Java #1 sought after Linux skill? Interesting, though author qualifies this with his POV: "I was initially surprised that Java was the most referenced skill area, even over Android and C++. But then when I thought about it, it seems that Java is everywhere you look these days, even if it isn't called Java (such as Red Hat's Ceylon language and Android's Dalvik virtual machine). This also seems to enforce the notion that Mono--and C#-- development is falling more out of favor on the Linux desktop."
Yes, it does seem weird. A lot of people claim to "know Linux" when their job is to develop server applications on Eclipse running on Windows and they eventually copy some WAR (via Samba, of course) to a Linux production box. They don't know anything about Linux userspace or the UNIX API; they write once and run somewhere else.
Once, I was tasked with providing a native library to a team writing a Java application. They told me they developed on Windows and deployed to Linux. A few weeks before their app was set to go live, they deployed to production and my library didn't work. Why? Their production platform was actually Solaris. "Same thing, right?"
Yes, guys who develop all day in Windows, look vaguely lost at a command line (constantly forgetting their place in the dir structure, not knowing the basics of rsync or scp, not knowing how to unzip a jar, etc) always call themselves Linux experts. Calling all Unix-like systems "Linux" is a common problem as well, unfortunately.
But I run into Linux "sysadmins" with all of the same issues. There's a real problem with a lack of competence in this industry, IMO.
"""But then when I thought about it, it seems that Java is everywhere you look these days, even if it isn't called Java (such as Red Hat's Ceylon language and Android's Dalvik virtual machine). """
Actually, it's mostly Java itself, which is huge in the enterprise/banking/etc world.
I highly doubt that Android (Davlik) jobs make any difference in Java being #1 sought after Linux skill, and Ceylon even less so.
Job postings about Android mention itself specifically, not Linux, and job posts about Ceylon do not exist statistically speaking.
