Packt Publishing, publisher of software learning resources, has revealed the results of its 2018 Skill Up survey in a new report.

From what programming languages, frameworks, and libraries are most used, to job satisfaction, attitudes to management and what it’s like to work in the software industry today, the report offers a snapshot of what matters to software developers in 2018.

Here are some of the key findings from Packt’s report on Security:

• Out of the 8,000 respondents, over 1,500 respondents said they were working in Security and Systems Administration

• Respondents were most likely to say they worked as a:


• Systems administrator
• DevOps specialist
• Security specialist
• IT Help Desk
• Back-end developer

• Security and systems professionals were the most likely section to earn salaries of over $90,000

• Over 50% of security and systems specialists had been working in tech for over ten years

• Wireshark and Nmap are topping the list of security tools are the network analysis essentials. Kali Linux remains the most essential pentesting tool in a security or systems professional’s arsenal, but used by just under 50% of respondents

• Python and Bash sit within two percentage points of each other as the most used scripting language in security and systems admin

• Linux was the most used operating system, while WindowsOS clocking in a full 20% behind the Open Source titan. But having rapidly asserted its dominance as an essential industry tool is Docker. Over 45% of respondents said they used Docker regularly

• 92% of respondents said that Kali Linux still one of the most relevant tools for penetration testers

• Around 76% of the security and systems specialists say that the potential of the Internet of Things is being held back by issues of security

To get complete insights, download the Skill Up report.


In order to stay relevant with the latest tech, Packt is offering all the latest and upcoming books & videos on Linux for $10, till 27th June 2018.