A report from IT jobs specialist Dice that forecasts the Linux job market shows demand for Linux skills is on the rise but that finding talent is difficult. The report noted that this is triggering better salaries and bonuses for Linux professionals, as companies look to open-source IT specialists to solve their business challenges and provide growth opportunities.

Eighty-one percent of survey respondents say that hiring Linux talent is a priority in 2012. This urgency is driving a substantial increase in recruiting activity, with 47 percent of hiring managers expecting to add more Linux professionals to their firms in early 2012 and 63 percent noting Linux hires are increasing relative to jobs created in other skill areas.

However, a full 85 percent report having difficulty finding qualified Linux professionals to fill these positions, pointing to the need for more skilled Linux talent. The "2012 Linux Jobs Report" includes the results of a recent survey of more than 2,000 hiring managers. Dice and The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the growth of Linux, conducted the survey.

In an economy where contract and temp-to-hire positions have become more prevalent, Linux professionals garner more full-time positions and better salaries, bonuses and perks. While the average pay increase for tech professionals averaged just 2 percent in 2011, professionals with Linux skills have seen a 5 percent increase in salaries and a 15 percent jump in bonus payouts over the same timeframe. Seventy-five percent of respondents cited the mid-level professional with three to five years of experience as their most-sought hires, especially those with development or systems administration skills.

Linux jobs have become some of the hottest jobs in all of tech, said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. Clearly, hiring managers throughout the IT tech sector understand this and are aggressively seeking Linux professionals. It is our job to meet this demand by ensuring developers and systems admins have access to the community networking opportunities and Linux training they need to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity.

With the tech industry having twice as many openings as professionals who can do the job, college grads to mid-career professionals are considering how to take advantage of that opportunity. Software programming has been highly touted as a lucrative area of technology, and with the increasing use of Linux and open-source software across industries, Linux know-how is topping the list of most highly sought expertise in this area.

In the last 10 years, theres been no tech skill that matches Linux in terms of growth in hiring requests and size of demand, and clearly its not done, said Alice Hill, managing director of Dice. The best Linux candidates have options, and we need more talented professionals to join the community. Linux is simply a core skill for anyone pursuing a career in software development or systems administration.