#opensourceskills

Open Source and proprietary software: what’s on the up and up?

In the  60s, when the journey of mainstream computing began, there was only free -Libre- software. That is, there was no ‘open source’ nor ‘proprietary’ software - there was only ‘software’. For example, when IBM sold their first computers they came with Libre which could be easily shared between users as the source code was freely available and easily manipulated. Proprietary software began to emerge in the 70s whereby users could no longer share the software and the  availability of the source code became ever more restricted. Increasingly over time, proprietary software became mainstream and it eventually dominated the software landscape. However,  during the 80s the GNU Project, Free Software Foundation and Unix were founded and the beginnings of a new  open source movement slowly began to assert itself.  For a time open source development remained  a very much specialist topic amongst passionate individuals while proprietary giants such as Microsoft and Apple grew at an expotential rate, eventually developing into the multi-billion dollar companies everyone recognises so well today.

Slowly, the pendulum of code development is swinging back to its foundations, and the Open Source software developer community  is once more experiencing a resurgence of interest and innovation. Such is the buzz around the developer world, Employers are increasingly becoming aware that there is an opportunity for them to develop an aspect of their business to their specific needs without the historical astronomical costs being incurred. Not only that, but those business who have already taken the plunge into the open source mindset have discovered that they have been able to create and use software to their own specifications much faster - and at considerably less cost - than it would have  traditionally cost using proprietary software. Even better, they have discovered that ongoing costs are also markedly lower.  Most business decisions have aspects of ‘up’ and ‘down’ benefits attached, but the implementation of open source business systems has only ‘up’ and ‘up’ boons associated with them.

As they realise the benefits of a bespoke business solution for their IT requirements, many employers are coming to the realisation of the necessity of employing people with Open Source software and developer skills. Employers also know that in an effort to stay ahead of their competitors,  it makes good business sense to employ and train software developers in the aspects of software development specific to their particular business needs.  They are therefore pro-actively seeking to employ likely individuals who show promise in open source skills and training them so that they become software developer experts  who are highly valued members of their organisations.

Prospective Employees need only remember a simple meme:

Develop an Open Source skillset: find yourself in high demand.

Where has this shift in thinking come from? It seems the fashion is no longer to throw money at products simply because doing so was once a necessary evil.  Today the zeitgeist has changed. Nowadays, for every proprietary software product, there is an equivalent open source version available, often for free and with many extra benefits. As the source code for open software is freely available, and a dedicated open source community is very willing to continually upgrade invaluable code to their favourite product, that product  is constantly being adjusted and improved. Just as its proprietary competitors are much more profit-driven - concerned more with the bottom line as the end product of the software – open source software is returning to its roots in that their raison d'etre is not solely about financial gain; it is also about continually updating and innovating a product until it is the best it can be – until the next innovation comes along!

Open source providers such as The Linux Foundation, The Raspberry Pie Foundation, Ubuntu and Red Hat are now becoming  increasingly popular amongst even non-software developers. In turn, this encourages proprietary giants to get on board with the open movement. Indeed, Microsoft has recently teamed up with Red Hat. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and eBay are just  some of the major web companies that are now operating on open source code.

Open source really is becoming once again the default programming methodology in the computing world.

How does that affect the workplace?

We are the ’Technological Ape’, always employing and improving on our technological prowess.  The first analogue computing machine -the Antikythera machine -  was built between 100BC and 50BC.  It consisted of 37 gears and was designed to determine the movements of the sun and moon.   Our technological world has always changed and evolved, Today the rate of change is increasing rapidly: in the home, at play and most importantly, in the work place.

Time-saving and productivity boosting products are being released hourly, marketed to drive not only their usage, but the continual evolution of marketable skill sets to meet that demand. IT skills have been a central part of our CVs for many years now and, in order to stand out, it has always been wise to specialise in a particular area of expertise. Nowadays, we have to ask ‘What could be a better choice than becoming an Open Source Professional?’ Not yet convinced? How can we  persuade  you? Here’s how. The Linux Foundation's Annual Open Source Jobs Report for 2017 certainly indicates that employment prospects for open source professionals are growing at an astonishing rate We have some statistics that will stagger, stun and flabbergast you!

89% of hiring managers find it difficult to find qualified open source talent for open source roles in their business.

67% of managers believe that in the next 6 months the hiring of open source professionals will increase across all areas of their business.

A staggering 47%  of companies are prepared to pay for employees to become open source qualified.

30% of businesses report the base of their IT needs are becoming open source.

What Open Source professionals report:

86% feel that knowing open source has furthered their career.

52%feel it would be easy to find a new career with their skill set.

Only 27% have NOT been sought after by recruitment agencies in the past 6 months.

Working in Open Source has great potential for vastly improved levels of pay over other tech professionals: $100,000 to $92,000 per annum!

At SalesAgility, this is music to our ears. We have been open source innovators and promoters for almost a decade now and nothing is more pleasurable to us than learning that you are all falling in love with open source as much as we already have. The open source industry's growth can only mean good things for all of us.