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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsThe Open Source Jobs Report 2022 is the Linux Foundation’s 10th Annual Open Source Jobs Report, produced with Linux Foundation Research and edX. It was released on June 22, 2022, using an online survey fielded in March 2022. Download the original PDF or visit the official report page.
The survey found strong employer demand for people who could architect, deploy, operate and secure open technologies, alongside a severe reported skills gap. It remains useful as a historical labor-market snapshot—not as a 2026 jobs database, salary guide or current hiring forecast.
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Report at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official title | The 10th Annual Open Source Jobs Report |
| Publishers | Linux Foundation, Linux Foundation Research and edX |
| Released | June 22, 2022 |
| Survey developed | February 2022 |
| Survey fielded | March 2022 |
| Professional respondents | 1,672 |
| Hiring-related respondents | 559 |
| Format | Free PDF |
The report uses “open-source professionals” broadly: people who use or contribute to open-source technologies in commercial, nonprofit, public-sector or other workplaces. “Open-source jobs” therefore does not mean only employment by a foundation or a public project.
What employers reported about hiring
Among the report’s hiring-related respondents, open-source recruitment was a high priority in 2022. The PDF reports that 86% considered hiring open-source talent a priority, 46% planned to increase hiring over the following six months, and 78% expected to hire the same number or more than in the previous year. A separate report summary says 93% had difficulty finding professionals with the skills they needed.
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| Finding | Reported share | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Hiring open-source talent was a 2022 priority | 86% | Among surveyed hiring respondents |
| Planned to increase hiring in the next six months | 46% | A forward-looking response recorded in 2022 |
| Expected to hire the same number or more than the prior year | 78% | Not a count of all employers |
| Reported difficulty finding needed skills | 93% | Based on the survey sample, not every employer worldwide |
Organic company growth was the most frequently cited demand driver, reported by 59% of hiring managers. These figures describe perceptions and plans during the March 2022 labor market; they do not establish current conditions in 2026.
Which skills were most in demand?
Cloud and container technologies
Cloud and container technologies ranked first among the listed skill categories, cited by 69% of hiring managers. Seventy-one percent of professionals agreed that these skills were in high demand, and 77% said their organizations had increased cloud and container use during the preceding year. The report does not turn that 2022 finding into a current ranking of individual products or certifications.
Linux
Linux was cited by 61% of hiring managers. The result reflects demand for operating-system administration and engineering capabilities that support cloud platforms, development environments and production infrastructure.
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The report identifies DevOps, GitOps and DevSecOps as leading hiring considerations. In practical terms, employers were looking beyond code-writing to automation, delivery pipelines, operations and security integrated into development work.
Cybersecurity
Forty percent of employers said cybersecurity had a significant impact on hiring decisions. Separately, 77% of professionals said they would benefit from additional cybersecurity training. Relevant work can include secure configuration, vulnerability management, dependency and software-supply-chain awareness, cloud security and build integrity.
Architecture, deployment and collaboration
A Linux Foundation summary reports that 67% of hiring managers sought architectural skills and the same percentage sought the ability to deploy open-source software. Forty-two percent sought open-source development-tool skills, such as using GitHub. The appendix also lists web technologies, artificial intelligence and machine learning, networking, storage, blockchain, edge computing, open-source hardware, FinOps and automotive technologies as skill categories.
The combined message is broader than “learn one tool.” Employers were looking for people who could design systems, deploy and troubleshoot them, secure them, and collaborate with technical communities and teams.
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Certifications, training and the skills gap
The survey found that 90% of employers would pay for employees to obtain certifications, 81% of professionals planned to add certifications that year, and 69% of hiring managers said they were more likely to hire a certified open-source professional.
These are reported preferences, not proof that certification independently causes hiring success. The value of a credential varies by role, technology, employer, geography and experience. A practical project, production experience, communication and contribution history may matter as much as—or more than—a certificate.
Organizations that struggled to find qualified people generally chose to build or buy capability rather than stop transformation work:
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| Response to the skills shortage | Share among affected hiring respondents | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Train existing employees | 43% | Builds internal capability but takes time |
| Hire consultants | 41% | Can meet urgent deadlines but may cost more and transfer less lasting knowledge |
| Delay projects | 16% | Few organizations chose to postpone delivery |
For a worker, the most defensible interpretation is to combine demonstrable skills with targeted education. For an employer, reimbursement, structured upskilling and a clear technical career path can be more durable than relying only on expensive external help.
Retention, compensation and job mobility
Compensation had become a stronger retention tool in the survey. Financial incentives, including salary and bonuses, were the most common retention mechanism. Approximately two-thirds of professionals said a higher salary would discourage them from leaving. The report also says 58% of hiring managers gave open-source talent higher salary increases than other business areas, while its infographic reports 76% giving higher increases to retain open-source talent. Because these statistics come from differently worded questions and samples, they should not be treated as interchangeable.
Remote and flexible work mattered, but the findings do not support the idea that pay was unimportant. Community, project quality and technical challenge were leading attractions, while compensation still influenced whether people stayed.
Seventy-three percent of professionals believed it would be easy to find a new position. Sixty-three percent said their employment had not changed during the preceding year, and about one-third reported leaving or changing jobs. The report discusses the period commonly called the “Great Resignation,” but it does not prove that open-source turnover reached a particular benchmark or establish causation.
What motivated open-source professionals?
| Reported best attribute | Share |
|---|---|
| Collaboration with a global community | 21% |
| Interesting projects | 21% |
| Cutting-edge technology challenges | 16% |
| More job opportunities | 13% |
| Working with highly skilled developers | 9% |
| More remote-work opportunities | 6% |
| Job stability | 5% |
| Money and perks | 4% |
The ranking complicates a salary-only reading of the market. Respondents most often selected community, project quality and technical challenge when asked about the best attributes of being an open-source professional.
Diversity, equity and inclusion
The report’s infographic says 67% of organizations employing open-source professionals encouraged diversity in hiring. It also says 62% of professionals and hiring managers rated their employer’s diversity efforts as good or excellent.
These are self-reported practices and perceptions, not audited measurements of workforce representation, pay equity or hiring outcomes. They should be read separately from technical-skill findings such as architecture demand.
Methodology and limitations
- Respondents self-identified either as open-source professionals—people who use or contribute to open-source technologies—or as people who hire or source them.
- The evidence comes from an online survey, not payroll records, job-posting counts, administrative employment data or a longitudinal panel.
- Some questions exclude “don’t know” or missing responses, so valid denominators differ. Percentages may not total exactly 100% because of rounding.
- Statements about certification describe hiring-manager perceptions and preferences; they do not demonstrate that certification causes better outcomes.
- The data was collected in March 2022. Pandemic-era remote-work shifts and the labor market of that period make it historical evidence, not a 2026 forecast.
- The report is not a salary-by-role or salary-by-country benchmark and contains no live job listings.
How to use the report now
For job seekers
Use the report to understand what the 2022 market rewarded: cloud and containers, Linux, DevOps or DevSecOps, cybersecurity, architecture and deployment. Build a portfolio that shows operating systems and infrastructure working in practice, document decisions and security controls, and choose a certification only when it matches your target role and fills a credible skills signal.
For experienced engineers and maintainers
Public commit volume is not the same as professional impact. Hiring managers can assess production deployments, incident response, architecture, documentation, communication, security practice and the ability to work across communities. A person may have extensive commercial experience with open technologies without being a public maintainer.
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The findings support a mix of competitive compensation, training reimbursement, flexible work, meaningful technical progression and opportunities to participate in open-source communities. Consultants can solve an immediate delivery problem; training is slower but can improve institutional knowledge and retention.
Best Value
For readers seeking current vacancies
This report cannot tell you how many jobs are open today or what a current salary should be. Treat it as historical context and consult current labor-market or job-board data for a 2026 search.
Training and certification options
The report makes professional development commercially relevant, but it does not establish that any one provider is best. Match the purchase to your target role, existing foundation, hands-on needs and employer reimbursement policy.
- Linux Foundation Training & Certification offers paths in Linux, Kubernetes, cloud, DevOps and cybersecurity. Its 2022 report coverage links those offerings to the skills findings. A 35% promotional discount was displayed on August 18, 2026; eligibility, expiry and included products must be checked before purchase.
- edX, the report’s research partner, offers broader courses and professional programs. No current price is established here, and a broad catalog can make it harder to choose a focused path.
- Linux Professional Institute provides vendor-neutral Linux credentials. It may be less direct for a role centered on Kubernetes, cloud architecture or a specific vendor ecosystem.
- Cloud Native Computing Foundation certification is a natural follow-on for cloud-native and Kubernetes roles, but it is a poor first purchase without Linux, networking, containers and basic systems-administration knowledge.
Does the 2022 report still matter?
Yes, when used for the right question. Job seekers can use it to understand a past demand pattern and plan skills deliberately. Employers can use its training, compensation and consulting findings to discuss how to close capability gaps. Researchers can cite it as a 2022 survey, alongside newer evidence. Anyone looking for current openings, current pay or a 2026 skills ranking needs more recent sources.
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The durable lesson is that organizations depended on open technologies while struggling to find people able to make them work reliably. The reported responses—higher pay, training, certification support and outside expertise—show how employers attempted to close that gap.
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