2025 Open Source Professionals Job Survey Report

Open source professionals prioritize professional fulfillment and work-life balance over factors such as high wages and benefits when choosing a job role, says the 2025 Open Source Professionals Job Survey Report, which offers key information for both job seekers and hiring managers.

According to the new report from Open Source JobHub (OSJH) and Linux Professional Institute (LPI), 97.34% of respondents rate professional fulfillment as essential, very important, or somewhat important, giving it the highest ranking of the 10 factors they were asked to consider. 

Work-life balance ranks a close second, however, with 96.97% of all survey respondents considering it at least somewhat important. Other important considerations include remote work, open source policy guidelines, and training and certification opportunities. 

The free report summarizes the survey results and compares various findings by job role and level of experience. For example, the report says, "as one might expect, the importance of training and certification declined somewhat with experience." In terms of years of experience, the percentage of respondents rating this factor as essential or very important are:

• Still looking for first job: 82.85%
• Fewer than 3 years experience: 77.27%
• 4-10 years: 64.06%
• 11-20 years: 63.08%
• 21+ years: 51.27%

"This report offers a unique view into what open source professionals are looking for in their job roles,” says Brian Osborn, Founder of OSJH, and CEO and Publisher at Linux New Media. “Understanding the perspective of these admins, developers, and non-tech pros is key to finding and retaining open source talent."

See the complete results in the 2025 Open Source Professionals Job Survey Report.