idealpeople blog

Following on from our recent look at which programming languages are the most sought-after, the next thing on our minds is to the enter the great debate on Operating Systems.

Linux (and indeed the ofther UNIX flavours) evangelists and Windows evangelists don’t get on, or so it seems. A quick search of Google and we found this , this and this. Whilst we don’t want to get into a flamewar, let’s add our twopenneth to the debate as to which is better.

Actually, we won’t be drawn on which is better (come on everyone, both have their benefits ) - but what we can shed light on is which is the more sought-after as a technical skill from a jobseeking point-of-view. Does a lack of UNIX knowledge mean no chance in your next job search? Are Windows skills so common there’s no point in mentioning the fact you can configure an 800-seat Windows 2003 network in 45 minutes? Well, let’s see…

We looked at demand from across the industry in 2007, and began by analysing which OS skills companies were looking for expertise in. We looked at Software Development, Systems Administation, Networking, DBA and Support roles, and broke down demand according to the perecentage of vacancies looking for each. For the purposes of this exercise when we considered vacancies which were looking for expertise in multiple platforms, we gave each platform 1 point (so a role looking for someone who could administer both IIS and Apache/Linux would give Windows 1 point and Linux 1 point). For good measure, we threw in the major mobile platforms as well.

The top ten:

1) Windows - 35.3% of vacancies wanted expertise in Windows
2) Linux - 26.1%
3) UNIX (unspecified flavour) - 21%
4) Solaris - 7.33%
5) OS X (Mac) - 5.8%
6) BREW - 3.66%
7) WinCE/Windows Mobile/MS Smartphone - 3.6%
8) Symbian - 3.28%
9) AIX - 2.26%
10) HP-UX - 1.83%

So, at first glance - it’s a resounding victory for Windows. All hail Windows!

Unless, of course, we treat all the different flavours of UNIX under the umbrella of UNIX - in which case UNIX took 66.12% of requirements, so it’s a resounding victory for UNIX. All hail UNIX! It all boils down to whether you consider yourself a Linux guru or a UNIX guru…have we shed much light?

Onto our next measurement - which skillset is rarer? Which skillset gives you a better chance of getting your dream job? As before, we looked at the number of candidates with skills in each platform and worked out how many candidates there were for each vacancy, for each skillset.

The top ten…

1) BREW - 1.11 candidates per vacancy
2) Symbian - 5.29
3) WinCE/Windows Mobile/MS Smartphone - 5.7
4) Linux - 12.16
5) Windows - 16.88
6) UNIX (unspecified flavour) - 17.04
7) Solaris - 22.25
8) AIX - 25.43
9) HP-UX - 27.12
10) OS X (Mac) - 27.54

Of course the mobile platforms come out on top here. This is probably primarily due to the fact that we’re restricted to Developers/Engineers with skills on these. BREW is a very specific skill, so it’s no surprise to see it at the top.

It looks like Linux is the clear winner in terms of desktop platforms - Linux gurus face competition from roughly 11 other candidates for each job they apply for, whereas Windows gurus have 15 others fighting for the same job. All hail Linux!

Unless, of course, we consider all the UNIX flavours under the umbrella of just UNIX - in which case there’s roughly 22 candidates for each vacancy. So it’s a victory for Windows! All hail Windows!

So, what have resolved? Well, not much by the looks of things. We’ll conclude by saying nothing more than how we started - Come on everyone, they both have benefits….

In other news, we’ve *finally*, thanks in part to an anonymous superhero, managed to fix the e-mail subscription issue on the blog. So, if you liked this and want to hear more about the world of technology and recruitment - click here, enter your e-mail address and our clever PHP thingy will do the rest.

Happy Hunting!