February 28, 2008 7:30 PM PST

Report: Open-source developers command up to 40 percent premium

Posted by Matt Asay

Want to make more money as an enterprise application developer? You're in luck--if you know open source.

According to a recent report from Bluewolf Consulting, enterprises increasingly deploy open-source software, and look to specialized application development on top of it, to drive business value:

The rise of open-source software in application development puts developers with a specialization in those technologies in a position to ask for a 30 (percent) or 40 percent pay increase, Kirven says. "We've gotten more requests from our permanent-placement division for open-source developers in the last six months than in the last five or six years combined," he says. "It's not as easy as getting free software; someone has to get it up and running. LAMP is everywhere now--these types of technologies no one heard of 18 months ago are all the sudden becoming a hot commodity."

Indeed. Not only does open source bring developers more money, but it also apparently brings them more satisfaction.

Jon Williams, chief technology officer of test preparation company Kaplan, made it very clear in an Infoworld podcast I recorded a month ago that open source is one of his best retention tools.

Let people do interesting work, and they stick around. Make them mindlessly monitor that Windows machine, and they'll bolt.

Update: It is also worth reading about how open source drives enterprise innovation.