75% of Linux Contributors Getting Paid for Their Work

Not long ago, I wrote about how Linux skills are in high demand these days.

While contributors to the Linux kernel have traditionally been portrayed as hobbyists or volunteers, I recently came across an article in APC magazine that cited some interesting stats about where Linux code is coming from.

In a Linux.conf.au presentation, Jonathan Corbet, a kernel contributor and the founder of LWN.net, pointed out that, between December 2009 and January 2010:

• 18 percent of kernel contributions came from people not affiliated with any single corporation (volunteers);
• seven percent of contributions weren't classified;
• 75 percent of contributors were paid to write Linux code as part of their jobs.

According to the article, these are some of the tech companies that have been hiring developers specifically to write Linux code:

• Red Hat;
• Intel;
• IBM;
• Novell;
• Oracle.

_{Image Copyright: Julia Eisenberg}