There’s a new hub for open source jobs, and it’s not just about developers and admins

Open Source JobHub is a new job board dedicated to open source job seekers and companies looking to hire the best developers, admins, marketers, management and more.

Open source job opportunities have exploded all over the world. With cloud-native and container development the darling of enterprise businesses, it makes perfect sense that open source skills are the hottest ticket on the market. But it’s not just about developers and admins. In fact, there’s a need for marketers, sales and management for open source companies.

This burgeoning need for open source talent led Brian Osbourne, founder of Linux New Media, to bring a new job site into being. That site is Open Source JobHub, and it’s a one-stop shop for companies searching for open source talent and people looking to find employment in one of the fastest-growing sectors in the job market.

SEE: Linux turns 30: Celebrating the open source operating system (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

TechRepublic interviews Brian Osbourne, founder of Linux New Media

Why is Open Source JobHub necessary?

Open Source JobHub is necessary because although there is a huge demand to hire in the open source industry, and there are a lot of people interested in entering or moving up in this market, the two sides still find it difficult to connect.

Part of the problem is the high noise level for both employers and candidates, who may have to sort through thousands of items to find what they are looking for.

By creating a platform that focuses only on open source, we hope to greatly reduce the noise for both sides and therefore make the search faster and easier.

Is the biggest issue with hiring open source developers and admins a lack of talent or simply just the inability of businesses to locate the talent?

We believe that it is both. While there are surely more available jobs than qualified candidates, our research shows that most potential hires in this space only passively search for a new job. Those candidates would apply for the right opportunity, but often don’t work with recruiters and are not willing to spend hours sifting through jobs. In addition, a large portion of this target group is not active on social media, so in general, they can be hard to reach.

How has the response been so far from businesses?

It has been great! Within the first two weeks, we have 20+ companies with 80+ jobs representing a wide range of opportunities for both technical and non-tech positions.

Several recruiters have mentioned that they’ve seen a need for a platform like this.

What is your ultimate goal with Open Source JobHub?

Our ultimate goal is to advance the success of open source. We aim to provide the global open source community with a specific platform through which to make career connections, thus making it easier and faster for more people to find their place in the open source ecosystem.

It is also important to note that Open Source JobHub isn’t just for tech roles, but also for all of the non-technical positions in open source environments as well.

Was the site developed with a full open source stack? If so, what technologies went into building it?

We use a SaaS solution for job boards, adapted to our needs.

The main reason to use this solution was a shorter time to market and the understanding that the open source job market is very dynamic, and we have a lot to learn. At some point in our development, we may move to a custom-built, fully open source solution to provide the exact functionality the market needs.

What new features do you predict will come along in the coming months or years?

That is difficult to answer at this stage because we want to base those decisions on feedback from both job seekers and employers, and it is too early to have enough information to plan specific features.

Two items that seem likely at this point are providing the ability for employers to search a database of candidates and providing more specific information on the open source policies of the employer to help candidates find organizations that align with their priorities.

What advice would you give businesses looking to hire open source staff?

Be transparent: The more a candidate can learn about your business and the open role, the more likely you are to hire someone not only with the needed skills but also with the right mindset, values and priorities, thereby increasing the success and retention rate of the new team member.

This can be as simple as including a salary range or travel expectations for the role but also more fundamental information such as company policies on diversity, social responsibility or open source contributions.

What advice would you give open source developers and admins as they navigate their job hunt?

Take the time to first think about what is truly important to you — not just job titles, tech stack and salary — but what is important for your satisfaction with the overall work environment?

What aspects of organizational structure, industry, company values and products are important to you and why? Those considerations can help guide you to an organization that you’ll be happy with in the long term.

For businesses looking to post jobs, now’s the time, as Open Source JobHub is running a special for five free job postings which run for 30 days. It’s a $1,795 value, so jump on it immediately.

For those looking to find a job, you’ll already notice jobs posted from the likes of CloudLinux, Collabora, SUSE and TUXEDO Computers.

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