Demand for Linux surges (need for well trained developer talent rises)

That would support any kind of surge in demand for well trained developer talent. Its not just for Linux either, job postings for software engineers in general are off significantly over the past 6 months and have never really recovered since 2001.

An increase of less than 2000 jobs in one international online forum which is a relative newcomer doesn't mean a lot. The number of comparable job postings on well established sites like Dice.com have plummeted this year. Overall Dice.com postings are down by almost 1/2.

My current employer, a fortune 100 firm, is feeling the pain of the current slump, and is having to cut costs, However I was told that my job is secure precisely because of my linux skills, which the company is very keen to leverage moving forward.

I also put my resume on dice.com, with the clear stipulation that I'm happy with my current employer and I'm only interested in additional off hours work, but I was still swamped with calls and emails from recruiters. I have to keep re-iterating that I'm happy with my current employer.

I've also been getting calls out of the blue from headhunters I'd talked to years ago, wanting to know if I'm still doing linux, and whether I'm looking to make a move.

I'd say there's a healthy demand for linux skills out there.

I'm not sure where you are at, but here in the Austin, TX area we have a huge glut of software engineering talent including ample numbers of people with Linux skills. My resume is also out on Dice.com (amongst other places) and its clear from it that I've got an extensive background in developing on Linux and other UNIXes, but the phone isn't ringing. Things have been slow since 2001 and much worse so far this year. FWIW, I turn away most of what headhunters do contact me because they are looking for Windows developers. Looking at my resume I'd never call myself for that kind of work, but it seems a lot of recruiters don't... they call just because they see C++ or Java or whatever and don't think the platform matters. Well, actually I suspect their software matches the buzzwords and they probably don't even bother to actually read the resume.

My current employer is in what is supposedly a growth market (healthcare IT), but is still cutting costs and laying people off as far as I can tell just because it is the fashionable thing to do these days. They're also planning to replace all the *nix based systems I've been working on the past 6+ years with Windows/.NET and it looks like most of the development will be done in Bangalore. So no job security for me.

Anyway, I'd like some of that healthy demand to start looking for me...

I'm in the greater Los Angeles area. But I've been looking at SA positions, rather than developer positions.

From what I've seen, The SF bay area seems to be even more linux friendly than LA.

Yes, it is. It's also friendly to the BSD's.

Around the Bay Area, operating systems are a common topic of discussion after church services are finished on Sundays. Our choir director was even known to pull out his Palm Pilot and get music scores from the Internet when he forgot to bring his hymnal.

I miss being a Geek Orthodox...

Quoting: I miss being a Geek Orthodox...

You had to say it. You just had to.

I'm in the Raleigh, NC area. Once upon a time, like maybe 10 years ago, this was rated as the number three tech market behind Silicon Valley and Austin. Here tech job listings of any sort, Linux or otherwise, have almost completely disappeared. Like herzeleid I have my resume on Dice since business hasn't exactly been booming for me. I just want to see what my options are. Despite having a round of layoffs late last year it appears AT&T has one, and only one, opening for a security engineer. I have most of the requisite skills so I have gotten calls and e-mails from 30+ recruiters in the last 72 hours, some from as far away as India, asking me if I'm interested in that one job. (For the record I am decidedly not interested.) The recruiters seem pretty desperate to place someone, anyone about now. I wonder how many of them will be going out of business.

From what I've seen the best opportunities out there for Linux people and UNIX people in general are for software developers. Positions for systems administration and security work (the two things I do a lot of) are nearly nil right now.

herzeleid -- sysadmin work is less easy to off-shore or replace with cheap imported H1B labor than software engineering, that might explain it. In general though, regardless of function or platform, nobody is hiring right now. With Dell closing plants here, IBM cutting contractors, Spansion filing for Chapter 11 and other companies like Freescale doing mass layoffs it is pretty scary right now for everyone in the tech business.

I guess I'm cynical about anything that looks like good news lately because it doesn't seem to fit into the current day to day reality.

Relocation is also not an option -- I owe a lot more on my house than I could sell it for, if I could sell it at all. So I basically have to ride out the storm and hope I don't get laid off myself.

Quoting:You had to say it. You just had to.

The choir director introduced me to it.

Quoting: I guess I'm cynical about anything that looks like good news lately because it doesn't seem to fit into the current day to day reality.

It's always a mixed bag. Even during the Great Depression some people did very well, and a lot of folks did OK. So if you're doing OK it's not that weird, it just means the lamb's blood on the lintel is working :)

I prefer my lentils vegetarian, without the lamb's blood :)

@caitlyn: beetroot juice, the vegetarian substitute.

So beary punny.