Open Source programmers earn more and combat trade deficit

David M Williams
Sunday, 13 April 2008 19:42

Opinion and Analysis

65% of respondents are employed full time. 10% are contractors. 23% are software engineers, and this was the most common role 86% are employed directly in ICT positions but only 29% within the industry itself – meaning 71% are IT professionals within non-IT companies.

The report also found that those working full time with open source do earn substantially more than if they did not. The median salary for full time ICT professionals was found to be $68k with an average of $83k. If the individual worked full time with open source the money shut up to give a median of $88k and an average of $100k.

The Waugh Partners promise to provide an updated comparison with the broader IT industry once 2007 census statistics become available later this year.

That said, almost 60% of the community contributes to over 316 unique open source projects. One third of respondents held a leadership position within their particular projects.

Based on the survey and their own calculations, the Waughs project over 10,000 people are employed by the open source industry in Australia. 4,000 of these people are technical staff. Over 3,400 workers are required in the immediate future, they say. However, recruiting these people will be difficult. Programmers will be hardest to find, according to 45% of responses.
Forgetting figures, the survey provided a chance for respondents to give their opinions on any matter at all. These also provided interesting results.

Most respondents believed open source adoption had been stymied because there is a lack of education in the market, managers fear change, there’s a perceived lack of commercial support for open source, because government and customers prefer to deal with large proprietary multinationals and because marketing budgets are lacking,.

The findings also showed that vendor lock-in was a significant concern by many. It once more highlights the need for better communication because open source software can actually negate this concern by providing a vendor-neutral robust and scalable environment.
What do you think? Anything there which surprises you? Anything which you disagree with?

Are you an international reader who can give insight into the situation in your country and how accurate this scenario may be in your back yard?