Why Are So Many Developers Out of Work in 2024?

12/12/24 • 21 min

The tech industry faces a paradox: despite high demand for skills, many developers and engineers are unemployed. At KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America in Salt Lake City, Utah, Andela and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) announced an initiative to train 20,000 technologists in cloud native computing over the next decade. oss O'neill, Senior Program Manager at Andela and Chris Aniszczyk, CNCF’s CTO, highlighted the lack of Kubernetes-certified professionals in regions like Africa and emphasized the need for global inclusivity to make cloud native technology ubiquitous.

Andela, operating in over 135 countries and founded in Nigeria, views this program as a continuation of its mission to upskill African talent, aligning with its partnerships with tech giants like Google, AWS, and Nvidia. This initiative also addresses the increasing employer demand for Kubernetes and modern cloud skills, reflecting a broader skills mismatch in the tech workforce.

Aniszczyk noted that companies urgently seek expertise in cloud native infrastructure, observability, and platform engineering. The partnership aims to bridge these gaps, offering opportunities to meet evolving global tech needs.

Learn more from The New Stack about developer talent, skills and needs:

Top Developer Skills for AI and Cloud Jobs

5 Software Development Skills AI Will Render Obsolete

Cloud Native Skill Gaps are Killing Your Gains

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Learn more from The New Stack about developer talent, skills and needs:

Top Developer Skills for AI and Cloud Jobs

5 Software Development Skills AI Will Render Obsolete

Cloud Native Skill Gaps are Killing Your Gains

Join our community of newsletter subscribers to stay on top of the news and at the top of your game.

Previous Episode

MapLibre: How a Fork Became a Thriving Open Source Project

When open source projects shift to proprietary licensing, forks and new communities often emerge. Such was the case with MapLibre, born from Mapbox’s 2020 decision to make its map rendering engine proprietary. In conjunction with All Things Open 2024, Seth Fitzsimmons, a principal engineer at AWS and Tarus Balog, principal technical strategist for open source at AWS shared that this engine, popular for its WebGL-powered vector maps and dynamic customization features, was essential for organizations like BMW, The New York Times, and Instacart. However, Mapbox’s move disappointed its open-source user base by tying the upgraded Mapbox GL JS library to proprietary products.

In response, three users forked the engine to create MapLibre, committing to modernizing and preserving its open-source ethos. Despite challenges—forking often struggles to sustain momentum—MapLibre has thrived, supported by contributors and corporate sponsors like AWS, Meta, and Microsoft. Notably, a community member transitioned the project from JavaScript to TypeScript over nine months, showcasing the dedication of unpaid contributors.

Thanks to financial backing, MapLibre now employs maintainers, enabling it to reciprocate community efforts while fostering equality among participants. The project illustrates the resilience of open-source communities when proprietary shifts occur.

Learn more from The New Stack about forking open source projects:

Why Do Open Source Projects Fork?

OpenSearch: How the Project Went From Fork to Foundation

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Next Episode

How cert-manager Got to 500 Million Downloads a Month

Jetstack’s cert-manager, a leading open-source project in Kubernetes certificate management, began as a job interview challenge. Co-founder Matt Barker recalls asking a prospective engineer to automate Let’s Encrypt within Kubernetes. By Monday, the candidate had created kube-lego, which evolved into cert-manager, now downloaded over 500 million times monthly.

Cert-manager’s journey to CNCF graduation, achieved in September, began with its donation to the foundation four years ago. Relaunched as cert-manager, the project grew under engineer James Munnelly, becoming the de facto standard for certificate lifecycle management. The thriving community and ecosystem around cert-manager highlighted its suitability for CNCF stewardship. However, maintainers, including Ashley Davis, noted challenges in navigating differing opinions within its vast user base.

With graduation achieved, cert-manager’s roadmap includes sub-projects like trust-manager, addressing TLS trust bundle management and Istio integration. Barker aims to streamline enterprise-scale deployments and educate security teams on cert-manager’s impact. Cert-manager has become integral to cloud-native workflows, promising to simplify hybrid, multicloud, and edge deployments.

Learn more from The New Stack about cert-manager:

Jetstack’s cert-manager Joins the CNCF Sandbox of Cloud Native Technologies

Jetstack Secure Promises to Ease Kubernetes TLS Security

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