Where are the jobs? As with any job hunt, getting to know the industry and developing relationships is the best way to find something you'll really like. There is a whole Internet full of forums, mailing lists, and social networking sites where you can dig up all kinds of useful intelligence. The big job boards like Monster might help, but I think it's better to identify the companies you want to work for and target them. , , and are the big three commercial Linux developers and vendors. There are also multitudes of smaller, independent shops; everything is online, and discoverable.

While code may be your resumé, as McPherson pointed out, it also applies to whatever your interest is, whether it's documentation, sysadmin, community manager, etc. Think of it as "reputation management," proving yourself by doing. Become a Linux user, learn your way around the vast Linux world, and then pick a project to volunteer a little of your time to. There are a number of projects that are friendly to beginners, such as:

Of course there are many more resources, and I think the most rewarding approach is to pick a project that is personally meaningful to you. There are also big opportunities for people who want to work for themselves, which is a fine topic for another day. It is literally true that, in FOSS, there are more opportunities than people to take advantage of them, and the sky's the limit.

This article, "," was originally published at . For the latest , analysis and how-tos, follow ITworld on and .