The Linux Foundation’s 2024 State of Tech Talent Report is a global survey of organizations’ approaches to hiring, training, and retaining technical workers. Its clearest finding is that employers are leaning on existing staff to fill skills gaps: across technology domains, an average of 48% prioritized upskilling or cross-skilling over hiring new employees or bringing in consultants. Published April 16, 2024, the report describes employer practices and expectations entering 2024—not the state of the labor market in 2026.
There is another report with the same title: MnTech’s report concerns Minnesota’s technology workforce. This article covers the Linux Foundation study.
What is the 2024 State of Tech Talent Report?
Linux Foundation Research produced the report in partnership with Linux Foundation Training & Certification. Written by Adrienn Lawson, with a foreword by Clyde Seepersad, it examines technical-talent management amid new technology demands and economic pressures, including the 2023 IT-layoff environment. Its topics include hiring, onboarding, retention, training, certifications, technical skills assessment, headcount planning, and generative AI (GenAI).
The report was published April 16, 2024, and has DOI 10.70828/LEJN2246. Read the official report page or the full report PDF.
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How was the study conducted?
The Linux Foundation and its partners surveyed people involved in hiring or training IT professionals from late December 2023 to early February 2024. They collected 1,455 candidate records; 418 passed screening and were included in the analysis. The questionnaire had 42 questions. Respondents represented IT vendors and service providers, commercial organizations, nonprofits, academic institutions, and government.
A Linux Foundation analysis reports that 17% of respondents came from organizations with fewer than 250 employees, 57% from organizations with 250–4,999 employees, and 26% from organizations with more than 5,000. Reported headquarters regions included the United States and Canada (30%), Japan (19%), Western Europe (18%), India (8%), other Asian countries (8%), Eastern Europe (4%), and Latin America (4%). These figures describe the survey sample, not the distribution of technology employers worldwide. See the Linux Foundation analysis of talent in the IT sector.
This is an employer-side survey, not a census of workers, job openings, salaries, or employment outcomes. Its global results may not describe a particular country, company size, or technical specialty. Many findings are reported practices or expectations, rather than independently measured results. The report is best read as a snapshot of the surveyed organizations’ views at the turn of 2024.
What are the report’s key findings?
| Measure | Finding | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Internal skills development | 48% average preference for upskilling or cross-skilling existing staff across technology domains | A preference over hiring or consultants, not the share of all training budgets |
| Value placed on upskilling | 98% considered it important | Reported organizational view |
| Technical headcount in 2023 | 29% reduced; 34% stayed unchanged; 37% increased | Share of surveyed organizations reporting each direction |
| Top staffing-priority domains | Cloud 55%; DevOps 51%; cybersecurity 49%; AI/ML 43% | Respondents’ priorities, not a ranking of pay or job openings |
| Recruitment and onboarding | About 5.4 months to recruit and 4.8 months to onboard, on average | Separate averages; about 10 months combined |
| GenAI and 2024 headcount expectations | 27% expected reductions; about one-quarter expected increases | Forecasts reported in 2024, not measured outcomes |
The report’s official announcement and the Linux Foundation’s report overview summarize these findings.
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Why are employers investing in upskilling and cross-skilling?
Upskilling improves an employee’s ability in their current or an adjacent area. Cross-skilling broadens what someone can do across roles, technologies, or teams. Both can help employers redeploy people, build junior employees’ capabilities, and create paths to advancement. The survey found that 47% identified cross-skilling as a key strategy and 43% identified upskilling as one.
Among the cited benefits of upskilling, 40% of organizations named each of these: diversifying employee skills for redeployment, advancing careers, and developing junior staff. Another 35% cited increasing technical expertise cost-effectively. The report also says 90% relied on upskilling or cross-skilling existing staff to address needs, while 49% hired experienced IT professionals and 19% hired consultants. These approaches can overlap: internal development was prominent, but the figures do not show that external hiring has ended.
Training only works when people can apply it. The report identified nurturing a continuous-learning environment (39%) and translating knowledge into practical applications (36%) as leading challenges. A course or certificate by itself does not demonstrate that an employee can perform a production task.
Which technical skills were priorities?
Across 19 technology domains, the top reported staffing priorities were cloud (55%), DevOps (51%), cybersecurity (49%), and AI/ML (43%). These percentages measure organizational priority in the survey; they do not establish which skills pay best or where a particular worker will find a job. Open hardware, for comparison, was cited at about 40% in a Linux Foundation analysis.
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For cloud roles, respondents’ preferred response to skills needs was 54% upskilling or cross-skilling existing staff, 24% hiring technical staff, and 22% hiring consultants. A domain’s priority and an organization’s chosen way to staff it are distinct questions: a strong need does not automatically mean an employer plans to recruit externally.
What did the survey find about layoffs and headcount?
Among surveyed organizations, 29% reported that technical headcount fell in 2023, 34% said it was unchanged, and 37% said it grew. The Linux Foundation analysis also reports increases at 42% of IT vendors and 29% of end-user organizations. These results show varied experiences within the sample; they do not negate layoffs or establish that tech employment as a whole was stable. A set of prominent company reductions can occur alongside growth or no change at other organizations.
What did organizations expect GenAI to do to technical jobs?
The report treats GenAI as a planning factor, not a settled employment outcome. Eighteen percent of organizations said GenAI had reduced technical headcount in 2023. Looking ahead to 2024, 27% expected reductions, 29% expected no headcount impact, and 12% were unsure. The report infographic says 23% expected an increase; Linux Foundation commentary gives 24%. The safest summary is that about one-quarter expected an increase. Those figures are expectations recorded in 2024, not proof of what happened in 2024 or what is happening in 2026.
Organizations most often cited data analysis and reporting (45%) and IT infrastructure monitoring (42%) as GenAI application areas. Other planned or reported areas were software development (35%), network management and security (29%), project management (29%), system maintenance (28%), quality assurance (23%), and help-desk services (21%). The results suggest interest in automating or augmenting selected tasks, but they do not show that GenAI alone caused headcount changes.
Why did technical hiring take so long?
Respondents described recruiting as costly, time-consuming, and often unsuccessful (43%). They also cited difficulty finding candidates with the right skills (38%), verifying technical-skill claims (37%), and avoiding a wrong hire (35%). Average recruitment time was about 5.4 months and average onboarding time about 4.8 months. Taken together, those averages amount to roughly 10 months from recruitment through onboarding, not necessarily a single uninterrupted hiring process. Sixty-four percent said filling open roles took more than four months; 58% said new hires took more than four months to reach normal productivity. Nearly 40% reported turnover among new technical hires.
For employers, those findings make the comparison more complicated than “train or hire.” Developing internal talent can preserve institutional knowledge, but it needs time, managers who support learning, and a route into meaningful work. External hiring can bring scarce experience quickly once a candidate is found, but the survey describes a lengthy process and onboarding period. Consultants may help with a defined gap, but the report does not establish that any one route is best for every role.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How did employers value certifications, portfolios, and degrees?
Nearly 90% of respondents valued relevant hands-on experience from previous employment; 87% valued portfolios demonstrating IT project accomplishments; 84% valued certifications; and 80% valued a formal university degree. In the report’s measure of how employers assess technical skills, certifications ranked above college or university degrees, 23% to 16%.
That comparison is about one skills-assessment measure, not a universal hiring rule. Credential importance, screening requirements, skill verification, and final hiring decisions are different things. A certification can provide a standardized signal, while a portfolio and work history can show applied experience; neither alone guarantees job readiness.
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How can employers apply the findings?
- Map roles to specific capabilities. Identify which skills are needed for actual projects before choosing training or recruiting.
- Decide where internal development is realistic. Compare current employees’ foundations and available learning time with the capability gap. Reserve external hiring for urgent or genuinely scarce expertise.
- Make learning practical. Pair coursework with supervised projects, manager support, and opportunities to use the new skills on the job.
- Use several forms of evidence. Consider experience, work samples, certifications, and degrees in the context of the role rather than treating a single credential as a proxy for competence.
- Measure proficiency and mobility. Track time to perform the target work, successful redeployment, and retention—not just course completion.
- Evaluate GenAI task by task. Track productivity, quality, oversight needs, and role changes separately from headcount plans.
These are practical implications of the survey’s findings, not outcomes the study tested. A training initiative can fail if employees lack time, mentors, useful projects, or a path to apply what they learn.
How much should readers rely on the report?
Use it as evidence of what a screened group of hiring and training decision-makers reported and expected in late 2023 and early 2024. Its findings are useful for understanding why internal development became an important part of technical workforce planning, but they cannot answer whether a specific credential will secure a job, what a skill pays, or how many technology jobs exist now. The survey’s global aggregation, organizational mix, and employer perspective all matter when applying a percentage to a local decision.
For readers seeking training resources, the report is associated with Linux Foundation Training & Certification. Its report download page is a publisher-related resource, not an independent comparison of training providers or an endorsement established by the survey.
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