The Linux Foundation today announced a free Linux training Webinar series and an expanded set of courses and course locations for its existing training program. There is no coincidence that this shortly follows the Foundation’s recent jobs board announcement.
Linux is experiencing significant growth in every category of computing. The new products and systems based on Linux you see announced every day will be deployed for a very long time. A shortage of qualified people to support this ecosystem could potentially slow Linux growth.
In order to keep Linux growing at its current record pace, the Linux Foundation and its members have made a strategic decision to address this increase in demand for Linux professionals with programs such as the jobs board, the new training offerings and, as always, its fellowship program.
The jobs board, announced just two weeks ago, connects job seekers and employers by providing an important online forum on Linux.com. Anyone can find the best and brightest Linux talent or the ideal job opportunity.
The Linux Training program goes deeper. It brings in the Linux community’s most highly regarded technical leadership to deliver education about Linux that can’t be accessed anywhere else. How do you get involved with the Linux development process? How do you use Git? Where can you get more information on Linux performance tuning? The free Linux Training Webinar Series answers all these questions and many more.
The fellowship program employs the best and brightest Linux talent in order to allow them to focus on important development work while gaining valuable experience for their next move. Ted Ts’o is the latest example of a Linux Foundation fellow who spent two years contributing to the Linux Standard Base and has recently landed a new position at Google.
Red Hat, Novell, Canonical and LPI each offer important training programs, but these are still are not enough to keep up with the growing market demand for Linux talent. The Linux Foundation’s is unique in its ability to provide classes direct from the source, the developers working on Linux today. It’s also a vendor-neutral forum and offers coursework that isn’t tailored towards any one distribution or vendor; rather, the classes are focused on increasing Linux skills that can be applied across any employer or vendor.
The demand for Linux related talent is not a short-term trend and, based on recent data, is counter to current unemployment rates. Investing in this area addresses both a short-term need for talent and a long- term need for innovative and creative people at the top of their game.