernel development environment. You can see what happens periodically when Con Kolivas recently decided to back away from his Linux kernel involvement.

Joe Barr of Linux.com has a great little exchange with Linus Torvalds on how he handles criticism from other kernel developers. You can find that exchange here . As you can see, it is imperative that you take any criticism with a grain of salt. Provide your argument and be done with it. If you are the type that holds a grudge, you might find it difficult to thrive in this environment. The cruel world of Linux kernel development, but what a wonderful world it is!

The Ongoing H1-B visa debate with an Open Source twist

2007-08-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I read a great article from LinuxWorld.com by Jim Romeo about how the H1-B visa issue is affecting the world of Open Source. This is something I have harped on for a long time. In my opinion, we continue to be in need of increasing the number of H1-B visas that are allowed on a yearly basis. From our vantage point, there is clearly not enough talent to supply the demand that revolves around Open Source software. And, the fact that around 80% of the Open Source talent resides abroad, we should welcome those that are interested in coming to the U.S. to further their career.

Not only that, as the article points out, there is a potential need to loosen the standards when looking at H1-B applicants. I believe that to be a very crucial point. It is not newsworthy to note that a lot of very talented, well respected Open Source engineers might not have attained a higher education degree. However, it is very difficult to get H1-B visa acceptance without it. So, are we hindering our chances at furthering our technological landscape by this nearly mandatory requirement? I believe that is indeed the case. As with everything, it needs to be analyzed on a case by case basis. But, there sure is a strong argument to make on loosening that particular standard in certain circumstances.

Lastly, I really like one specific point made by Elizabeth Charnock, CEO of Cataphora, in the article. Primarily because it affects us as much as it appears to be affecting her and other organizations. That point is that there is a huge number of the yearly allotment of H1-B visas going to consulting companies abroad. The likes of Infosys, Wipro, etc. are eating these things up. Thus, they are putting the companies in a predicament whereby they need to look to these consulting companies to get the work done. Needless to say, it is a smart move by these large outsourcing outfits. However, in the end, it dampens the overall Open Source landscape and the number of entities that can participate. At the end of the day, if companies are not interested in working with these outsourcing firms and can not find the necessary talent, they move their technology base to where they can get the necessary talent. And, that may result in a situation away from Open Source and to proprietary. None of us want to see that happen.

Dice LinuxWorld Job Fair Report

2007-08-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

I just got back recently from spending a week in the Bay area attending LinuxWorld. It is very interesting seeing the changes in that show over the last seven or so years. I am not sure how many more years it can last, but my primary objective was to go out there and witness Dice's job fair that they were putting on.

Being a Dice client over the years, they were interested in having us attend the job fair. Seems like a legitimate thing to do. However, we decided against doing so. Over the years, we have been fortunate enough to have a booth on the big show floor a couple of times, as well as give a presentation there in the past. Bottom line, our return for doing so was not very great. For some rhyme or reason, it is tough to attract knowledgeable Linux candidates to San Francisco for that show.

Well, truth be told, it was no different this year. Thus, a wise move on our behalf. We had a few clients that decided to have a booth at the job fair. I decided to keep my mouth shut for most of the day. I did not know at that time if I was going to be correct in my assumption or way off base. Toward the end of the day, I traveled around to the different booths to get the verdict. Nearly everyone of them was disappointed. I wish I could report different. It would have been wonderful if they were able to attract a number of good candidates. We would have been a shoe-in for next year.

Bottom line, it is tough to get good people to show up for a job fair in this environment. I do not see that changing. Job fairs are yesterday in the world of recruiting. I applaud Dice for giving it a go. In their defense, it had pretty good attendance. They just were not able to attract the right type of candidates. And, I think they were trying to climb a never ending mountain in their attempt to do so. It will be interesting to watch if they attempt to try it again next year.