IT careers site Dice reported recently that the “more Linux, more money” trend continued strong throughout 2013, with both higher salaries and larger bonuses for Linux pros.
In fact, while the average technology professional garnered a salary increase of just under three percent last year — growing from $85,619 to $87,811 — Linux pros enjoyed a full five percent increase from $90,853 to $95,379, according to the 2014-2013 Dice Tech Salary Survey. Not only that, but Linux professionals also took 
home an average bonus of $10,300 last year, compared with $9,300 for tech professionals in general.
‘Part and Parcel of Growth Plans’
“Linux professionals are benefiting from a world that demands fast innovation,” Shravan Goli, president of Dice.com, told Linux.com. “When speed is the name of the game, open source operating systems will play a critical role for companies and consumers.”
Further, as more and more companies realize that their innovations are driven by technology, “Linux talent will have more opportunities to get engaged in mission-critical projects,” Goli predicted. Linux professionals’ larger bonuses, in particular, “underscore the feeling of employers that Linux skills are part and parcel of growth plans.”
Linux skills are also readily transferable to other areas, he noted, such as mobile OS development and cloud computing. Meanwhile, Big Data and product development are two other hot skill areas that were highlighted by the survey. “With that in mind, Hadoop and Puppet were two open source skills that helped professionals earn more than $100,000,” Goli said.
‘The Outlook Is Great’
Technology professionals as a whole were slightly less satisfied with their salaries this year — salary satisfaction was 54 percent in the survey, down from 57 percent last year — but at the same time, roughly two-thirds of respondents said they were confident in their ability to find a new, better position.
“Linux professionals feel the same way that many technology professionals feel: confident and valuable,” Goli said. “Top Linux talent know that they are in demand and that their career ambitions are within reach. It’s an experienced candidate market.”
In general, the future continues to look bright for Linux pros, Goli said.
“For those Linux professionals who hold a career map, the outlook is great,” he concluded. “Linux professionals should create a map of related skills they can learn and apply to current hot tech categories. These talented professionals can build a set of skills that command good compensation and set them on a career path that feels more controlled.”
Keep an eye out for the upcoming Linux Foundation jobs report, which will be published later this month. In the meantime, you can start building up your own Linux skills with the Linux Foundation’s Linux training program and 100 Linux Tutorials library.
