Nov 19, 2025 at 7:02 PM EST

Linux Career Opportunities in 2025: Skills in High Demand

dxs

90 points

85 comments

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informative

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positive

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Based on 54 loaded comments

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01Story posted
Nov 19, 2025 at 7:02 PM EST
4d ago
Step 01
02First comment
Nov 19, 2025 at 7:18 PM EST
16m after posting
Step 02
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04Latest activity
Nov 20, 2025 at 3:04 PM EST
3d ago
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Discussion (85 comments)

Showing 54 comments of 85

andy99

4d ago

1 reply

So sick of these “Accept all cookies” / “reject optional cookies” dark patterns, sites that do this should be banned

loloquwowndueo

4d ago

1 reply

Yes but :

1- use the consent-o-matic extension, or 2- open in incognito mode, accept whatever, then when closing the session all the cookies they gave you go away.

fnord77

4d ago

1 reply

consent-o-matic failed on this site

loloquwowndueo

4d ago

That’s why I gave you the other option :)

cushychicken

4d ago

4 replies

And embedded Linux!

I’ve had a hell of a time finding good embedded Linux devs.

I got insanely lucky to hire two this year.

eikenberry

4d ago

1 reply

I have been doing backend/infrastructure coding for years and have been thinking about trying embedded work but am unsure how to break into that area. Curious if you (your industry) would be interested in someone with a lot of Linux/systems experience but not in the embedded space?

azzentys

4d ago

I'd start from this - https://www.coursera.org/specializations/advanced-embedded-l...

I studied under him at the university. He's also active in open source communities around embedded space.

pabs3

4d ago

2 replies

Is embedded Linux that different to regular Linux?

Edit: I mean, Vizio TVs literally run systemd.

azzentys

4d ago

1 reply

A lot of work here is working on vendor provided BSP (which can range from esoteric mix of ancient kernels/bootloaders to top-quality community maintained mainline kernels) to work on your custom board/product.

pabs3

3d ago

1 reply

So Linux kernel config/building/patching?

afr0ck

3d ago

Linux kernel + bootloaders + firmware

The Linux kernel side is mostly device trees, device drivers and the like.

u-boot is very famous as a bootloader in the embedded space

Firmware for board bring up and devices

cushychicken

3d ago

It’s the “embedded” part that people struggle with.

I can find systemd script gremlins all the live long day.

I can’t find anyone who can write device drivers for custom peripherals, then hook them to user space utilities in a sane way.

ab71e5

4d ago

What are you looking for? Yocto experience? Experience writing drivers? C/Rust/C++? Hardware / FPGA experience as well?

the_biot

3d ago

I've had a hell of a time getting into embedded linux professionally. I don't have that specific job experience on my resume, but lots of related open source work, writings, kernel work etc -- I can do this, I just can't prove it very well.

What would you recommend I do? Looking for any more devs?

debo_

4d ago

1 reply

> Linux engineers

djaouen

4d ago

I know Linux and majored in Engineering in college. Do I count? Lol

therealfiona

4d ago

6 replies

What I'd give to have someone who's Linux experience isn't using a Mac and using brew to install stuff.

I'm the only one with formal Linux experience on my team and I'm the only one who doesn't have to look up how to get to the logs...

K8s admin != Linux grey beard. SurprisedPikachu.gif

WD-42

4d ago

1 reply

To be fair journalctl practically requires its own book

John23832

3d ago

There's the argument that Systemd is an operating system unto itself.

elcritch

4d ago

1 reply

Oh that's an easy problem to solve, just use: https://docs.brew.sh/Homebrew-on-Linux :p

HumanOstrich

4d ago

Despite its standard Homebrew warts, I've been using Homebrew on Linux for years now for my dev boxes and it's been great.

It's good for getting the latest versions of packages, both for things that aren't in the distro and even to override distro packages. So far almost everything Just Works alongside the distro packages (at least for Ubuntu LTS).

theideaofcoffee

4d ago

1 reply

25 years of Linux experience here, 19 professionally. Email's in my profile, happy to help answer questions.

mixmastamyk

3d ago

I have 30… first installed Slackware from a dozen or two floppies. :-p

mixmastamyk

4d ago

Am available shortly: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45801184

CursedSilicon

4d ago

Is it pure Ops. Or also coding? I've managed Linux servers for nigh 20~ years at SMB's and personally. Kubernetes is misery

thaumaturgy

4d ago

raises hand

Been daily driving desktop Debian for dang-near a decade now (heh). I've also maintained a gradually-evolving app hosting service for clients for even longer, covering all kinds of stuff. Current architecture includes LXC and nginx. And, I've got BSD experience too.

Job market sucks for me too.

itomato

4d ago

3 replies

ProTip: Raise your rates. The "typical salary ranges" are laughable, even in 2008 Dollars.

tylergetsay

4d ago

1 reply

I'm curious if these are somehow informed by real job postings. if so, I agree it's pretty obvious why these are in high demand (of employers).

derrida

4d ago

there is a high demand for finding intelligent life on mars.

mixmastamyk

3d ago

3 * 0 = 0

I just tripled my rates!

9rx

4d ago

Rising rates is what high demand means.

The article no doubt misspelt "wishful thinkers", of course.

mixmastamyk

4d ago

6 replies

None of these are in high-demand right now in my experience. Despite being an expert in most of these listed, I haven't even had an interview in a couple of months.

Wish it were as easy as getting some certifications, but I don't think anyone has ever asked for one specifically in my entire career.

esseph

4d ago

2 replies

There could be a lot of reasons for that. The market in general is awful for hiring right now. Just broken.

mixmastamyk

4d ago

1 reply

Yes, that's what I'm saying. The rise of ATS seems to be a big part of the problem. Don't think I'm even being seen. There's also been an explosion of stacks, and if you didn't work with the ZYZYXX stack for the last five years, no chance, because someone else has.

koakuma-chan

4d ago

1 reply

Just lie. They don't know what they're doing.

mixmastamyk

4d ago

Would consider it if I could even get an interview. Often I do have most or similar experience, but even that is not enough.

RickJWagner

3d ago

I wish it were broken, then it could be fixed.

I think it is changed. AI is today’s version of the computer, putting many out of long-held jobs while opening up new career paths for different skills.

uberduper

4d ago

1 reply

It's difficult to quantify the value of "I know the shit out of linux" to a prospective employer when they're looking for cog developer #471.

In my experience it's the network of people you've worked with that know how beneficial you are and want to work with you again (this is key) that will keep you in demand regardless of the market conditions.

mixmastamyk

3d ago

Victim-blaming is not necessary in this hiring environment. In the last decade only small companies have been available to me which means there’s under five folks I can turn to directly for jobs, and all are not hiring now.

tayo42

4d ago

2 replies

Your resume isn't that good then, or your leaving out information about your situation.

I give 1-2 interviews a week right now for SRE jobs that pay mid 200s

Job markets bad but you should be getting some calls atleast

chrisweekly

4d ago

1 reply

Frankly that is a pretty thoughtless response. Even if your anecdote were broadly applicable, it still doesn't logically follow that an employer giving lots of interviews somehow translates on the applicant side into "a better resume would get you interviews". In fact, the hiring process has become incredibly dysfunctional. The best conceivable resume is still unlikely even to be read by a human hiring manager when it's just one of literally thousands of others for the same role.

tayo42

4d ago

1 reply

I'll disagree, it's important to know the extent of what the bad market is. No replies in months means something else is up.

The job market is bad but people are still getting jobs and interviews. Months of silence is not normal

Ive also been on the applicant side and got interviews and call backs, also a handful of recruiters reaching out to me

mixmastamyk

4d ago

I invite you to try to get a mainstream developer interview right now. Cold, without network.

For example, I put an ad here, and replied to five others. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45801184 No replies or enquiries.

justinclift

3d ago

1 reply

Maybe putting your email address in your public HN user details would help? :)

tayo42

3d ago

Help with what?

tonyhart7

4d ago

its not this the other way around??? with the amount of investment of data center in the western, it would need a tons of people to do that

temp0826

4d ago

~25 years of linux experience, 8-9ish professionally here, my beard is a bit gray. 2 interviews in the last 11 months of looking for me. I am not being picky. (I'm at a little more of a disadvantage- I've been exploring another, non-tech career path since covid, which now shows as a five year gap on my cv).

(Any leads out there hn?)

thenthenthen

3d ago

Same experience, first question is “Do you have a PhD?”, actually scrap that, they assume I have…..

uberduper

4d ago

2 replies

I've made quite a career out of knowing how linux works and not reinventing the wheels it provides. I read man pages. I sometimes run `systemctl list-unit-files` and say, "hmm what is that??" then go find out what it is. I've been at this for decades and curiosity keeps pushing me to learn new things and keep up with recent developments.

gtirloni

4d ago

That's the way.

d3Xt3r

3d ago

But how did you get your first Linux job? That's where I'm stuck at. Where I live, there's literally zero entry level Linux roles, and the literally couple of Linux roles that are available require you to have centuries worth of enterprise experience with Kuberneres, Openshift, Ansible, Chef, Puppet, Terraform etc...

kgwxd

4d ago

1 reply

The guy in the photo is clearly qualified. Dual monitors is hard enough on Linux, that man got triple!

derrida

4d ago

He installed an open source NVIDIA driver for a graphics card from 2014. He earns 7 figures.

menaerus

4d ago

In demand? In the age where people are being completely replaced by their AI fellow colleagues, it logically doesn't follow that the Linux admin skills won't be or aren't already. The heck, I hate to say this but most of my colleagues right now are less competent than the AI models. What AI model can spit out in the matter of working with it in minutes, given the correct prompt, they can't solve in 3 months.

31 more comments available on Hacker News

View full discussion on Hacker News

ID: 45987027Type: storyLast synced: 11/22/2025, 8:49:45 AM

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Jump to the original sources

Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.

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Nov 19, 2025 at 7:02 PM EST

Linux Career Opportunities in 2025: Skills in High Demand

dxs

90 points

85 comments

Competitive

View on HN

Mood

informative

Sentiment

positive

Discussion Activity

Very active discussion

First comment

16m

Peak period

Day 1

Avg / period

Comment distribution54 data points

Loading chart...

Based on 54 loaded comments

Key moments

01Story posted
Nov 19, 2025 at 7:02 PM EST
4d ago
Step 01
02First comment
Nov 19, 2025 at 7:18 PM EST
16m after posting
Step 02
03Peak activity
54 comments in Day 1
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03
04Latest activity
Nov 20, 2025 at 3:04 PM EST
3d ago
Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (85 comments)

Showing 54 comments of 85

andy99

4d ago

1 reply

So sick of these “Accept all cookies” / “reject optional cookies” dark patterns, sites that do this should be banned

loloquwowndueo

4d ago

1 reply

Yes but :

1- use the consent-o-matic extension, or 2- open in incognito mode, accept whatever, then when closing the session all the cookies they gave you go away.

fnord77

4d ago

1 reply

consent-o-matic failed on this site

loloquwowndueo

4d ago

That’s why I gave you the other option :)

cushychicken

4d ago

4 replies

And embedded Linux!

I’ve had a hell of a time finding good embedded Linux devs.

I got insanely lucky to hire two this year.

eikenberry

4d ago

1 reply

azzentys

4d ago

I'd start from this - https://www.coursera.org/specializations/advanced-embedded-l...

I studied under him at the university. He's also active in open source communities around embedded space.

pabs3

4d ago

2 replies

Is embedded Linux that different to regular Linux?

Edit: I mean, Vizio TVs literally run systemd.

azzentys

4d ago

1 reply

pabs3

3d ago

1 reply

So Linux kernel config/building/patching?

afr0ck

3d ago

Linux kernel + bootloaders + firmware

The Linux kernel side is mostly device trees, device drivers and the like.

u-boot is very famous as a bootloader in the embedded space

Firmware for board bring up and devices

cushychicken

3d ago

It’s the “embedded” part that people struggle with.

I can find systemd script gremlins all the live long day.

I can’t find anyone who can write device drivers for custom peripherals, then hook them to user space utilities in a sane way.

ab71e5

4d ago

What are you looking for? Yocto experience? Experience writing drivers? C/Rust/C++? Hardware / FPGA experience as well?

the_biot

3d ago

What would you recommend I do? Looking for any more devs?

debo_

4d ago

1 reply

> Linux engineers

djaouen

4d ago

I know Linux and majored in Engineering in college. Do I count? Lol

therealfiona

4d ago

6 replies

What I'd give to have someone who's Linux experience isn't using a Mac and using brew to install stuff.

I'm the only one with formal Linux experience on my team and I'm the only one who doesn't have to look up how to get to the logs...

K8s admin != Linux grey beard. SurprisedPikachu.gif

WD-42

4d ago

1 reply

To be fair journalctl practically requires its own book

John23832

3d ago

There's the argument that Systemd is an operating system unto itself.

elcritch

4d ago

1 reply

Oh that's an easy problem to solve, just use: https://docs.brew.sh/Homebrew-on-Linux :p

HumanOstrich

4d ago

Despite its standard Homebrew warts, I've been using Homebrew on Linux for years now for my dev boxes and it's been great.

theideaofcoffee

4d ago

1 reply

25 years of Linux experience here, 19 professionally. Email's in my profile, happy to help answer questions.

mixmastamyk

3d ago

I have 30… first installed Slackware from a dozen or two floppies. :-p

mixmastamyk

4d ago

Am available shortly: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45801184

CursedSilicon

4d ago

Is it pure Ops. Or also coding? I've managed Linux servers for nigh 20~ years at SMB's and personally. Kubernetes is misery

thaumaturgy

4d ago

raises hand

Job market sucks for me too.

itomato

4d ago

3 replies

ProTip: Raise your rates. The "typical salary ranges" are laughable, even in 2008 Dollars.

tylergetsay

4d ago

1 reply

I'm curious if these are somehow informed by real job postings. if so, I agree it's pretty obvious why these are in high demand (of employers).

derrida

4d ago

there is a high demand for finding intelligent life on mars.

mixmastamyk

3d ago

3 * 0 = 0

I just tripled my rates!

9rx

4d ago

Rising rates is what high demand means.

The article no doubt misspelt "wishful thinkers", of course.

mixmastamyk

4d ago

6 replies

None of these are in high-demand right now in my experience. Despite being an expert in most of these listed, I haven't even had an interview in a couple of months.

Wish it were as easy as getting some certifications, but I don't think anyone has ever asked for one specifically in my entire career.

esseph

4d ago

2 replies

There could be a lot of reasons for that. The market in general is awful for hiring right now. Just broken.

mixmastamyk

4d ago

1 reply

koakuma-chan

4d ago

1 reply

Just lie. They don't know what they're doing.

mixmastamyk

4d ago

Would consider it if I could even get an interview. Often I do have most or similar experience, but even that is not enough.

RickJWagner

3d ago

I wish it were broken, then it could be fixed.

I think it is changed. AI is today’s version of the computer, putting many out of long-held jobs while opening up new career paths for different skills.

uberduper

4d ago

1 reply

It's difficult to quantify the value of "I know the shit out of linux" to a prospective employer when they're looking for cog developer #471.

mixmastamyk

3d ago

tayo42

4d ago

2 replies

Your resume isn't that good then, or your leaving out information about your situation.

I give 1-2 interviews a week right now for SRE jobs that pay mid 200s

Job markets bad but you should be getting some calls atleast

chrisweekly

4d ago

1 reply

tayo42

4d ago

1 reply

I'll disagree, it's important to know the extent of what the bad market is. No replies in months means something else is up.

The job market is bad but people are still getting jobs and interviews. Months of silence is not normal

Ive also been on the applicant side and got interviews and call backs, also a handful of recruiters reaching out to me

mixmastamyk

4d ago

I invite you to try to get a mainstream developer interview right now. Cold, without network.

For example, I put an ad here, and replied to five others. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45801184 No replies or enquiries.

justinclift

3d ago

1 reply

Maybe putting your email address in your public HN user details would help? :)

tayo42

3d ago

Help with what?

tonyhart7

4d ago

its not this the other way around??? with the amount of investment of data center in the western, it would need a tons of people to do that

temp0826

4d ago

(Any leads out there hn?)

thenthenthen

3d ago

Same experience, first question is “Do you have a PhD?”, actually scrap that, they assume I have…..

uberduper

4d ago

2 replies

gtirloni

4d ago

That's the way.

d3Xt3r

3d ago

kgwxd

4d ago

1 reply

The guy in the photo is clearly qualified. Dual monitors is hard enough on Linux, that man got triple!

derrida

4d ago

He installed an open source NVIDIA driver for a graphics card from 2014. He earns 7 figures.

menaerus

4d ago

31 more comments available on Hacker News

View full discussion on Hacker News

ID: 45987027Type: storyLast synced: 11/22/2025, 8:49:45 AM

Want the full context?

Jump to the original sources

Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.

Read Article View on HN